• Home
• /
• Local business
• /
• Business

Incubating the future thinkers, innovators

Dubai - Lina Ashar's KKEL believes in developing an empowered mindset

Lina Ashar, founder of Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd, did her primary schooling in England before moving to Australia, where she acquired her Bachelor's degree in Education from Melbourne's Victoria College.
In 1991, Lina came to India on a year-long sabbatical from college, while connecting with her roots, she landed up taking a school job in suburban Mumbai, an experience which changed her life. Back then, the education system in India was still grappling with a straitjacketed approach to education, leaving no scope for an overall development of the child, which was a complete contrast to the millieu of what she had studied. Lina chose to stay back in India to change the antiquated approach to education.
Her conviction to offer an education, which sets the child at its centre, led her to start her first preschool in Bandra (Mumbai) in the year 1993 with 25 students.
"Today we have 91 pre-schools and 23 full schools across India, Maldives and Dubai. Parents today are aware of our learning concepts and over the years our children have excelled in various fields and that is a living testimony to our vision and mission," Lina claims.
Purpose of learning
Lina has been extremely passionate about creating a purpose of learning and allowing children to be thinkers, innovators, problem solvers and to orchestrate experiences that will result in their overall development.
She says that every information is available on the Internet; schools need to facilitate application of the knowledge as well as create an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset.
"It's no longer about what you know; it's about what you will create. What existing problem you can solve. How you can empower others. How you will improve the quality of life of others. These mindsets (habits of mind) will determine whether our students will live an ordinary life of compliance or an extraordinary life of possibilities. Our entire learning instructional design is built around developing an empowered mindset," Lina explains.
Lina says that entire philosophy of education and parenting has developed from her observations and personal experiences.
"I watched my older brother excelled academically, but struggled socially and emotionally. On the other hand, I watched my younger brother scoring bottom-of-the-barrel grades, but had the skill of negotiation and influencing. He was passionate about football. Today, my older brother still has a highly valued at school brilliant left brain, yet it is my younger brother who leads a successful company due to his street-smart negotiating capabilities and the gift of the gab. Does this mean I advocate not applying oneself academically? The answer is a resounding 'no'! What I would have liked is a schooling system that helped my older brother develop socially and emotionally, and used my younger brother's high interest in football to teach him mathematics, English, history and even physics in a fun and interesting way. What a wonderful world that would be," she argues.
With an intention to spark human greatness in every student, Lina was the first in the Indian education industry to introduce a learner-centric methodology and introduce innovative ways of learning by providing an integrated activity and theme-based learning.
Curriculum development
Lina believes that the most important thing for any educational organisation is the development and proper implementation of the curriculum of at its schools.
"At our head office in Mumbai, we have a dedicated team of curriculum experts who are constantly working on better ways to deliver the curriculum via innovation. Our entire curriculum is based on neuroscience, which is mapped to age-appropriate learning for the child, making it truly unique. This also helps in making the students future ready as their skill sets are tuned for the future challenges," Lina explains.
Lina recalls that she started her first venture with just five members in Mumbai, which has grown to over 2,000 employees and 93 preschools + 23 full schools.
"My first source of funding came from my father and for which he says this is the best investment he has ever made," she says.
UAE a challenging market
Lina says that the UAE is an extremely challenging market to crack for any brand as there are multiple global brands already present.
"But at the same time this is a market full of opportunities, if you have a differentiated offering then this is one of the first markets to accept and adopt the product or service on offer. Yes there is competition here but it's the survival of the fittest in this market, we are extremely proud of the fact that we have a Kangaroo Kids International Preschool based in Safa 2, running extremely successfully for the past 10 years and are now wanting to set up more preschools and schools with the help and guidance of Knowledge Fund and KHDA.
Lina says that apart from expanding her current franchise footprint, she is okay to explore all areas of education.
"Be it changing the teaching methodology to digitising our instructional design," she says.
"I believe children are born with their own blueprint. Allow them to be natural, free, curious and themselves. That is what we at KKEL focused on and in 25 years we see our students excelling in all fields of life. When parents saw the difference in their children, they joined hands with us and this is what led to the success of KKEL," Lina concludes.
- riaz@khalejtimes.com