Those things which are learned without joy will be easily forgotten.
Those things which are learned without joy will be easily forgotten.
Ishani Verdia has been living in Udaipur for twelve years now, with her husband and in-laws. She also has a five and a half years old daughter. Her husband looks after a resort, and she is the co-founder at a small community space by the name of Sahaj Natural Learning Center where children can come to play and learn. She is also the founder of Flurn, a fun-filled training center for children.
Growing up, Ishani always questioned the current education system being followed in our country. She remembers fighting for open exams in her eighth grade. She started working in a school in Ahmedabad when she was just 21 while pursuing her chartered accountant course. She completed her CA and joined Ernst & Young in Mumbai, where she met her husband. Subsequent to her marriage, she shifted to Udaipur with her family. After coming to Udaipur, Ishani started introspecting and realized she still wanted to change the education system. With the idea of bringing about change and driven by the passion of imparting life skills in the children, away from their normal educational structures, Flurn was born. She started arranging workshops at Flurn for students to come and learn communication skills, entrepreneurship, creative thinking, math, and science.
While teaching students in the workshops, Ishani noticed there was a considerable change in their behavior, but it was very short-lived. She wanted something that lasts with them for a lifetime. After she gave birth to her daughter, watching her grow made her realize that life skills are something the kids learn naturally in their childhood. She realized she had chosen the wrong age group and started workshops for 2-6 years olds. To give kids an environment to learn and grow, she then co-founded Sahaj Natural Learning Center with one of her friends.
Ishani faced a lot of challenges when she started with Flurn. She started with a workshop on entrepreneurship for seven to twelve-year-old kids, which was something unheard of, and she had to be very prudent. Gradually, she kept learning from her mistakes and improved. She realized that people were willing to pay for something tangible, like an origami workshop but not for creative thinking, and being a process-oriented person, it frustrated her. She realized parents looked at schools and educational institutions as a service provider, and it was emotionally very draining for her as she was deeply connected to all the children associated with Sahaj. Now, she has started taking multiple rounds of orientation with the families of the children so that they can share and express their ideas to each other.
She feels the early childhood education space is not an industry. Anyone who has ever felt while growing up, that what they experienced in their childhood should be changed, should get into this field. She thinks there should be more men entering this space because in India there are not many involved in it. She says the initial years may or may not support you financially and therefore, expectations should be limited. She thinks having inner peace is also important as the children tend to say things that might trigger an adult. For Ishani, a leader is someone firm, compassionate, and a good listener. She feels there were some skills she was born with but then, there were some she nurtured herself and leadership was one of them.
If she could go back in time and change something, Ishani wonders how nice it would be if she didn’t do her CA or took her job, and would have directly started with her institutions. But then she feels perhaps if that would have happened, she would have got tangled into the whole idea of education and would not have reached where she stands today. So, she is happy with what she has attained in life.
Remembering her childhood, Ishani recalls how she was always proud of being a daughter to her parents and how she had this particular thing in her mind from the start itself. She also recalls dancing at Garba in front of her parents. She says there were instances in her childhood where she felt she was bullied by adults and being a mother and a facilitator for other children, she avoids doing it.
Ishani feels the fact that she gets to deal with little kids as a part of her job, is the best thing about it. For her, seeing children every morning brings a smile to her face. During the pandemic, as everything had to be shut down, it was a very tough time for her emotionally. She thinks there has been a very negative impact of the pandemic on the lives of migrants, small business owners, and people who had to lose their family members but she also believes it was a time that helped bring families together, help parents to connect to their kids better. It also helped people love new skills. Ishani believes slowing down is a key ingredient to take this chance and make it a new normal for the country to prosper. She feels if the people are happy, the country will develop economic prosperity on its own.
Apart from work, Ishani loves to spend time with her daughter. She is also an avid blogger and loves to write about her day with kids on her blog. She also enjoys reading books and morning walks.
Walk the way and the way will appear.
To youngsters, Ishani advises them to identify their skills and not follow the rat race. They need to identify their passion and purpose in life. Maybe their role is in the typical banking or engineering job, and there might be challenges, but if they walk the path meant for them, success will follow.
To listen to her recite a poem, you can refer to her video.
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