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In the inception of my address, on behalf of entire RIS
fraternity, I would like to welcome all the new entrants to Raath International
School. RIS is a place where a student will learn to live, work and play with
the teachers and other children. The School aims at the development and
integrity of four factors of the student‘s personality viz: Spiritual,
Emotional, Intellectual and Physical integrity and thereby to achieve the
integrity of the whole person so that he can confront and counter the challenges
confidently in the competitive world . In order to attain holistic development
of a child we lay emphasis on academic excellence, professional competence, with
orientation of personal, interpersonal and societal skills.
Today, the role of a school is not only to pursue academic
excellence but also to motivate and empower its students to be life long
learners, critical thinkers, and productive members of an ever-changing global
society. A school must try to provide its students with an atmosphere for
multifaceted development, where children are encouraged to channelize their
potential in the pursuit of excellence. This can only be possible in a holistic,
student-centric environment. The talents, skills, and abilities of each student
need to be identified, nurtured, and encouraged so that he/she is able to reach
greater heights. Students need to be provided with a platform to think, express,
and exhibit their skills. It is necessary to empower them to negotiate several
issues that confront them, with the teacher being a facilitator.
We often make the critical mistake of
considering children, regardless of their age, class, ethnicity, or background,
like a blank notebook that is yet to be written upon. In doing so, we often fail
to realize that each child has his/her own individuality, special skills, and
talents. Therefore, a good educational system is one that helps a child to
nurture his/her talents and overcome shortcomings by providing appropriate,
all-encompassing education. This enables the child to develop his/her
personality and equips the child to face the challenges of life. As Anthony J.
D’Angelo once said, “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you’ll never
cease to grow.”
At the Raath International School, our
approach to learning is child-centric, encouraging activity-based learning and
inculcating a scientific temper and a spirit of free enquiry. In our curriculum,
the student is the primary focus, and each child is involved in the learning
process. Albert Einstein said that “The important thing is not to stop
questioning.” Hence, the purpose of the education received by our children is to
replace an empty mind with an open one. We motivate our teachers to provide an
atmosphere for discovery, where students are encouraged to be creative and
curious, instead of routinely loading the children with academic burden. We are
thus constantly improving our teaching methodology so that it turns learning
into a combination of classroom study, research, and scientific discovery.
According to Amos Bronson Alcott, a reformer, teacher, and
philosopher, “Observation more than books, experience more than persons, are the
prime educators.” While academic excellence is our major thrust, the school is
also devoted to prepare our students for life, groom them to face the challenges
of tomorrow, and encourage them to be socially relevant. We encourage each child
to develop in his special field of interest so as to it becomes
the best showcase of his particular type of talent. We constantly endeavor to
always live up to this ideology and inculcate this into every thing we do, with
the aim that we will be able to ensure that the children grow to their full
potential, while constantly being groomed to pass out as men and women competent
to bear responsibility in all walks of life. In the words of John Dewey,
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”In the end
I would like to thank the parents of our students
for always having bestowed their faith and confidence in us. I would like to end
with the words of Albert Einstein, who once said, “Imagination is more important
than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and
understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”
With kind regards!
Sanjiv Kumar Verma
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