Dr. Komal Joshi–drawing the best out of the students and teachers

Dr. Komal Joshi is an educationist who is serving last 20 years as a PGT, HOD, Asst Prof, Sr Asst Prof, Academic Council Member, Proctor, Mentor, Strategic Planner and a K12 CBSE Principal. He talks about his professional journey.

When where why and how did you begin your professional life?  

I have never prepared a roadmap for life. All of this happened suddenly when I was completing my graduation as well as studying computer programming in 1995, when computer was in its early stages in India, my elder brother told me that a school needs qualified teacher for their children and you have that ability please go and face the interview, I went and got selected. The school was 40 km from my house. After working there for two years, I then went on to higher education from where I completed my postgraduation and then returned to join a prestigious residential school in the country as a HOD-Computer Science and worked there for three years. Then I started my MPhil and joined an engineering college as an Assistant Professor. Here, I worked tirelessly for 6 years because having to travel 150 km from home every day to live up to the expectations of the institution, take care of family requirements and complete my progress along with my studies. There I have completed my MTECH, MPHIL and published more than 20 national and international research papers in various forums.  

After that, in view of my talent, one of school’s management gave me the proposal to look after their school as a Principal. Along with this recently, I also completed my Strategic Management course from IIM Kashipur, reputed management college of the country.

After that, I ran several schools and worked intensively on children’s learning as well as their all round development, Intellectual Ability, Leadership Potential, Apptitude Skills, Students Categorization, Synaptic Memorization Skills and Coded Comprehensive Register. Due to these tasks, I am honored with the Best Education Icon Award in Mumbai, Best Principal Award, Kolkata by the grandson of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Atal Avantika Award, Ghaziabad, Radhakrishnan Outstanding Award by Mr. Anil Swarup, former Education Secretary, Government of India, Poddar Foundation, City Montessori Lucknow, Aurobindo Society And National Teacher Award by the Union Cabinet Minister, Government of India, Ramdas Athawale and several other awards in a row. I still got a long way to go…

What is the secret for your success and what does success mean to you?

Your inner energy is the key to your success. Body texture is useless if you are not mentally strong. So gathering your positive energy under adverse circumstances and then getting up again is the basic mantra of life. Successes are just a number that it only shows that there is too much to be done, and to tell people the true value of education.

Any striking incident in your life that had a deep impact on you or changed the course of your life.

In order to explain my working in extreme pressure, priorities and commitments, I want to share one true case study when I joined my last school, the situation there was fragile because 5 Principals had left in last 6 months. After 10 months of joining, my daughter was diagnosed with blood cancer and admitted in Sir Gangaram hospital, Delhi even then I had to look after all the activities at my work place. I did all the work for the school which has never happened there and given the best results in the history of the school because before taking over the board results were very poor and I promised my authority that school will produce great result and finally it was done. All the responsibilities of the school, the heartfelt treatment of the daughter, my IIM studies and the family environment are efficiently manage by internal energy, it taught me well then the circumstances of that time.

Describe yourself as a person.

I am very religious and cooperative and a person who always stands by my team. I never follow the culture of the boss, while I am always ready with the qualities of leadership that when and how much your team needs you. Supporting everyone in their grief and living with them in happiness is the principle of living my life. My routine is very systematic and rests on the needles of the clock because I am a very punctual person of the time. 

What are the challange you faced and how did you overcome them?

Challenges like a working professional where you are pressured to meet system requirements, balance your family life and maintain your progress. At the same time and in today’s business environment, giving right and meaningful and ethical education to the next generation is a big challenge. For this, it is necessary to reconcile everyone, to put your policies in front of everyone and to discuss them and find a permanent and logical solution are the qualities of a qualified employee. That I successfully edited.

About the awards and acclodaes received by you….

1.    National Awardee of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Memorial National Teacher & Media Network Award-2020 by Union Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment, GoI Hon. Ramdas Athawale, organized by Akhil Bhartiya Swatantra Patrkar Avom Lekhak Sangh, ND.

2.    Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Teacher’s Welfare Award-2020 by Union Minister of State Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI Hon. Santosh Gangwar & Sh Anil Swarup, IAS, Former Secretary Education, MHRD-GoI organized by Shikshak Kalyan Foundation and ALTTC-BSNL.

3.    “Certificate of Appreciation-2020” as a well being volunteer by Prakriti Poddar (Managing Trustee, Poddar Foundation).

4.    “Certificate and Letter  of Appreciation-2020” as an educator during COVID-19 by Edufeed Foundation.

5.    “Teacher Innovation Award-2019 & 2020” by Mayank Agarwal (COO ZIIEI) Sri Aurobindo Society, ZIIEI and HDFC Bank.

6.    “Padma E-Award-2019” by Mr. Arvind Gupta (CEO My Gov)

7.    “Atal Avantika Samman-2019” by Dr Anand Agarwa (National Director Avantika)

8.    “Principal of the Year-2018”, Kolkata, by Dr K. S. Ratnakar. (Grandson of Dr S 

      Radhakrisnan, Former President of India), organized by IUEF.

9.    “Education Icon Award-2018”, Mumbai, December 1, 2018 by Thirty One Ventures

10.  “Blub World’s 4th Gem 2021 Round-Table” on “Restarting Education- Innovation Strategies for the new Session” by Veena Bhavnesh Gaur, Chairperson Blub World. 

11.  “Global Education & Training Institute and CMS-Lucknow 14th Round-Table” on Scaling up for Dramatic Impact by Dr Sunita Gandhi, Founder GETI-India

(B)  Certifications:

1.    Executive Development Program in Strategic Management by IIM-Kashipur-2019.

2.    COVID-19: Operational Planning Guidelines and COVID-19 Partners Platform to Support

Country Preparedness and Response by WHO-2020.

3.    Security Awareness by M2MIT on dated April 22, 2020

4.    Productivity Tips: Finding your productive mindset by LinkedIn Learning and CPE on dated April 2020.

5.    Risk Taking by LinkedIn Learning and CPE, August, 2020.

6.    Working with Difficult People by LinkedIn Learning and CPE, August 2020.

7.    Career Guru by Dheya Career Mentors India Pvt. Ltd., August 2020.

How do you balance work and family?

I try to fulfill the minimum requirements of everyone and for that I spare some part of my time for all those who need it. We are a social animal where everyone’s desires are related to you. You cannot walk on this principle of “Aham Brahmasmi(अहं ब्रह्मास्मि)”.

What are your future plans?

I am very open to whatever opportunities the future may hold. I pride myself in being flexible and adaptable. I think the best way of planning for the future is to make the most of the present. While preserving human values, Learning the nuances of leadership skills and proving yourself to be the most different in this competitive age to make your institution stand out from the banks and succeed.

Anything else that you want to tell the readers.

You should do any work, but it should take care of its principles and human sensibilities. Because everyone’s hopes are related to you, no matter what they are. You have to see this because if you are the leader of a team then it is your responsibility to follow them or else you will lose their trust, then all your abilities are useless.