KOLKATA: Come July 17 and RP Goenka International School (RPGIS) at Alipore, Kolkata, will begin its session from nursery to Grade 5. With the school opening this Monday, RPGIS will become the first and only institution in the eastern part of the country to offer the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). An international curriculum, IB PYP is a transdisciplinary, inquiry-based framework for learners aged 3-12. With state-of-the-art infrastructure and diverse faculty, the Cambridge Certified School envisions providing holistic inquiry-based education that fosters critical thinking, autonomy, and creativity backed by a strong value system.
A pass-out from the ICSE board in Kolkata, Shashwat Goenka, Sector Head Retail and FMCG RPSG Group told Millennium Post: “ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) was great for our days and age but we need to look at how education has transformed from classroom teaching to collaborative spaces. When we thought of coming up with a school, which will create future leaders of tomorrow, we knew it had to have world-class facilities with the right kind of balance between academics and extra-curricular activities. We need to provide the skills our kids need for tomorrow. IBPYP instills in the child a lifelong love for learning. It helps in holistic development of the kid,” he said. From design technology and robotics lab, also known as Makerspace to dedicated spaces for students to create and rehearse, the school is a paradise for students who love activities. The school also has a black box, a space for enhanced and focused performances made for students who want to pursue drama at a higher level. Then, there’s a glow room for sensory play for the youngest learners and a music room filled with instruments. In fact, there are two separate individual practice rooms for students to focus on mastering individual instruments under the guidance of experienced teachers.
As Shashwat along with Shivika Goenka, founder, RP Goenka International School, took us around the newly-constructed building on Friday, she said the school has a low teacher-student ratio of 1:5 that allows personalised learning. She also informed that the institute provides dedicated Special Education Needs (SEN) spaces to support students with diverse learning requirements.
“IBPYP is all about experiential and new-age learning along with AR, VR, machine learning, AI, robotics and the core subjects. The classrooms are more interactive and less structured. We concentrated on collaborative learning,” said Shivika. With principal Hema Chennupathy, winner of the GLSC Edu Icon 2023 Award, and Head of School Mark Fox, RPGIS, at present, there are 48 teachers across disciplines. The group will introduce more grades up to Grade 12 in the next 2-3 years. “We will focus a lot on student exchange programmes, reading and writing programmes to hone their skills,” said Shivika. The pre-primary session starts at 8.30 am -12.30 pm, and the Grade 1-Grade 5 session begins at 8.15 am – 3 pm. The annual fee is Rs 4.35 lakh.