On Sunday, 17th August 2025, Dr. Pramod Sharma visited us at My Good School. We caught up with Pramod Sir at the Scoonews Global Edfest in Jaipur, when he stopped by our stall at the expo. Pramod Sharma brings over 50 years of experience in education, beginning his career in 1972 as a Chemistry teacher at The Doon School, Dehradun, and later teaching in Afghanistan and Nigeria. He has served as principal for over 29 years at leading institutions, including TN Academy, Gangtok, Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, Mayo College, Ajmer, and Genesis Global School, Noida, where, during his 13-year tenure at Mayo, the school was consistently ranked among the top two residential schools in India. A recipient of the National Award for Teachers (2000) and the IPSC Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), he has also served as chairman of IPSC and a member of the CBSE governing body. He is an honorary member of both the IPSC and Round Square, currently serving as vice-president of the managing committee at Genesis Global School.
My Good School, Sunday 17th August 2025
The Sunday School began with introductions and technical setup for a Q&A session featuring Dr. Pramod Sharma, a distinguished educator with over 50 years of experience, who discussed his career and insights into education, including the importance of inclusive and technology-driven learning. The discussion explored themes of success, holistic development, and the evolving nature of education, with Pramod emphasising the value of skills over marks and sharing his teaching journey. The conversation ended with conversations about gratitude, personal growth, and upcoming educational initiatives, including a new community learning centre project in Uttarakhand and an upcoming session on brain function and memory.
The word ‘collaboration’ is what stayed with me from the session. Pramod ji, very generous with his responses to the students’ questions, shared his journey from Afghanistan and his time at The Doon School. He shared with the listeners the importance of collaborating in the classroom and teaching. My first day at Good School Alliance seems to be about upholding the world’s very essence by bringing students, teachers, and readers together on one platform.
As I heard the students ask questions in the session, I thought to myself, “Is that an eighth grader or a ninth grader asking?” The deeper questions that they ask about marks, exams, critical thinking and what is important in life are all valid and need space to be heard and discussed. It seemed, for a moment, that Good School Alliance was an amazing platform for students to ask questions outside the syllabus to teachers and fellow classmates.
Jugjiv Ji ran us through an excellent summary of the book, The Door-to-Door Bookstore. I wish I had stayed for longer to curl up and listen to a live audiobook.
Neelashi Mangal
Assembly: Learning and Teaching with LEGO Blocks
Sandeep led a Masterclass on designing productive failure in education, highlighting the progress of participants in implementing experiments in their classrooms. We explored concepts such as prior knowledge as metaphorical LEGO blocks and phenomenological primitives, sharing insights from various studies and demonstrating how student-generated solutions can be used to build an understanding of complex concepts. The session concluded with discussions on learning from multiple cases and the importance of completing research exercises before the Christmas break, as well as a reminder about the next meeting and the upcoming guest speaker. Sandeep emphasised the importance of trust and relationships in educational growth and encouraged participants to continue their work on productive failure.
Working Memory and Retention
Brewing Knowledge: Memory and Independence Sandeep Dutt welcomed participants to Brewing Knowledge on Friday, emphasising the significance of Independence Day and the importance of building one's mental capacity for true independence. He discussed the concept of memory, including how the brain communicates and stores information, and highlighted the distinction between explicit and implicit memory.
The session began with Sandeep Dutt discussing memory concepts and welcoming participants to the event, emphasising the importance of Independence Day and brain development. The discussion then focused on working memory capacity and its relationship to academic performance, including practical interventions for improving memory in the classroom. The session concluded with strategies for enhancing reading and comprehension skills among students, emphasising the importance of creating a reading community and regular reading activities, with plans to meet again the following Friday.
Books of The Week
Heroines: Powerful Indian Women of Myth and History by Ira Mukhoty Rs 699.00
The idea of heroism in women is not easily defined. In men, the notion is often associated with physical strength and extravagant bravery. Women’s heroism has tended to be very different, less easily categorised. All the women portrayed—Draupadi, Radha, Ambapali, Raziya Sultan, Meerabai, Jahanara, Laxmibai and Hazrat Mahal—share an unassailable belief in a cause, for which they are willing to fight to the death if need be. Read more on the Brewing Knowledge Blog.
