Amdavadi Kiran Bir Sethi, founder of city's Riverside School was recently in Madrid, Spain speaking on what she is passionate about, teaching. She was one of the two Indians at the Fundacion de la Innovacion, Bankinter organised 'XVI Future Trends Forum' at Madrid, Spain which saw participation of delegates from 12 countries.
The forum themed 'Searching an effective education for the 21st century' looked into the changing pattern of evaluating students by various educational boards and institutions. It is perhaps the first steps towards re-imagining our existing education system.
Kiran came to the city in 1983. A graduate in visual communications from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, she opened own design studio in 1991 but her real passion in life was elsewhere; in teaching.
She taught creative thinking at several institutes in the city before starting her own Riverside School in 2002. Apart from being a teacher, she is mother to two children, Raag and Jazz and wife to champion billiards player Geet Sethi.
Speaking about the forum, Sethi said that delegates were divided into different groups and each group were to imagine variant ideas that they would like to work upon in the future to improve the education system or bring about a change.
"I was a part of Science of Learning wherein we worked upon a 360 degree approach towards education and how and what are the ways in which improvements can take place, if any."
Sethi also spoke about 'Design for Change', "the world's largest movement of change where children are designing solutions for a better future". It is an initiative of her own which has brought together 350,000 students from over 30 countries. 'Design for change' is also a finalist for the prestigious INDEX: Design to improve life 2011.
Sethi was recently on the panel of the 'Innovators at Work' at The Imagination Summit which was held at the Lincoln Center in the US from July 21-23. She was also speaker at ASHOKA's "Empathy in Action" in Washington on July 25.
Truly, a much decorated cap on a much able head!
