Sanjay Jogai
Principal, DWPS, Jamshedpur
Q1. Please share your educational and professional journey?
Being born and brought up in a very small town Tezu in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, my schooling was done from of this wonderful North-East state of India. As there was no concept of private schools that time, I completed my life’s preliminary education from a govt. school that was well maintained and well known for its quality education. As there was no college in my town, for higher studies I went to Jodhpur, Rajasthan in 1986 and completed my Graduation & Post graduation from Jainarayan Vyas University (formerly known as Jodhpur University). I chose Economics as my post graduation subject as it was quite close to my heart.
After doing my post graduation I joined a company in Jodhpur called Kanungo Castings as an accountant and worked there for almost 2 years.
Thereafter, with some peer influence and motivation, I appeared for B.Ed entrance exam and got through on the first attempt only and completed my regular B.Ed from Mahirshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer in 1994.
After completion of B.Ed, I joined a very small school in Jodhpur with strength of only 45 students. But very soon got a good opportunity in R.K.Public Sr.Sec.School. After 2 good years, I was selected for a renowned school Lakshmipat Singhania School, owned & managed by J.K.Tyres in Rajsamand (Rajsthan). This was the time where I grew professionally. My sincerity & dedication towards my work was recognized by the Management and I was promoted twice from a Primary teacher to a Post Graduate teacher. I was entrusted with many responsibilities in due course of time like the time-table incharge, co-curricular activities incharge, Member of School Managing Committee, Examination incharge, etc. For 9 years I served this institution and then moved on for better prospects in life. Later, I worked in Aditya Birla Group School in Chittorgarh, Mody School, Lakshmangarh and Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar.
With an aspiration of entering the Administration area, I planned to step-up my career chart and became the Principal in Guru Tegh Bahadur School in Hisar district. I also worked for a brief time in the Millennium School, Karnal. Currently, I am heading the Delhi World Public School, Jamshedpur under the aegis of Delhi World Foundation, New Delhi.
Q2.What did attract you towards teaching?
Initially I was very apprehensive whether I am fit for this profession as I was very calm and quiet person by nature and was not fond of talking or speaking much. But when I joined a School in Jodhpur, I found that it is such a pure and noble profession where you are touching heart of young kids who are so innocent and who trust you blindly. Though my English was good, initially I was not comfortable teaching kids as my accent was completely different due to my bringing up in a north-east state. But my students helped me tremendously to change the accent. They used to correct me many times. They always motivated me as I tried my best to give them best of the knowledge I had. I learnt a lot from them. They inspired me a lot for teaching career and I understood that I can be part of this profession and add value to it through my experience.
Q3. You are a Principal at Delhi World Public School, Jamshedpur. What are the main key things do you want in your school from your teachers and students?
The most important requirement from any teacher is the passion for teaching. Teachers must understand the emotional and psychological requirements of the children they are teaching. They have to keep themselves calm and patient at all levels. They must be ready to accept challenges on daily basis and also study a lot to keep themselves updated. The generation today is very smart and has a lot of information with them. Their thirst for knowledge and learning can only be managed if teachers are well equipped in their respective subjects. Teachers must be creative and well equipped with latest technology.
From students’ point of view I want them to be respectful to their teachers and remain sincere in the classroom. They need to develop patience, alertness, thoughtfulness and engage themselves in healthy discussions with their friends, parents & teachers. They need to remain well-informed about the latest happenings. They must learn anger-management and how to handle adverse situations in life. They have to make themselves future-ready.
Q4. What kind of hurdles did you face in your journey?
When you are in education field, you have to deal with many stakeholders simultaneously. Every stakeholder has their own expectations and that is where a teacher becomes helpless. When there is unwanted pressure from above and when you have to work according to others, your creativity and productivity reduces. Fortunately, I did not face such pressures because I always believed in sincerity & dedication at work place. My work was recognized by School Management, Parents & students. I am happy that I could positively influence many lives.
Q5. You worked in many big schools like Aditya Birla, Mody School and many more. What was your that experience and how it helps you in your current project?
All these Schools are well established and have a very organized work culture. Time bound targets helped us to work accordingly. There was freedom to work. We used to support each other and discussed the performance & behavior of the child in staffroom. Interference from the Management was bare minimum. More importance was given to create a happy environment while teaching. I learnt to become very systematic in workplace, understood the value of time, learnt to provide solutions rather than creating problems, gave highest priority to performance and result.
As a Principal, I have similar expectations from my Management and teachers. It is they who make a lot of difference in any School environment.
Q6. How do you motivate yourself at every morning?
Every day is a new day for me as I am dealing with kids whose mood can change any time. I always feel that you should be optimist at all times. I know that everyday a new challenge will arise, but then a good solution to that makes everyone happy. The happy environment in School always results in better performance by students & teachers. For keeping myself motivated, I talk more with the children and try to understand their feelings and in return the child feels comforted and smiles. That makes my day.
Q7. Today is a world of online medium. What do you think about that online medium? Does it good for students comparing offline study?
The current COVID-19 crisis has actually created a new problem to the world. It has made the parents & the students confused about what is the future of learning. Though online classes have helped everybody in engaging the students in current situation, I believe that we need to work a lot in this area. Many schools have already shared the variety of problems faced by their teachers during online classes. The children need to be trained and counseled regarding the online etiquettes. There is a huge dearth of it. Parents also need similar trainings to control the situation.
Online class culture may gain momentum post Corona as well, but it cannot replace the offline mode of schooling. Recent studies & researches already have found that online classrooms lack emotional & psychological attachment. More students would like to go offline for studies because the current generation does not want themselves to be locked down for long. Hence, a good and judicious integration of offline & online mode would be a better option for the overall development of a child. We will have to learn to live in the new learning atmosphere post COVID-19.
Q8. What is the meaning of success in your terms?
Success means self-satisfaction. Self satisfaction may be measured by collecting various inputs from the stakeholders, family members and friends. It is not about getting a good salary package, higher positions or giving best results, it is about feeling satisfied and happy in your job.
Q9. Which one thing do you want to change in your industry and why?
I want the unnecessary experimentations in education field to stop at the earliest. In India, whenever there is change in any govt. or Management or Principal, things tend to change very fast as per their convenience. We have to give the teachers & children some space to breathe and act freely. Introduction of lot of new things every year is just engaging the children into some or the other activity whereas we are still not successful in making our learning rote free, reducing the burden of bag and stress free.
I wish I could make all these changes in my workplace, but then, I am not the sole decision maker and therefore, many parameters influence this.
