Mrs Revathi Shankar is Administrator/Principal, Tejas Vidyalaya, Vadodara. The school is managed by the Uday Education Society, which had a successful and long track record running two Gujarati prestigious schools in the city. Tejas was established in 1984 by the Uday Education Trust as an experiment in child-friendly, interactive, tension-free full day schooling for children. Mrs Shankar joined Tejas in 1986 as the Supervisor. Today, Tejas is the first school in Gujarat to get an ISO 9000 accreditation through the establishment of ‘quality’ checks and others systemic procedures that ensure the smooth running of the school, strengthen the ability to handle a sudden crisis and create a body of young responsible and mature citizens, to go out into the world.

Mrs Shankar graduated in Arts from the Bombay University and came into the field of education quite by chance. She joined as a primary teacher in one of the local schools when her children were growing and came to Tejas because she was very impressed by the philosophy and attitude towards children’s education of the late Smt Jayaben Patel who actually started Tejas. It was while she was still teaching at Tejas that she completed her B Ed and M Ed. In 1988, she became the Principal of the school and in 1994, the Administrator / Principal.

When Tejas Vidyalaya was started, it was operating from one house at the Alembic Colony, with only the Pre-primary Section. A new class was added every year. Mrs Shankar almost single-handedly managed to move the school to its present location with spacious classrooms and a large playground. The infrastructure requirement for a growing school was carefully planned and frugally managed. Besides the mandatory classrooms, library, laboratories and play areas, as a day school there were needs for a working kitchen, a well-stocked medical unit, audio-visual and hobby rooms and an outdoor theatre.

Mrs Shankar regularly attends seminars and workshops where new ideas in school education are discussed and demonstrated. She makes sure that her teaching staff also actively participates in teacher training workshops. She initiated the now famous Tejas Mela. Over the years, the Tejas Mela has become one of the most important events in the cultural diary of Vadodara city. The idea of using a state of India as a theme on which to base all activities of the Mela like regional dances, cuisine, clothes that parents and children will wear, the decorations reflecting the essence of the state, were conceived by Mrs Shankar. The Mela therefore went much beyond a regular school fund-raising fun fair into an event that involved information and educative activities for children and teachers too.

Just like the Mela, Mrs Shankar has been continuously thinking of innovative ways in which to make learning an interesting and joyful experiences for children. That’s how she developed the idea of Syllabus Tourism – changing the entire nature of the class picnic, into something much more dynamic, was classroom syllabus enhancing and an unforgettable experience for children. Syllabus Tourism involved making a detailed study of children and of each subject of each class and then organising a trip to a place within the state of Gujarat. She joined hands with a local NGO experienced in organising Nature Field trips for children and structured a location for each class (depending on the age group), the days they could spend overnight, and aspects of this ‘Real Laboratory’. At the same time, children also learnt the tenets of self-discipline and interdependency and managing their own belongings.