Podar Pearl School signs agreement with Podar Education Network

Crossing a milestone, Podar Pearl School Saturday celebrated the signing of a partnership agreement with Podar Education Network and marked the foundation stone laying for its Sports Complex.
A function was held in this regard on the school’s Al Meshaf campus in the presence of several dignitaries, including Indian ambassador Dr Deepak Mittal, Pearl School patron Sheikh Hassan bin Abdullah Hassan Ali al-Thani, Sheikh Jaber bin Hassan Abdullah al-Thani, school director Shamna Mohamed Althaf, Podar Education Network director Harsh Podar and other school directors.
The function also saw cultural performances by students.

 

Dr Mittal, who expressed pleasure at attending the event, said sports is an integral part of any educational institution and wished the Sports Complex would be developed as a state-of-the-art facility. He said Qatar is paying much attention to sports and the facility will help students become healthy and meet their physical engagement needs.

The envoy stressed that the agreement with Podar will help the school cater to the emerging educational needs of students, adding that the school will make the students better citizens.

Podar Education Network is one of the oldest and largest school networks in India. Established in 1927 and Mahatma Gandhi being the first president of the trust, this 95-year-old education network is spread across India with 136 schools, more than 180,000 students, and 7,600-plus experienced teaching faculty.



School president Sam Mathew said the Podar group of schools is well-known for its academic excellence and holistic development of students. “The backbone of Podar Education Network is the Podar Innovation Centre, which is one of the best-in-class centralised educational research centres with more than 100 highly experienced educationalists. This centre focuses on lesson planning, examination paper setting, teachers' training, coaching and other development programmes. Associating with such a credible education network is a big boost for us in realising our vision,” he said.




Harsh Podar said it is an honour for Podar Education Network to partner with Pearl School and impart quality education in Doha. “Podar Education Network has vast expertise in the field of education, with our first school opening in 1927. The vision of Podar Education Network is to raise the traditional standards of educational possibilities and outcomes for students, parents and society,” he said.
Shamna Mohamed Althaf said the Podar group of schools is among the top entities in India when it comes to academic excellence and the holistic development of students. "What makes them different is the research and innovation, teachers’ training and technology application. The group has a unique approach to exploring and identifying students’ aptitude and fitness and creating programmes accordingly. This is a very scientific and professional approach to students' holistic development,” she noted.
“Pearl School was started by a few like-minded individuals with a strong social focus. The motive was to create a full-fledged education institution with state-of-the-art facilities to benefit the Indian community in Qatar. We looked at the infrastructure of other global educational institutions in Qatar and the way these ecosystems support the holistic development of students to achieve their life goals,” said C M Nizar, another director.
Pearl School, with the new tie-up with Podar, has all the ingredients to be one of the best-in-class Indian schools in the Middle East, a press statement noted. School facilities include the latest technology-enabled classroom set-up, open areas, play areas, other skill development facilities, sports, games, dance and music.
Faisal Hyder, another school director, noted that technology-enabled teaching is an integral part of the school's new approach.” With support from Podar Education Network, we will advance in this area. Podar Education Network is one of the pioneers in introducing 3D printers, Artificial Intelligence and robotics in school learning. They have an advanced innovation lab to do practicals in these emerging topics, which are useful for 21st century students,” he explained.
“With a clear vision of building a purposeful and resilient institution to meet the life goals and aspirations of our children, parents and staff, the school management invested in improving the facilities as well as the quality of teaching in the school. In 2019, the school laid the foundation for a purpose-built school campus at Al Meshaf. The building was completed in a record time of 15 months,” he added.
Director Pradeep Chandran said academic excellence is at the core of the school. “This tie-up with Podar group will further strengthen us in achieving this. The new campus has all the facilities to support this, such as the latest technology-enabled classrooms, laboratories, multiple libraries, in addition to top-class teaching faculty,” he said.
"Aligning with our vision of enabling achievement of student’s life goals, the school created support facilities like excellent play areas, a mini-Olympic size swimming pool, a large multipurpose hall, tennis and basketball courts, a large and spacious cafeteria, training rooms, and purpose-built rooms for music & dance, etc," added Ashraf Madathil, one of the school directors.
According to the statement from the school, the Multi-Sports Complex of Podar Pearl School includes a wide range of sporting facilities, including international standard tennis courts, a basketball court, nine-a-side football court, full-fledged hockey ground, multiple squash courts and a multi-purpose hall. The facility also includes recreational and indoor sports such as a bowling alley, mini-golf room, dance rooms, indoor games facilities and a premium food court.
“In 2016, Podar Schools innovated a new concept of sensory rooms called ‘Sensory Spa’ in their preschools, where children experience soft sounds, dimmed lights, an unhurried agenda and the pleasure of playing using all the senses. The reason for introducing it is that children are constantly in brightly lit spaces with a mixture of sounds. The technology gadgets that they usually use control the flow of the interaction and thus they are unable to experience the world with their other senses. In our sensory rooms called 'Sensory Spas', children are able to use these gadgets to design their own games, at their own pace and feel a sense of relaxation and achievement- a unique combination," the statement explained.
In addition, the ‘Mother Toddler programme’ part of Podar Jumbo Kids incorporates fun learning methods for children between 12 and 24 months, which help in brain development through multi-sensory activities. This programme helps the children gain a smooth transition to Nursery. The program mealso touches upon play-way, Montessori, Reggio, Froebel, & EYFS blended learning, the school said.
“Going forward, we will be known as Podar Pearl School and any students from our school will have a preferential status in getting admission in any Podar Education Network in India, including higher education centres and professional colleges of Podar,” it added.