Today, it is an incredibly special episode with an incredibly special guest. We are highly honoured and privileged to have Ms. Melissa Maria, Principal GIIS SMART Campus, Punggol, Singapore. 

To give you all a brief introduction of her exceptional achievements,  Ms. Melissa, has over 25 years of experience in the field of education and administration in reputed schools in Mumbai, Oman and Singapore.

Listen to the full episode to get insights on everything related to schooling. The main questions we address are 

• How to choose the right preschool, what aspects should we parents keep in mind while choosing a school for our children? 
•  There are so many types of schools .. its tough to make a choice..  What are the differences as well as the similarities between Indian International schools, International Schools and Local schools? What do Indian International schools offer apart from connecting children back to India?
• Education is very expensive these days, especially in SG. What should be my approach -Should I consider the first few years of education are the formative years and opt for the best school I can afford? Or should I consider university education to be more important and can help him launch his career… So, save now in order to afford that education at a later point in time.
• If we compare the traditional asian and western education systems, we see a stark difference..Asian education system is focused on academics and ranking whereas western education focuses more on skills and interests and encourages excellence in it? How do you see the future of education globally?
• Since you are mentioning working together as a team, I would like to know more about the school - teacher and the students working together .. how can they have better synergy ..
• Since the school is alo such an integral part of the system, what values do children learn at school ?
• I believe you are a very strong proponent of nurturing the uniqueness of every child. But with the busy lives we live, every day and activity is preplanned just like clockwork.. so how can we still nurture and preserve their uniqueness.. what the really like..

Partners in UpBringing is a parenting podcast hosted by two mums Himani & Kalyani, based in Singapore. They address a variety of parenting topics in their casual and candid conversation with subject matter experts and fellow parents from across the globe. Each podcast episode provides a holistic perspective on the chosen topic. It’s a platform to  exchange tips, ideas and share experiences related to parenting. So if you would like to participate please email [email protected].

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Partners in Upbringing is a Global Indian Series podcast.

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