Manit has been actively involved with The Heritage Schools in an advisory capacity on several strategic issues including infrastructure development, talent attraction, curriculum design, teacher capability development, parent engagement, systems, processes and standard operational procedures. He has personally championed and led several change initiatives to transform the school into an experiential learning school. He is also the co-founder of I am a Teacher, an initiative that is developing a model for practice-based teacher education in collaboration with Boston Teacher Residency.
This firmly held belief is what drove the founder of the Heritage Schools, N.C. Jain, to enter the field of education over 15 years ago. His philosophy, passion and belief have been the guide for many to find their own truth in their lives as his presence continues to inspire the next level of changes in the education ecosystem. Known for his philanthropy, he is actively involved with various social organisations for welfare work.
Lalit Jain has founded and led many entrepreneurial ventures in social as well as corporate sectors in technology, education and infrastructure development. A civil engineer by qualification, he has successfully spearheaded critical projects for the development of The Heritage Schools. He also serves as a member on the board of The Heritage Schools.
Rajesh has over 25 years of experience in setting up and leading organisations across diverse sectors such as real estate, education, export manufacturing and information & technology. Apart from this, he has also provided direction to a multitude of social initiatives in the healthcare and education verticals. A second-generation entrepreneur, he provides strategic direction to all entities under the Conscient umbrella. In the education space, he has also co-founded the Heritage School in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi in 1999.
Smriti is the co-founder of I am a Teacher (IAAT), a not-for-profit organisation which aims to prepare a critical mass of teachers that can lead change in and through classroom. She headed the Middle School at HXLS, leading a team of 50 teachers. She stepped into this role at a critical stage where the Middle School was being transformed from a conventional programme to a more experiential, progressive, relevant and child-centred programme. In the last few years, she has worked extensively with teachers and facilitated several workshops for teachers.
Spokey has successfully led, transformed and reviewed schools and their networks, working with government, commercial and not for profit organisations, international agencies and universities throught his career spanning UK, Singapore, Germany and India. He co-founded Adhyayan Quality Education Services Pvt. Ltd., an educational leadership movement that is helping to transform the learning and lives of children from the poorest and the most underprivileged families. Spokey has led the strategic planning, development and delivery of a leadership programme designed for over 7800 school principals in government schools across Kerala, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for the National Centre for School Leadership. He has also provided sustained strategic and operational guidance as the international education consultant for The Open University’s ‘Teacher Education through School-Based Support’ across various states in India. His previous work also includes designing and developing ARK’s ‘School Leaders India’ programme while serving as a teacher training consultant for the World Bank in India. He has a B.Ed Hons and MA from Sussex University. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Ms. Poonam Dahiya has 25 years of proven track record in the educational sector which includes 15 years of experience with International Baccalaureate® (IB). She has worked as Diploma Programme Coordinator in Pathways World School Aravali, Gurgaon and Greenwood High International School, Bangalore. Poonam is a Principal examiner with IB and was also an external member of the curriculum review committee for language acquisition courses. She is a Diploma Programme workshop leader for Language acquisition and Language A literature and have led many workshops for these subjects across the Asia Pacific region. Poonam has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miranda House College, Delhi University. She has done her B.Ed from Central Institute of Education, Delhi University, following which she completed her Masters.
Prerna has been in the field of education for over 18 years and in the area of Teacher Education since the last seven years. She was one of the founding members of ‘I Am A Teacher’ (IAAT) and was the Head of Academics, IAAT for the Mumbai Centre in American School of Mumbai. Trained in systems thinking and experiential education, Prerna has worked with some of the most progressive schools and organizations of the country such as – Shikshantar School, Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Azim Premji University and The Teacher Foundation, Bangalore. As an educator and a Coach, Prerna has been designing and facilitating experiential training programmes for diverse groups of teachers. She has led several teams of educators and has been involved in conceptualizing and launching innovative Teacher Education programmes across schools and organizations she has worked with. She has experience of working on the Pre- service, the In – service as well as Online Teacher preparation programmes with educators across the country and overseas. Prerna has a Bachelors in Education and has studied Early Childhood care and education. She has also been a student of Conflict transformation and Peace building. Her areas of interest and expertise are Mindfulness in education, Inquiry based learning, Assessments and Early learning pedagogies.
Driven by a deep-rooted passion as an educator, Priya nurtures a vision to promote excellence in the field of primary education. Priya has extensively served in the education sector for over a decade. She was one of the founding members of Early Learning Village. Previously, Priya was Head of Lower Primary and a member of Primary Leadership Team at The British School where she led teachers and was responsible for delivering holistic education to an international body of students. She has also served as the Literacy coordinator at the British School. A leader in education she has participated and led many educational workshops. She champions the cause for excellence in education and loves promoting a culture of reading for young children. Graduate in elementary education from Lady Shriram College, Delhi University.
