Leaders
Dr. Gillian Rosemary Hart: Molding Students To Be Inquisitive, Curious & Empathetic
Dr. Gillian Rosemary Hart
Director & CEO, Welland Gouldsmith Schools
Article 21(A) of the Indian Constitution ensures the right to education for every child under the age of 14 years, irrespective of gender. While the constitution makes no discrimination on basis of gender, the reality is far from that. An astonishing number of people in our country are still ignorant about the criticality of educating girls and how it can change their lives for the better. Early education has the potential to shape society in a better way. When a girl is educated, she is empowered. She gains the power to make her own decisions, improve the standard of life for her family and children, create more employment, and reform society as a whole.
Committed to educating girls across the underprivileged sections of society is WellandGouldsmith School (WGS). A primary, secondary, and senior secondary school based in Kolkata, West Bengal, provides free of cost education to girls who can’t afford it. Dr. Gillian Hart has served as Principal of the WellandGouldsmith School, B. B. Ganguly Street for the past forty two years. She is the longest serving Anglo Indian Principal of an Anglo Indian School in India. Dr Hart also single handedly set up and established another co –educational branch of the WellandGouldsmith School in Baishnabghata, Patuli in 2006. That school is growing and flour is hing and has almost 2000 students from the Nursery to Higher Secondary level, who appear for the ICSE & ISC Examinations of the Delhi Board.
In an Interview with Women Entrepreneur team, ace educator Dr. Gillian Rosemary Hart, Director & CEO, WellandGouldsmith Schools takes us through the various facets of the educational institution sand discusses her view on how to make students learn holistically.
Take Us Through Well and gould smith Schools’ Illustrious History. What Is The School’s Primary Motto?
The school was founded by Reverend Joseph Wellandand Reverend Herbert Gouldsmith and that’s how we got the name WellandGouldsmith. We are one of the oldest schools in Kolkata that has recently completed its 150th year. We started it as an institute for girls in this area. Initially, we had more orphan children and children from broken homes in the boarding section that had around 200 girls. As time went on, the school strength grew. The school had only 650 girls when I joined but now we have approximately 3000 girls.
We believe in educating women and helping women to establish themselves in life. We provide education for girls till Higher Secondary level and also have an Extension Welfare Fund through which we send underprivileged students for higher education. Our main goal is to work towards the advancement of the girl child and women’s education. Fortunately, the school is progressing well and I am happy that we are reaching out to so many children.
“The real difficultyis the lack of day-to-day interaction with the children.in terms of administration, collection of the fees has become troublesome for us”
As An Experienced Educator What Is Your Opinion About The Indian Education Sector’s Current Scenario? How Has Education For Girls Evolved Over The Past Few Years?
The education sector in India has always been very good, especially at the high school level. I have visited several institutions abroad. Our students at the primary, middle and high school are excellent as compared to the students abroad. Children here have a very good graph of what is taught to them. One difference I can see is that in India, children accept what is taught to them, whereas abroad, children are more critical and inquisitive. They question things which is a good trait for a student. Our students do better than their counterparts when they go abroad for higher education; this shows the Indian education system has been designed well. Concerning girl's education, I have seen a lot of changes since I joined this school. During the 1980’s girls would study up to class 10 and then drop out due to marriage or any other such reasons. However, now every single child who comes to our school goes up to secondary level and even higher which is a good change that I have observed.
What Steps Would You Suggest Educational Institutions And Corresponding Bodies Take To Ensure That Students Receive Ample Opportunity To Grow Holistically?
Well trained faculty and staff is the most important one to have for every educational institute. If the teachers are well trained, they in turn teach and train the children well. We have to get the best faculty we can and have to put in the best infrastructure as well. The infrastructure should have open classrooms so that children are not crowded in small spaces. Teaching and learning are the mainconcerns, but the school must also teach tolerance, compassion and humanity, which is the need of the hour. The pandemic is allowing children to learn more such values.
The factor that we need to build in our children is the spirit to enquire, ask more and more questions and learn by doing things practically. They must start thinking way ahead in this situation so that they can widen their horizon. All these aspects will help them grow holistically.
These are unusual times that are a first for us all. How do you think has the pandemic affected the staff, students, and the administration of the school? Over the last year, there have been several changes in the education sector due to the pandemic. In order to adapt we have had to change the entire mode of teaching from face-to-face classroom teaching to online learning. Our school staff and the students have adapted to it without any difficulties. The real difficulty is the lack of day-to-day interaction with the children. In terms of administration, collection of the fees has become troublesome for us. Though we are providing concessions, parents are finding it difficult to pay the fee which has resulted in a drop in our fee collection.
Going Forward, What Is The Roadmap Set For Wellandgouldsmith Schools?
WellandGouldsmithis an English medium and an Anglo-Indian school. As our students are facing problems when they go for higher education, especially in teacher training institutes, I have submitted a letter to the Government of West Bengal to begin a Teacher Training College for girls initially and later a B.Ed college for both boys and girls. Now, unfortunately due to the pandemic, the processing of the application has been delayed. I also have plans to set up an institute especially for girls, to learn skills such as fashion designing, hospitality management, etc.
Hopefully, within the next five years, we will be able to execute all our pending plans.
Dr. Gillian Rosemary Hart, Director & CEO, Wellandgouldsmith Schools
She is the longest serving Anglo Indian Principal of an Anglo Indian School in India. Dr Hart also single handedly set up and established another co –educational branch of the Wellandgouldsmith School in Baishnabghata, Patuli in 2006.