The past 20 years or so have been a period of exhilarating experience spent in gaining deeper insights into facets of education that go beyond the mere acquisition of academic learning, and which have far more significant implications in shaping human thought, behaviour and action. The decision to undertake a career change – from an engineering background and the corporate sector to the education field – was made during the initial stages of my professional life, and pursuing a career in education became my calling very early in life. This decision was influenced primarily by the conviction that education offers mankind with the only hope and surest means for carrying forward an “ever advancing civilization”, which safeguards the security, tranquility and progress of the entire human race. The tools and means that education offers relate to advancement in the fields of science and technology that cater to the physical, intellectual, material and social progress of human beings. However, an often undermined facet of education is that it also serves to provide the environment in which such progress can adequately take place, an environment characterised by unity, peace and justice. The desire to propound this latter role of education attracted me to this field and has remained an area of keen interest and learning.

My involvement in the education field took me through a wide variety of endeavours, including involvement in development work and social action, founding and running of schools, and more recently, in training of teachers. I spent most of the past nine years working with a diverse group of teachers associated with a large number of schools across India and abroad, helping them address some of the basic challenges of the educational system both within the classroom setting and outside it. We often talk about a “student–centric” approach to education, but most schools today are far away from this goal. My forte has been the ability to inspire innovation and creativity among teachers as they strive for the realisation of the diverse talents, capacities and potentialities of students assigned to their care.

Being a residential school, we have full–time access to students and I am committed to ensuring that each and every experience at RiverDale – big and small – becomes a learning moment for them, where they develop those essential capabilities that will prepare them for the challenges that await them. Excellence in academics, sports and social skills, as also a rectitude of conduct inspired by a proper moral and spiritual training is what we desire for our students and lie at the heart of our endeavours at RiverDale International School.