Vishnu has over 15 years of experience in leadership development, school leadership and school administration. He is responsible for new school initiatives and strategic projects for the group including curriculum development, instructional leadership, continuous school improvement, technology integration and leadership development. In his prior roles, he has been the head of the Senior School, grade IX economics teacher and a trekking instructor. A proponent of experiential learning, he has visited over 50 experiential and deeper learning schools worldwide. Among his other administrative responsibilities, he is keenly interested in building instructional leadership capabilities, cognitive neuroscience, education technology, college readiness and placements, student leadership development, adolescent coaching, authentic assessments and deeper learning curriculum. He has also been a management consultant and worked with organisations like Accenture and Right Management in the areas of leadership development, organisation change management, learning design. He has delivered projects in India, USA, South East Asia and Europe. In 2009, he co-authored (along with Swami Mitrananda) Se(a)king – a travelogue on a 14-day sojourn across the Arabian sea on a cargo ship. He is a practitioner of Yoga and Vedanta and believes that his work is a medium to reach his deeper self. He is also a proud father of a daughter who has Down syndrome. You can read Vishnu’s blog on https://medium.com/@vishnukarthik.
Prerna believes that a true teacher is a facilitator who creates a learning environment that is intellectually stimulating and a safe space where students take ownership of their learning. She has consistently worked towards designing and executing multidisciplinary learning expeditions and believes in igniting students’ interests in socially relevant issues to help them become active citizens. She has a Postgraduate degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and is trained in the field of Expeditionary Learning. She has been a facilitator for Experiential Educator’s Conclave, an annual event organiSed by the Centre for Experiential Education.
Yogesh has over 30 years of experiencein the international, national curricula as well as educationalservices. She specialises in mentoring schools in designingcurriculum, strengthening their standards for IB and CIS evaluationand accreditation design and strategically planning the professionaldevelopment of their teachers. As the erstwhile Academics Directorand Founding Member of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai,she was instrumental in establishing and managing its InternationalBaccalaureate® Diploma Programme and International General Certificateof Secondary Education. She is the founder of Course Leap Education,an organisation that offers unique tailored solutions to schools andstudents to achieve excellence through the application of strongacademic principles and practices. Yogesh has two Masters degrees,one in Education from the University of Bath, UK, with specialisationin Educational Leadership and Management and the other in Mathematicsfrom Delhi University. She also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Physics(Hons.) and Education from Delhi University.
Ariana is the creator of the Human Framework, and works with adults and children at all levels of the school community to foster emotional intelligence, leadership, conflict resolution skills, and mindfulness of social-conditioning through workshops and curriculum development. She formerly worked for the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana in Uttar Pradesh as a Program Expert on Leadership and Communications where she led trainings for young women on menstrual hygiene and discriminatory social myths. She has authored a graphic novel, 'Spreading Your Wings,' to inspire mindset shifts around menstrual hygiene and the female body, which is published by Zubaan Publishers. She has been a visiting faculty for I am a Teacher for the last 5 years, in addition to working as the Deputy Director at The United State of Women, Washington, D.C. While Deputy Director she collaborated with the Obama Administration's White House Council on Women and Girls to launch the first United State of Women Summit. She is a graduate of Carleton College, USA.
Ezette is an internationally respected leader in education strategy, redefinition of curriculum and pedagogical change. She has designed and implemented curriculum frameworks internationally, most recently in Australia and the Middle East and was the head of curriculum for the Government of Abu Dhabi. She has also held Directorship and Principal positions in various locations around the world. Ezette holds Master of Education and Bachelor of Arts degrees with a double major in Linguistics and Literature and also holds numerous other graduate diplomas including the Teaching of Reading.
Jyothi has worked in leading CBSE and IB schools. In the course of her career at The British School, she not only taught English Literature and Language at the IGCSE level but also Literature at both the Higher Level and Standard level for the IB students. She became the Key Stage 5 Coordinator and then the Deputy Principal of the secondary school. Her most recent assignment was as Director Development, The Ardee Schools in New Friends Colony, Gurugram and Goa where she was responsible for revamping the curriculum, introducing relevant policies and procedures and most importantly getting the Cambridge accreditation. She believes in constantly upgrading her skills and has attended various training sessions at the Principal's Training College, London and IIM, Ahmedabad to name a few. She has been awarded the Indu Chowfin Award for excellence in teaching. As an educator, she believes that education should make students critical thinkers as well as open minded, balanced and principled individuals who are accepting of different ideologies and work towards a more peaceful world.
