State and University topper, Fatima Agarkar, after receiving a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from England, apart from her B.ED and ECCE, began her journey in the corporate world. She was adjudged Education World’s top 50 young educators in 2014, and is also the recipient of several awards for outstanding contribution to education in 2013, 2015. Commerzbank, Times of India and Egon Zender International as diverse organizations were the perfect foundation before she was involved in the set up of three premier K-12 national and international schools in Mumbai.
Having gathered tremendous experience as a result of managing schools with which she has been associated with, Fatima now partners Gitika to create more opportunities for stakeholders in the education space with a passion for teacher training, special needs and sports. Pioneering, “out of box” and a risk taker, Fatima’s love for children defines her passion for the team she leads. KA EduAssociates, an educational start-up is an initiative co-founded by Fatima Agarkar. Fatima launched initiative which is an optimistic step towards enhancing the quality of pedagogy via teachers but also training and educating the parents to keep up with academic advancement of their children through parenting workshops, open platform discourses etc.
We have the educationist and entrepreneur, Fatima, grace us at Women Fitness India, as she talks about education in this era.
NN:
Achieving a masters in Business Administration with distinction in Strategic Management and Marketing from the University of Birmingham (Central England) is a grand achievement. Can you elaborate what drew you towards this field and what motivated you towards further pursuing a BEd and Ecc as teacher training qualifications?
FA:
As a commerce student, everyone aspires for a Masters so it isn’t a grand achievement. It is kind of what our generation thought as a stepping stone to a career in banking. But after a short stint working as a banker, I realised that was not my calling. Education was something I thought about a lot when during my Masters, given that I topped University at TY but that gave me nothing in terms of a foundation for pursuing a Masters and how different skills come into play to decode those case studies, examinations.
Also life skills, living alone, managing everything including course work and working on campus etc was indeed different from the life we have back home. It also taught me multitasking, how to prioritise, how to handle different people and situations independently. These are perhaps important skills to be learnt as a student and our education system does not include these. So there was a gap!! And I was excited about what I could do to bridge it. So the decision to be in education meant that I would have to learn the nuances and therefore qualifications are necessary. BED and ECC are natural to achieve that understanding.
NN:
According to you today, Education is much more than a child attending school, and keeping track of her academic routine. Please Elaborate.
FA:
It is about holistic education incorporating life skills, co-curriculars like performing arts, creative arts and sports. It is about nurturing individual talent and providing them a platform for achieving their dreams. So education is getting the children life ready and making sure they are adaptable, happy and healthy as well.
NN:
After launching KA EduAssociates in Mumbai in 2016 along with co-founding partner Gitika. Your company branched out into consultancy. How successful have you been with your decision and what has been the response of the masses? What all services do you offer?
FA:
In two and a half years – 4 national and international high schools, 4 pre-schools as a consultancy pan India is reasonable achievement working with some of the finest names in industry as promotors.
We also have teacher training, curriculum design, school audits, parenting and student workshops as other verticals.
FULL INTERVIEW ON NEXT PAGE!
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