Francis Kevin Fernandes, School Principal - ASIA English School has been recognized as Under 40 Industry Experts by Business Mint

FRANCIS FERNANDES, THE INSPIRATIONAL EDUCATION LEADER SCHOOLS NEED IN THIS AGE!

Mr. Francis Fernandes is an educationist with over 16 years of experience in education. He is a Principal and English Teacher. He has worked in various locations across India and in the UAE. Francis is big on taking education to the next level, including technology in the mix to accelerate learning through various technological marvels including AI and ML. He allows students to enjoy their learning, thereby creating a thirst for knowledge. He perhaps is one of the few Principals who consciously asks students of Grade X and XII to participate in cultural programmes and volunteer activities. He has been successful in creating a culture where assessments and learning are inseparable part of the teaching-learning process. He does this with enormous zeal that permeates the campus he is in. Teachers love to work with him in creating wonderful lessons and enjoy the freedom that he gives them in the transaction of their lessons. The students enjoy the stress free environment and the tons of activities that wait for them including the parties that he allows at the end of each term and before every festival. He is a gifted speaker and is seen honing the skills of his learners in this direction. He also plays the guitar and you can see him on campus, strumming his guitar with the school band or in a classroom singing rhymes and songs with students. He is truly a new age Principal, who has started a mission to make education as it should be, one school at a a time.

Mr. Francis believes that learning is an attribute that makes a progressive person. He says that a lifelong learner would be a self made individual with an undying thirst for knowledge. He aims at nurturing this gift and rewarding the nation with lifelong learners. He emphasises on Character, Self Respect and Integrity as the most important values that need to be bred in our day. Character Formation and Value Education are the pillars on which he builds the edifices of learning he leads. He emphasises that in a world where society is increasingly fragmented and polarized, his passion remains to build a school community where honesty and integrity matter, humour and hard work are equally important values, and where the process of education is as important as the grade. 

The core values his leadership boasts of are the pursuit of academic excellence, encouraging students to become independent and perceptive thinkers; confident, enlightened learners; and socially-responsible citizens, with a mind-set that can both interact and integrate effectively with people of different race, culture and religion. In his capacity as founding Principal at Uma Public School, Varanasi and Mount Litera Zee School, Hajipur, he added value to the bustling school by his enlightening thoughts on education.

Education is not learning by rote and then repeating it in the examination. He trains his team of teachers to be student centred and go beyond text books, class rooms and boundaries. He builds a culture of learning where students develop practical skills, enabling them to apply their learning to unfamiliar situations and think critically about different issues. These prepare them for a lifelong success. Schools under his care have consistently outshone peers in making education what it is meant to be, a learning opportunity with no fear of tests and examinations, while not compromising on the essential ingredient of assessment.

At the core of his educational philosophy, modern education and cultural heritage are complimentary and these help the children to become better citizens. He strives to inculcate in the children, a respect for Indian culture. 

His tenacious nature endears him to all stakeholders in his schools. His charming manner nourishes, nurtures, and binds families by the tenacious threads of values and ethos. He strives to build a school community of high expectations, academic and otherwise. At the same time, devoted to helping students develop intellectual, artistic, and personal interests contributing to holistic growth of each individual. Furthermore, it has been one of his quests in life to make high quality education available and accessible (through means that the latest educational technology offers).

He has been felicitated with numerous awards for his work in education, particularly in bridging the technological gap, even before Covid made everybody scramble to make a technologically progressive school. He is a known expert at various conferences where technology is the topic of discussion. He is called on to give his valuable insights and help other distinguished leaders in making technology an inseparable part of education.

He currently leads ASIA English School, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.