- Former Principal, Kamla High School
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Mrs. Rekha Shahani was the Principal of Kamla High School from 2003 to 2015 and a Teacher at Kamla High School from 1990 to 2003.During her stint as the Principal of Kamla High School, Mrs. Rekha Shahani was instrumental in setting up successful various school link programmes, instrumental amongst those being with UK. She was successful in overseeing the longest partnership of an Indian school with the UK, of about 14 years commencing from 2001 to 2015. As a result of these programmes Kamla High School was awarded the ‘International School Award’, not once, but three times, for ‘Outstanding Development of the International Dimension in the Curriculum & Global Curriculum Award’ by the British Council in the years 2005-2008, 2009-2012 and 2014-2017.
She also has conducted exchange programmes between the students of Kamla High School with those in UK.During her tenure as Principal, Mrs. Rekha Shahani won the Intel Microsoft Award for the project on peace and integration called ‘Connect to the Future’. Being a firm believer in ‘inclusion in education’, led her to admit students with disabilities and economic difficulties to Kamla High School to have a regular education.
In furtherance of this initiative, she also initiated an Adult Literacy Program which educated the parents of the students at Kamla High School.
She is Trustee on the Board of Trustees of the Sind Brahma Sikhya Samelan which, inter alia, runs Kamla High School & ailed institutes. She also continues to work with the British Council for their Core Skills Program.
She served as a Trustee of the Initiatives of Change International (IOFC) (formerly known as Moral Re-Armament) for four years. Her work for the IOFC has taken her to Lebanon, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in endeavours towards discussing and negotiating peace through education.
She continues to be associated with IOFC in her position as the Core team member of ‘ETST – Education Today, Society Tomorrow’. The noble ideals of the ETST programme include training sincere teachers and educationists by helping them prepare students towards building a better society.
She serves as an elected member of Asia Pacific Coordination Group (APCG) of the IOFC that works in developing nations towards the goals of facilitating education, leadership, peace, building trust and sustainability. She is also an Honorary Council Coordinator for IOFC , India.
Being at the forefront of the activities of the IOFC, Mrs. Rekha Shahani represented India during the Kashmir peace talks with the Ambassadors of Pakistan through the ‘People to People’ programme. She also continues to work with Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR) and has also travelled to Pakistan on programmes conducted by the CDR.
Mrs. Rekha Shahani continues her steadfast contribution towards empowering children through their formative years. She has written & published various articles on Why nature is Important, the role of parents in bringing up a balanced child, single parenthood, The E factor in education & more. She is the Diplomatic Secretary of Early Childhood Association in India. She also works with the Bangalore based NGO CMCA (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) that strives to inculcate Values & Civic Awareness in the youth. She personally conducts various educational workshops for students and their parents, as well as for Rural Schools, Teachers, IAS officers, Police Department, MCGM, Companies, Class IV workers and Street Children. She has also served as a consultant at BPLS School, Kapurthala, Punjab & Goenka High School, Surat, Gujarat.
She is the Trustee of PCGT ( Public Concern For Governance Trust) & looks after the Kuch Aur Program run by the Trust, for School students. At present Kuch Aur Programs are run in 23 Muncipal & Private schools. Her recent program has been training more than 400 police constables & Inspector’s From Maharashtra in compassionate policing.
Mrs. Rekha Shahani graduated from Jai Hind College after completing her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics and Commerce. Thereafter was awarded a post graduate degree as a Master of Arts (MA) in Sociology from the University of Mumbai.She then successfully completed her Bachelor in Education from HR College of Education, Mumbai. Being a firm believer in the philosophy – ‘teacher for a while, but a student for life’, she went on to pursue a management course in Educational Leadership from West Georgia University
Her hobbies include music, dancing, reading, writing, travelling, gardening, collecting stamps, amongst a range of others.
Mrs. Rekha Shahani truly exemplifies the Gandhian principle – ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ and this has kept her motivated to relentlessly contribute to the growth in education of first generation learners. She is known to put all her energy behind anything she takes on and to persist until she has productively completed the task at hand. These skills and her constant pursuit of knowledge and steps to develop new methodologies of learning have been one of the key reasons for her continued success in the various projects.
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