‘To build a strong foundation, Apeejay gives special focus on children in the formative years’

Chitkara completed her Graduation in B.Com (Pass) from Dayal Singh College, Delhi University and MBA from IMT Ghaziabad. She worked with Airtel as a Customer Care Executive for some time before taking a career break to look after her children. Her spouse, Jayant Chitkara, is Quality Head in Godrej Properties Limited. Their two daughters Natasha and Kavisha are studying in classes 9 and 4, respectively in Apeejay School Faridabad. In an interview, Ritu explains how Apeejay ensures that every aspect of the student’s development is addressed. Edited excerpts:

Why did you choose Apeejay?

I hail from Faridabad and closely monitor the performance of each and every school in my area. At the time when I was searching for the best school for Natasha, a couple of new schools came up in Faridabad offering 5-star-like facilities. However, we were clear from the beginning that we will not get distracted by glitz and glamour. We wanted to pick a school that focuses on the holistic development of children. Also, my sister-in-law’s son was studying in Apeejay, so we were very well aware as to what the school has to offer. I had also taken into account the class 10 and 12 board results of all the schools in my region and found that Apeejay delivered the best scores. Another USP of Apeejay is its emphasis on moral values. Hence, we readily got Natasha admitted in Apeejay Rhythms, Faridabad.  Elated with her progress over the years we also got Kavisha admitted to the school.

Are you content with the progress made by Natasha and Kavisha since joining the school?

Of course, otherwise my daughter wouldn’t have been studying in the school right now. Apeejay must be commended for giving special focus to children in the formative years to build a strong foundation. From Nursery to class 5, the effort of the school is to make the students realise their true potential. They are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities to explore their strengths and interests as a child can’t succeed in the outside world only on the basis of a good academic score. Apeejay has a rule that states that every child has to participate in at least 2 competitions per year. Talking about Natasha, she has developed strong leadership qualities and is one the Directors of the prestigious ‘Interact Club’ of the school. She has been interviewed thrice for the Dr Stya Paul Award for Human Values which is given to the students who exemplify and exhibit good human values in their day to day life. She has also participated in numerous inter-school competitions. Coming to Kavisha, she was a bit shy to begin with, but she is now following in Natasha’s footsteps.

Teachers play an extremely important role in a student’s life. Has the Apeejay  faculty  lived up to your expectations?

Yes, they have, without a doubt. The sheer amount of hard work put in by the teachers during the pandemic is noteworthy. To keep students engaged virtually, they did thorough homework before taking classes. For example, in one of the online classes, the Science teacher gave a live demonstration using ink and pebbles to help kids understand and distinguish soluble and insoluble substances. I have seen teachers giving due importance to activity-based learning. During the pandemic, they were also in constant touch with parents to allay their doubts and queries.

Share with us your most memorable moment.

Kavisha was in class 3, when her class teacher Ms. Sandeep Oberoi selected her for an inter-school science competition. The topic was ‘Science in everyday life’ and Kavisha had to conduct a science experiment at home, video-record it and send the entry. She stood 2^nd in the competition.  Ms. Oberoi guided us at every step of the way. It was an online competition so we needed a lot of technical help on how to best record the experiment. Ms. Oberoi helped us in every way possible. I also like how teachers continuously push my daughters to keep participating in non-academic activities.