‘Apeejay International’s curriculum is hands-on, stimulates spirit of exploration’

Nyra and Arisha Gupta recently completed kindergarten at Apeejay International School, Delhi. Their mother Ramneek Gupta, a fitness specialist, says the school nurtured her daughters in the right learning environment and she could not have been happier. In an interview, Ramneek takes us through the attributes of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum followed at the school. Edited excerpt:

What made you look for an IB school and how did Apeejay International School turn out to be your choice?

We read up about the different educational boards in the country, of which IB seemed the most interesting to us. When we started looking for IB schools in our vicinity, we got to know about Apeejay. What really clicked was the warmth with which the school staff members welcomed us on our first visit to the school with our kids. Second, the school’s infrastructure impressed us a lot. Third, Apeejay International’s teacher-school ratio met our expectations—I was happy to know that the ratio is 15:1.

What is the USP of the IB curriculum? How well is Apeejay living up to the standards?

Apeejay International School is doing a very good job. What makes the IB curriculum significant is the global worldview it provides. The IB curriculum, to a large extent, is child-led, in contrast to others where a fixed syllabus is followed. Instead of memorising from books, the learning here is hands-on, practical, and lets children explore. Let me give you an example–I remember my children were once being taught skip counting at school, for which the teacher used a ladder and made the students jump on it.

At Apeejay, the ‘unit of inquiry’ (in-depth exploration of a concept) includes a range of topics related not just to India but the world beyond. This is very important. The credit goes to the coordinator Shalini ma’am and their teacher Charu ma’am because IB especially depends a lot on how well teachers lead the class. At Apeejay, the teachers are doing a fabulous job.

Through this approach, how well have your kids progressed?

Kids are inquisitive and creative by nature, but these qualities can gradually wither if you restrict them to a particular learning process, like mugging up. At Apeejay, on the other hand, my children’s inquisitiveness increased. Their concepts are very clear. I have seen that they don’t just ask the ‘whys’ but make efforts to find out the answers on their own. That is the biggest difference I have seen.

The curriculum, I think, is age-appropriate and at the same time individualised. It does not push a child to be in a certain box.

Is Apeejay inculcating life skills in your children?

Yes, of course. They were taught how to fold clothes, for instance. The most important thing that they learned was to clean up after themselves rather than leaving it to mothers or teachers. This is a very important skill and I have seen my children do it at home. I owe all of this to the teachers at Apeejay International School.