Sited on a 5.08 acre campus in Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh), MD International School (estb. 2014) is a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated co-ed day school that offers contemporary K-12 education “with a human touch and visionary outlook”.  The school follows an activity-based curriculum supplemented with skillful usage of multiple intelligences and collective wisdom.

“Our vision is to provide value-based education with new innovations and ideas so that our children grow into aesthetically aware and integrated young people, capable of fulfilling their dreams and aspirations,” says Ritu Kochhar, Principal of MD International School. A postgraduate in commerce and English topped with a B.Ed. qualification, Kochhar served as the head of the commerce department in Meerut Public School for a decade and thereafter served as a school principal in Sardhana and Meerut for six years prior to taking charge as the principal of MDIS. 

She adds, “MDIS is the signature statement of education concepts that takes a life time to evolve. It is a fairy tale translation and prudent synthesis of innumerable views of the elite thinking of contemporary school education. It is not merely a congregation of children gathered to study in a class room. It is something more. We want to encourage mutualism, develop global vision, enhance value-based education and capacity to take decisions in difficult times.”

Drawing the best from multiple pedagogies

At MDIS, a variety of teaching methodologies enrich the classroom learning experiences which “are normally different from other schools”. The teachers use examples from their daily life, give individual attention to the learners more emphatically, focusing on making the children more interested in their subjects by showing them video clips/ visuals / handouts / movies. The school tries to inculcate values of honesty, truthfulness, collaboration, empathy, international understanding and more through well designed activities.

Globally benchmarked curriculum

MDIS has introduced a globally benchmarked curriculum that has received accreditation from the British Council. The students are encouraged to engage in various knowledge exchange activities with schools in other countries through Skype and other online digital platforms.

MDIS boasts collaborations with schools in several foreign countries such as Russia, Bangladesh, Romania, Yemen, Pakistan, Nepal, Taiwan, Turkey, Egypt, Srilanka, Nepal, Greece and many more. The curriculum at MDIS Bijnor is designed to support a developmental, student-centered approach where teaching for understanding is coupled with a stimulating and varied curriculum.

The school is a recipient of the “International School Award”2017-2020 of the British Council.

Seamless delivery of online learning during the pandemic

While the school was physically shut and admissions were kept on hold, the MDIS management and staff decided to meet the challenges head-on and strived to provide effective solutions for streamlining the admission process. The admin team and the teachers were in constant touch with the parents to help them with the 2020 admission process and has so far, been able to successfully enrol around 500 new students.

The school continued providing quality education through online classes at a nominal fee structure. “Conducting virtual classes in the present times of Covid-19 definitely was a huge and sudden challenge. It became imperative to rethink, reinvent teaching pedagogy to blend with the present situation.” says Ritu Kochhar.

The virtual classes are being conducted successfully through, Zoom and WhatsApp groups. This multi-platform approach ensures that no student suffers due to poor connectivity. To ensure excellent student learning outcomes, the school adopted a number of practices such as syllabus completion on time, written exams, maintaining discipline in online classes and emphasis on the holistic development of students.

Also read: Why kids should be exposed to a planned online learning system rather than a haywire approach?