ON MY OWN –

These three words were my inspiration, my map and my goal in my adventure in the world of early childhood education. I have always wanted to do things on my own, unique ideas, unusual concepts and challenges all excite me and ignite the achiever in me.

Every girl plays teacher, teacher, but I think I took this game a little seriously and even though my father wanted me to explore interior designing I was bent on becoming a teacher.  But I won my battle  and did my diploma in teaching and then of course a degree in education and when I joined my first school as a teacher 32 years back (Hasanat High School, then I worked as a teacher at Jamnabai Narsee School, and then as teacher, supervisor and teacher training faculty at  Arya Vidya Mandir school)  I learnt my first management principle- Listen, Be Creative And Be Successful

I guess the entrepreneur in me was always dormantly active! And so I was a different teacher- I wanted my class to look unique and would hunt down ideas from books etc to be unique in every manner, for me it was very important that children and parents who came to my class would be happy and feel WOW! I used puppets, learnt a lot of skills in classroom decoration, activity planning etc, which unknowingly would come to be a great help when I would plan my business in future.

I started a business Poppets that supported my passion for puppetry. Poppets also had an educational puppetry section that would exclusively promote puppetry in education and other enterprises. Like hospitals where I would use puppets for post operative and preoperative medical therapy with children. Or using puppets for youth festivals like MALHAR and Indigo, to depict contemporary themes like salaam Mumbai or youth issues. British council invited me to do a puppet show for school children on HIV and I also used puppetry for summer workshops and story sessions at Prithvi Theatre (must not forget to thank Sanjana Kapoor here!)

A new entrepreneurial idea was quietly taking shape in my mind. And T.A.S.H.A was born. T.A.S.H.A was an acronym for Teacher And Student Help Activities, I designed a unique pencil shaped card and T.A.S.H.A became the first educational advisor and consultant in the preschool sector (this was almost 20 years back)  Workshops, teacher training, seminars, school design became the forte , I employed a staff of nine in different departments like curriculum sample making, site visits, supervisions, event planning and also had a carpenter and painter on board who would put into effect the designs that I planned. Soon T.A.S.H.A has set up 7 different branded preschool and one national chain- Euro Kids.

And then I learnt my third management principle, explore and learn to recognize a dream, sometimes it comes disguised as a challenge. The Podar group wanted me to create a new preschool chain, but not under T.A.S.H.A, they wanted me to do it in my personal capacity. I used my second management principle which says seize the opportunity and said yes. And I have never regretted it since. So T.A.S.H.A was put on the back burner, and 17 years back my journey with Podar Education Network took shape and I have never looked back.  (Here I must thank Dr. Pavan Podar)

I founded Podar Jumbo Kids preschool and daycare chain, Podar Institute of Education an early years teacher training program and Born Smart a brain based parenting program at Podar. 18 years later,   I am still at Podar, reinventing and learning every minute.

With more than 33 years of experience now under my belt,  and an MA in Sociology, B. Ed in English and History, 3 years of law and a honorary Doctorate in education I am now Dr. Swati Popat Vats,  the President of Podar Education Network and also the founder director of Podar Jumbo Kids, preschool and day care chain in India with more than 390 centers. I  head the Teacher training wing of the company and am also  a Lead Assurer for the CACHE (UK) program.  I am proud to be the  President of Podar Education Network and President of Early Childhood Association (India) and the National representative for the World Forum Foundation. I am now also the nursery director of Little Wonders Nursery (UAE) that has branches in Jumeirah and Sharjah.

My accolades and awards for  contribution to Early Childhood Education have been the most from parents and children and of course my staff. I have won many awards but for me awards are for people to google and find out, work is what needs to be talked about.

I also helped set up TATA SKY’s children’s television activity channel- ACTVE WHIZKIDS. I am also   the founder expert on the world’s first video based parenting website Born-smart that helps parents understand and nurture brain development in the first 1000 days.

When  I founded Podar Jumbo Kids I coined the term ‘Kiducation’ for early childhood teachers and parents to help them understand that young children need education from the point of view of their development. I have one of the best teams under me and they ensure that teachers at all our centers never lose their passion or perspective about ‘children first’ in every decision they make.

Podar and Dr. Pavan Podar supported me as an author and I have been fortunate to author many books for parents and children and be a strong advocate of nature based learning in the early years and promote brain research based teaching and parenting in my workshops across the globe.

