A veteran of 3 educational start-ups, and now Founder of the Agarkar Centre of Excellence, Fatema’s passion for teaching-learning and children defines the different roles she has crafted in the last two decades – as an edupreneur, educator, and mentor. Fatema who is a State and University topper as part of the prestigious Mumbai-based Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, holds a degree of Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Birmingham (UK), apart from her B.ED and ECCE degrees amassed when she decided on education was her calling. Having kick-started her career in the corporate world and working with premier organizations like Commerzbank, Times of India, and Egon Zehnder International, she always had an inner urge to bring about an enhancement in the sphere of education.
As an educationist and life-long learner, she has come a long way to intertwine modern methods of learning, teaching, and customizing education as per the student’s intellectual requisites thus eradicating stress that stems from the education system. She has been sedulous in making comprehensive alterations in the education field in India. Being a risk-taker, Fatema has been focusing on the generation of innovative educational modules and her in-depth academic know-how, nothing but truly defines her ceaseless passion.
Fatema has been awarded by Giants Group for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in 2012, the Young Achiever’s Award in the year 2017, Singapore based, Best of Asia’s, ‘Enterprising Educator in the year 2018, and as an entrepreneur ‘Best Edupreneur 2019 and Best Leadership’ by Progressive Academic Excellence India (Maharashtra 2019) and one of the 10th finest inspirational educators in 2019 by TKR, India. Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country, and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020 With close to 2 decades of experience in education, Fatema is the recipient of several honors including the Indian Achiever’s Award 2021.
As an ace educational consultant, Fatema has helped set up close to 40 pre-schools and high schools pan India like Sarvankash Vidya Mandir, Ratnagiri, The Gera School in Goa, D Y Patil School in Talegaon, Excellere World School in Gurgaon to name a few. Her most recently set up Preschool is Leaping Feat Preschool & Multi-Activity Centre (LF) in South Mumbai where she is actively involved and leading all the macro and micro strategies including curriculum development, training, marketing, parent interactions, etc. LF is a premier co-educational, international preschool nestled in South Mumbai, that focuses on early childhood development with distinct programs for children from 10 months to 4 years (mother-toddler program, Playgroup, Pre-Nursery, and Nursery).
The vision is to create a culture of thinking and collaboration while blending the rich Indian values and a global perspective. Inculcating life skills, and attitudes that develop children into well-groomed problem-solvers and decision-makers. The goal is to make the learner ‘World ready’ rather than just ‘class ready’.
LF is special because of the visionary CEO – Jessica Karani who shares the same passion, vision, and enthusiasm as Fatema. The School has spacious, open classrooms, and lots of safe outdoor learning areas which is difficult to find in a city like Mumbai. The learning space at LF encourages curiosity, imagination, and a variety of learning experiences for the learners. The outdoor area and the specially designed Astroturf encourage physical fitness and give an opportunity for the learner to practice and demonstrate life skills Just like the unique infrastructure, the curriculum designed by Fatema and her team is a distinctly original one of a kind and a melting point of the best Early childhood theories and philosophies. The curriculum is inspired by the American pedagogy, ‘Project-Based Learning’, the Canadian, Alberta Kindergarten Program, Learning through nature (Reggio Emilia Approach) & Inquiry through play & hand-on experiences (Montessori approach). With an excellent child-teacher ratio, well-established relationships with the LF parent community, and a passionate team, LF is a Preschool filled with wonder, joy with a sense of belonging. A truly GLOCAL preschool, LF is an amalgamation of the best local and global practices that help children become critical thinkers, risk-takers, decision-makers, problem solvers, collaborators, and communicators.
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