BriefCase : Not Your Scary School Principal!

Posted: December 22, 2014

We often take our schools and teachers for granted, blind to the immensely important work they do. Here’s a peek into the life of a School Principal, Mrs. Vidhupriya Chakravarty.

Meet Mrs. Vidhupriya Chakravarty, Principal, St. Thomas’ School Shimla, who carries the responsibility of school administration on her shoulders with élan.

She can be credited with reviving the school to its present prestige – with more than 500 students. Under her leadership, Shimla witnessed a literary festival for the first time, to celebrate the centenary of the school’s establishment. Before coming to Shimla, She served as a principal for Shiv Niketan School, Delhi, for six years, and has numerous years of teaching experience under her belt.

How would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as a person with a positive attitude, and someone who is always looking ahead. I give my 100% to whatever I do, and I can go out of my way to help others if required. Once something is done, I don’t think about what could have been.

Why did you choose this field?

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. There was never any other option to be explored as far as my career was concerned, no plan B. I have always loved children, and I find my profession very fulfilling and wholesome. When I am among young people, I feel happy. Working with the children is also one of the ways I can see my energy and creativity channelized in the right and needful direction.

Describe your role so that it is understandable to someone who knows nothing about your industry and what is the most challenging aspect of your role?

Teaching has never been easy and it has become even more challenging taking into consideration that there is humongous exposure for children out there. With each day, there is change in society, and it is a huge challenge to keep intact the value system. In many cases, both the parents are working and are unable to devote time to children; the onus of good upbringing shifts onto the school. So, teaching is invariably becoming a challenging job each day.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role and your field?

With each day, I have an opportunity to think of something innovative and creative in terms of curriculum implementation, and also administrative nuances for the school. One exciting thing that I am really looking forward to work on is SQAA, School Quality Assessment and Accreditation. It will be an ongoing process, which is bound to keep us on our feet.

SQAA is a quality initiative by the CBSE, which will introduce high standards of education in the affiliated institutions.

If you had to change one thing about your work, what would it be?

Sometimes too many new changes are introduced. I feel there needs to be stability in introduced changes, in the policies… so that the effectiveness of the same can be judged. I also feel we should have more freedom in designing and framing our curriculum.

I would also like to decrease the students to teacher ratio i.e. less students in a class, so that classrooms can become effective in every way.