G.D. Goenka Where We Aspire To Give World-Class Educational Excellence
Subhankar Choudhury
Vice President Marketing, G.D. Goenka Education Society
G.D. Goenka a well established name in education sector needs no introduction due to its widespread array of schools throughout the country. Their urge to be driven by a passion for excellence in education and quality in life is what makes them even better. Their recent milestone has been the establishment of G.D. Goenka education city spread across 60 acre land in the picturesque view of Aravali Hills on Sohna Road Gurgaon.
Mr. Subhankar Choudhury Vice President, Marketing at GD Goenka an erudite and extremely competent man talks about featuring world class infrastructure, healthy and well maintained campus and encouraging environment for providing education that can be targeted against the best in the world. He also gives us insight about growing trends in education futuristic role to shape the young turks of the country.
Metroplots: Why did you choose Gurgaon to centre your 60-acre GD Goenka education city?
Subhankar Choudhury: The growth transition of Millennium City- Gurgaon from its inception till date has been gigantic. As the city established itself into country’s most essential corporate hub, there were CEO’s, MD’s and expats who shifted their base to Gurgaon. So they wanted their kids to be offered good facilities for their schools. Also, the development in Gurgaon as compared to other Delhi NCR regions has been at a much rapid rate due to surge in commercialisation. Hence, we thought Gurgaon will be the best option to establish an education city due to huge inflow of metropolitan crowd within the city.
Metroplots: You have built school and institute at one place which is unique in India. What made you welcome this idea though school and institute both carry different concepts of learning?
Subhankar Choudhury: The concept of bringing an array of educational institutes at one place was welcomed by many and considered a favourable choice for almost everyone. Giving the facilities right from kindergarten to MBA level has been conceived as the futuristic idea where the child is able to enjoy the luxury of education through his/her learning phase of life. When it comes to managing both of them we make sure that the lifestyle of school is not intermixed with that of college. In fact the education city has been designed in such a way that there exist entirely two different worlds. The hostel facilities is different for both however, recreational activities can be enjoyed by both age groups at one place only.
Metroplots: There has been no significant allocation of funds for education sector in Union Budget 2012-13. What are your views about it?
Subhankar Choudhury: I personally feel education, should be a State Government’s subject rather than the Centre Government affair. Ironically unlike USA and European countries that’s not the state of India. In Westernised nations education is a state affair and that is very well visible in the growth of these countries. Financial institutions in India are however privatised and hence are running in a better mode. Government must play an impactful role in education from classes first to tenth. And after that it should be left for private players. These private players would help in building better resources and do justice to the education sector of the country.
Metroplots: Do you think foreign institutes should be allowed to set up base in India individually?
Subhankar Choudhury: Foreign institutes can come to India under joint ventures or partnerships. This will help them to set up their base in India thereby targeting the right audience. For instance, if any ABC university from abroad setting their base in India may not be successful because of lack of market knowledge, and no idea about the target the audience and the location to choose. In such cases, the Indian education institutes can help them to figure out better options. Also, it is helpful for students who are deprived of good education in spite of good score in academics due to stiff competition. It will then be a win-win situation for both sides.
Metroplots: What are your views on e-learning and technology driven education?
Subhankar Choudhury: 21st century is the era of commercialisation and technology has an important role to play in it. Earlier there was chalk and board policy, but with changing times this policy has become a thing of past. Technology helps in better understanding of the concepts and makes learning more interesting and capturing. For instance, we all are aware of natural process of flowering. But when we try to make it understand through the concept of animation, it gets captured in one’s mind. We believe what we see and when children see the formation of flower through animation it would be easy for them to grasp the idea of flower budding. Technology in class rooms helps in relating, measuring and understanding things in an enhanced manner.
Metroplots: Recently Mr Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister said that Accreditation for higher learning institutes is must. Do think this will impact our education industry?
Subhankar Choudhury: AICTE accreditation is extremely important for technical education and plays a vital role in providing education to students. Most of the parents have this mindset that if the educational institute is not approved by AICTE it may not be a good institute. This notion is however misleading because AICTE approval is required for courses related to technical education, while there are many other segments of education. A person doesn’t gets a job on basis of institute. Instead the job is given to a person who has confidenence and knows his job well. Apart from this, what I feel is that it is essential to bring privatisation in Indian Education market. That is the one area where HRD ministry should develop more strategies and look forward to bring more guidelines and policies.
Metroplots: India needs to expand its education and research infrastructure. Do you agree?
Subhankar Choudhury: I agree with the fact that there is need to expand research institutes in our country. More universities known as varsities should be established. In fact the government of India should focus on bringing more vocational training institutes as there is dearth of such manpower in the country. We are living in an era of globalisation, hence it is important to foresee challenges and successfully work upon it.
Metroplots: Do you have any plans for expansion?
Subhankar Choudhury: We are coming up with our own Goenka Uinveristy in 2013 which will be approved by the state government. There will be number of different colleges available for Fashion, Law, Hotel Management and Engineering. The other nitty-gritties are yet to be finalised. But the idea is big and we have already started working upon it.
Metroplots: What makes you different from others in the education sector?
Subhankar Choudhury: We are in the fourth year after establishing the education city in Gurgaon and with the passing years it has only grown better. Our main motive is to provide world-class education. Association with Lancaster university has proven to great milestone for GD Goenka education. Our campus is wi-fi enabled with all modern amenities provided to students. The recreational arena includes compulsory swimming along with many other including horse riding, squash etc. Our classrooms are well equipped with modern features. We have separate labs for e-learning which is not there in other institutes. Hence that is how we try to be different. Our education city comprises of GD Goenka World School offering IB/IGCSE curriculum and GD Goenka World Institute offering Undergraduate and Postgraduate Degree from Lancaster University, UK which is itself the best news piece.
Comments (2)
Name |
Email Address |