Jacqueline has more than two decades of experience as a master educator, instructional coach, teacher trainer, and facilitator of professional learning. She specializes in mathematics pedagogy and content and is an exemplary international instructional leader. Jacqueline enjoys working in a myriad of environments, demonstrating a chameleonic ability to build leadership capacity and improve student learning by enhancing teachers’ pedagogy and content knowledge. She is a dedicated proponent for Concrete-Representational-Abstract, a research-based gradual systematic approach that has been found to be highly effective in teaching math concepts. Jacqueline’s education, training, and experiences have opened doors for Jacqueline to lead professional learning sessions across the globe, work directly with international thought leaders in mathematics, and make an indelible impact in teacher practice across three continents.
Miguel is an expert in the college application and funding process, specialising in finding a true ‘fit’ for each individual student. He has extensive experience in advising creative and culturally diverse students for their successful matriculation to a college or university of their choice. He has placed over 100 students annually to some of the most prestigious and selective colleges and universities in the USA and Canada. Miguel has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of San Diego, USA, and a certification in Fundraising and Development from the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Over 17 years of experience in general management, administration, operations, compliance, governance, team building and safety & security including 7 years of distinguished service in the Indian Army and 10 years of working in K-12 schools. Some of the schools Capt Gurmeet has worked includes The British School, New Delhi and Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon. In her last assignment, she was the head of operations and administration at Shiv Nadar school, Gurgaon.
Noora joins us from The University of Pennsylvania where she holds an M.S.Ed in Learning Sciences and Technology. At Heritage Xperiential Learning School, she pioneers Design Thinking and Maker Mindset as part of the curriculum, further driving the school’s experiential and project-based pedagogy. She is a published learning scientist who has led multiple initiatives on imparting mobile computing skills to middle school students across public and private schools in the United States of America. She has led research on the Milken-funded project, Code for Philadelphia, a curriculum that focused on building students’ engagement in STEM through the creation of mobile apps. Her work has been presented at Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference in London and published in the International Journal of Learning Sciences.
Alumnus of University of Michigan
Dennis is the co-founder and co-director of The Met School, co-founder of Big Picture Learning and founder and President of College Unbound. He is known in the US for his extensive work in secondary education in urban, suburban, and rural settings, spanning over 40 years. As an educator, Dennis has a reputation for working up against the edge of convention and out of the box, turning tradition on its head and delivering concrete results.
He holds a double Ph.D. in psychology and education from the University of Michigan. In 2003, Dennis was recognised as a leader in education and awarded the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education. Fast Company ranked Littky #4 among the top 50 Innovators of 2004, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation recently selected Dennis as part of their Daring Dozen. Most recently, Dennis was awarded the New England Higher Education Excellence Award in 2011.
Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard
Graduate School of Education
Linda, Ed.D., is the first Executive Director of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship in the US, an Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and serves on numerous non-profit boards both locally and nationally. As an experienced leader in education, she actively mentors teachers and principals, and consults nationally and internationally on issues of educational reform, leadership and teaching with a commitment to equity, and the critical role of arts and creativity in schools. She also facilitates workshops and conversations about issues of race, equity, and culturally relevant pedagogy for school leaders, teachers, parents, and students across the nation.
Renowned Educational Psychologist
HIXS works closely with Dr. Ravindran, a renowned counselling psychologist and trainer, on behavioural and discipline related issues.
He has been involved in counselling, counsellor training and teacher education for over two decades with many reputed educational institutions in India and abroad. He is the Director of Institute of Counsellor Training Research and Consultancy (ICTRC). He is also the chief mentor of Eduexel India and chief consultant of The Helping Hand.
Specialist in Project Based Learning
Based out of Boston, USA, Steven has been HIXS’ inspiration in experiential learning. His association with the school began in 2010 when he conducted training for 40 Heritage educators. He works with Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound (ELS) which is a national, non-profit organisation that specialises in Project Based Learning (PBL). With almost 200 schools in the US and 25 years of experience in PBL, ELS is probably the most experienced organisation in this field. Steven is helping HIXS implement PBL as a part of its curriculum.
Alumnus of Cambridge University
Tapaswini has been involved with several school reform projects focusing on curriculum planning and implementation, professional development of teachers, assessment and evaluation of children and led the project for developing the “National Education Framework” for Bhutan. Tapaswini has a Doctorate in Educational Psychology from Jawaharlal Nehru University and an M.Phil in Education from Cambridge University.