The books authored by me on parenting, teaching and for children. Mr. Pencil and Friends, How To Teach So Kids Can Learn, Are You Unknowingly Harming Your Child, How To Be A Super Mom, Play is the Work of Childhood, Yipes!, Why Does Zelda Need Stripes?, Lappu and the Magic of Paani have all received rave reviews. Recently I authored the new age fairy tale series that has revolutionized traditional fairy tales and made them more relevant for kids, the titles include- 3 Little Pigs Save The Earth, Red Riding Hood And The Wolf That Liked Healthy Food, Goldilocks And The 3 Magic Words and  Hansel And Gretel And The Kind Old Lady. Other books recently authoredr- Growing up with Mahatma Gandhi, Why did Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill fall down?, The
Tiger, the Sparrow and the Bee.

I have always advocated removing stress from pre-primary education by promoting the removal of the red and blue lines and cursive writing in preschools, thus gifting children stress-free learning and have  changed many nursery rhymes like ‘piggy on the railway, ‘ringa, ringa roses’,’humpty dumpty’ to make them more developmentally appropriate for young kids. My most recent agenda   is the pursuit to bring an awareness about child safety be it traffic safety or child sexual abuse and for this I have  developed workshops and written a books- ‘When Touch Becomes Trouble’,  ‘ The Secret Touch’ that can help kids, teachers and parents.   

My thoughts on parenting –

Parents need support and training, we really need to introduce a course for parents, and unless they undergo that course they cannot and should not become parents! Parenting is a responsibility and should be seen as that and not just a liability or a status symbol. Have kids because you want to nurture a life not because it’s time to have a child. I think parents need as much support and information as possible to become better parents. There is no such thing as a perfect parent but there is something called an ideal parent and that is what every kids needs. Through my parenting books I try to become a mentor, a friend for parents…as every parent needs one.

I now write parenting columns for Savvy, Mother & Baby, DNA newspaper Bangalore, Parent Edge, Teacher Magazine and am a parenting expert for Aditya Birla web portal and iDiva online newspaper of Times of India.

My opinion on right teaching methodology –

Children need ‘kiducation’, which means education from the point of view of children’s development and interest and not what parents and schools want them to learn (mug and rote!) education must involve Gandhi’s principles of HEAD, HEART and HAND. PLAY should come back in the lives of children instead of just being a four letter word. Children need life skills like socio-emotional development first instead of burdening them with learning to write and add.

My inspirations –

Maria Montessori because she was so scientific in all her teaching and implementation. Mahatma Gandhi, as he was able to influence a whole generation, so he teaches us that one person can make a difference and we can change the world even without social networking, nothing is impossible!  And my dad and husband who have taught me to be proud of being a woman as a woman influences society.

About the Early Childhood Association –

Early Childhood Education in India, needs serious rethinking, we need to ensure that early childhood is taken seriously (“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies but the period from birth to the age of six” Maria Montessori) so instead of treating it as a stepping stone or preparatory school for primary we need to understand that the foundation for all 5 life skills (physical, language, social, emotional and cognitive) are laid at the early childhood stage so we need to make early childhood education mandatory for all kids and also ensure that kids are not forced to read, write and learn before they are ready, so the curriculum should be about learning through play and exploration.  This is why we a group of early childhood experts like Dr. Reeta Sonavat, Dr. Swaroop Sampat Raval, Dr. Kamini Rege, Mrs Asha Varma and many others, started the Early Childhood Association, a non profit association. Presently ECA has 18 active territories and we work to ensure that parents, teachers and corporate houses that come out with products for early years understand and accept quality and safety for children in the early years and do not compromise on the same for commercial purposes. We hold many conferences and workshops throughout the country for teachers and heads of schools.

We educate schools and teachers and parents about the POCSO act and also conduct workshops for children on good touch bad touch. The Early Childhood Association started a campaign to stop cursive writing in the early years as children find it a burden and adapt to it more easily after the age of 6 years. We also started a campaign for anti spanking #iwillnot and encouraged parents to adopt more gently parenting practices. Conferences, publications and research are all part of the work that the Early Childhood Association is involved in to bring about change in the way the littlest citizens of this country are parented, educated and play.

I tweet and blog on education and parenting and you can join me on twitter @swatipopat , check out my blog HERE

I wish all the teachers a very happy Teachers day and on this day I would like to share with them a credo from my favourite book,  ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE, I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN. This is every teacher’s contribution to a child’s life and to shaping the future of this country. HAPPY TEACHERS DAY.

 All I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile.  These are the things I Learned:

Share everything

Play fair.

Don’t hit people

Put things back where you found them

Clean up your own messs.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat

Flush

Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for the traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Wonder.Remember the little seed in the cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all the whole world had cookies and a milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are when you go out into the world,it is  best to hold hands and stick together.