HEAD TALK

Dr. Sunil Karad, who’s spearheading the MIT Gurukul at Loni, in a chat with Education Times

• Do you think children studying in normal schools in India will not get admission in schools in western countries?

Studying in an IB facilitates the entry into foreign university since the curriculum is same as theirs. This does not mean that students studying in normal schools cannot get admission nor does it mean that all the students of IB school get admission. The only fact is that the entrance and other tests which are mandatory for admission to such universities are waived for IB school students. Also, IB students are well versed with the teaching methodology of foreign universities.


• What is the requirement of IB schools in India in terms of numbers? What figures do you base your figures?

It is very difficult to predict the exact number of the IB schools required in India. At present there are 20 + IB schools in the country and taking into consideration the current phase of globlalization and the number of students aspiring for undergraduate education in countries such as UK, USA, and Australia, I feel we definitely need many more IB schools that what we have today.

My remarks are based on the fact that at present every year approximately 20,000 students go abroad for undergraduate education.


• Do we have teachers trained well enough to handle IB curriculum? If yes why education in other schools is not relied upon internationally?

The number of IB trained teachers in India is limited. Though the number of IB schools has increased, the corresponding numbers of trained teachers have not appropriately increased. The reason probably is that for teaching the IB curriculum, the teachers have to attend the training workshops organized by the IBO which are limited in number and are also slightly expensive since they are held all over Asia Pacific and other continents. The methodology of delivery in IB is entirely different than the normal teaching in the state or central govt. schools and hence, the training is an essential requirement for teaching in IB schools. In our school, we have ensured that almost all teachers are IB trained by sending them to relevant workshops at Bangkok, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Delhi and even Australia.


• In your Gurukul, you have a design school meant for undergraduate study. What prompted you to have such a branch?

Actually, the design school is not a part of Gurukul but a separate entity i.e. MIT Institute of Design which is coming up on the same site at Rajbaug but will have an exclusive area of 25 acres for its campus.

When we initiated MIT, it was due to our realization of shortage of quality engineering institutes in Maharashtra state. Hence, to cater to the aspiring young generation to pursue excellence in this field, we decided to establish an Institute of Design with the able guidance of Prof H. Kumar Vyas.


• What kind of people should run/promote education institutes? I mean do you believe that they should belong to the field of education/they must have experience in education so that their vision is right?

You cannot differentiate a vision as right or wrong. Education cannot be considered as just another business - the honesty towards the cause of giving the best to the coming generations is more important. Yes, I agree that people who already have an experience in the field of education can run such other institutes more efficiently.

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