NetSupport Radio

Bett Interview: Kanak Gupta - How data can improve education

March 31, 2023 NetSupport
NetSupport Radio
Bett Interview: Kanak Gupta - How data can improve education
Show Notes Transcript

Kanak Gupta is Group Director of Seth M.R. Jaipuria Group of Schools in India which is responsible for educating over 50,000 students from a diverse range of backgrounds. One of speakers at Bett, he explained to Russell that his talk was about digitisation in schools can move education forward, especially if everyone from different countries shares their experiences. 

He also talked about how education should be more than simply testing if students are to succeed in the future. He explained, "We need to understand that empathy is the key. We need to understand that creating experiences is the key. We need to understand that more than just examination. It's, you know, the overall 21st century skills that we talk about."

www.jaipuriaschools.ac.in

@KANAK0409

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Russell Prue: Listeners, my next guest has just come off stage with the fabulous, Al Kingsley. Sir, introduce yourself and tell our listeners what you've been talking about.

 Kanak Gupta: Hi, everyone. I'm Kanak Gupta. I am the group director of Seth M.R. Jaipuria Schools – we're from India. I run 50 K-12 schools in the country, responsible for 50,000 plus students in the country and Tier II, Tier III cities, very marginalised societies, and I'm delighted to be at Bett. 

RP: Welcome, thank you. Is this your first Bett? 

 KG: No, this is my third Bett. I'm speaking the second time at Bett.

 RP: Well done, congratulations. How was your talk? Well received?

 KG: They were throwing vegetables – no, I'm just joking! The talk was all about as to how digitalisation can happen at schools. And we shared experiences as to how it's happening in the UK versus India, and other parts of the country– of other parts of the world. Basically, we're all talking about as to how we're looking at solving small problems through technology and ensuring that schools are not left behind when the world is changing so fast. 

 RP: So, example of that would be…?

KG: So we're looking at integrating a lot of the curriculum pedagogy with a technology. Strongly, I believe that, you know, it's not technology that's going to replace teachers; it's teachers who have resistance to technology who are going to get replaced by teachers who accept technology well. 

 We're looking at identifying parents as two partners in the teaching-learning process, as to how you can, you can educate kids about proper usage of social media, about next-gen technology, including ChatGPT. I know everyone around at Bett has been banning it a lot. But well, that's the future, I guess. 

 RP: It is a challenging future. You are right to do that. How do we – how do we educate the kids when we don't have the expertise in the classroom to do that?

 KG: So, I think we need to understand that our teachers– there are two things, right? Like, so we are preparing our kids for a future that we've not identified yet. I don't know what the jobs of the future would be all about. Twenty years ago, if someone would have told me that selling books is going to be the richest person– one of the richest people in the world with Amazon, I would have laughed. And 20 years ago our teachers who were at then in education colleges, they did not know as to technology is going to come into the classroom in such a big way. They did not think that collaboration is going to be an important thing. They did not think that we're going to laugh about competition. We're not going to be, like, you know, everyone's running their own race. It's not a competition, really. 

 So things have changed and I think gradually, we will internalise; gradually, we will understand as to what needs to be done. But a lot of decisions would be driven by data. I say this quite often that, you know, 'In God, we trust – everyone else should bring data.' So a lot of decisions would be driven by data.

 RP: Ah, you said that. Now, I've heard that banded around quite a lot today. You're the originator. 

 KG: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

 RP: I like it. It's got style. I like it. OK. That's good. So data, it's about that. How do we interpret the data? Because as we all know, there's many ways to interpret a data set. 

 KG: So I think we need to understand as to– So, every school would have its own personality; every school would have its own set of challenges. We need to learn from each other that the 'what, when, why, where, how,' but we also need to internalise and understand what our specific problems are. The interpretation of the data would only happen once we know what we are exactly looking at. 

 Now, if I do a regression analysis in a school environment, for the kids, it makes absolute no sense, you know. But, to understand as to where the child is performing as to their own limited or vast abilities, that's the key skill. 

 We need to educate our teachers more about data information. We need to educate our parents as well. Because you know, again, you know this is something I've seen all over the world. Except for the educators is, everyone else is an expert on education. 

 RP: Welcome to my world. Welcome to my world. I get that, I can see why you're so incredibly attractive and your sessions are so well attended. Amazing, amazing perspective as well. Really good. How's the solution? What is the long-term solution? 

 KG: I guess the long-term solution is to collaborate more than compete. I think we need to socially network more – be it on social media or on platforms such as Bett – to learn from each other. Because I think the pandemic did this for us, right? Like, whether the whole world came as one but also the education fraternity started collaborating more. I think that is what has happened. And I think we need to continue doing that. Instead of being very focused– Like, you know, as to how the education system emerged was, we all wanted to sell books and created classrooms. And, you know, it's now turned from the industrial revolution to technology, to now, social revolution. We need to understand that empathy is the key. We need to understand that creating experiences is the key. We need to understand that, more than just examination, it's you know, the overall 21st century skills that we talk about. Let's look at those. 

RP: Amen. That's just perfect. It's refreshing to hear someone as academically acclaimed as yourself, saying exactly what I guess the new thinkers, the clear thinkers, the new policy makers hopefully will also be saying. 

Where can folks connect with you, social and social media?

KG:  So, I'm on LinkedIn and I'm on Twitter. My name is Kanak Gupta. If you just Google search my name with Kanak Gupta and Jaipuria schools, you'll be able to find me. 

RP: Thank you so much for joining us. Good to talk to you. 

KG: And you. Thank you.