Marathon Group introduces NEXT school in India

Marathon Group introduced the Big Picture Learning Concept to India with the launch of their first educational institute, NEXT School, in Mumbai.

Big Picture Learning, supported by Bill & Melinda Gates' Foundation's for their novel education system, has been introduced by Marathon Group.

The 20-year-old US based non-profit that has more than 150 schools in 10 countries, has been admired by US President Obama, for 'providing individual attention' and 'real-world, hands-on training.

India's first school of this kind, NEXT School, was launched under the umbrella of Big Picture India and is funded by the 45 year old Marathon Group.

NEXT school aims to personalize a child's education, while giving them experience in the real world through mentors and internships. With a dedicated teacher working individually with 15 students, they get more attention for their specific needs and get to learn at their own pace, unlike the traditional class-room lectures. More importantly, NEXT School claims to focus on developing students' interests and passions.

Parmeet Shah, a graduate from Yale and Columbia University, said, "Schools today are too disconnected from the real world. For me, this started as a mission to identify the best educational experience in the world for our children. One that prepares them not just for today, but for a future none of us can predict. After 6 years of research and development and searching Netherlands, Thailand, Australia, UK and USA, I am proud to say I have found the best educational experience, what I consider the futute of education; Big Picture Learning."

Parmeet also added, "So we give teachers 15 students and ask them to start not with lectures and syllabus, but with their interests - ask the students what do they care about. Whether its cars, or football, or metaphysics - we let them follow and develop their interests. We want to make sure they learn the important things like math, science and language etc. but we start with what they care about and build the learning into that. Learning through something you care about can be the most powerful motivation and can give students a head start on life. There are students coming out of Big Picture schools who have already started multiple businesses, built a virtual reality game engine, produced & directed a film, even built a functional prosthetic limb!"

The Pre-K-12 school that will open in July 2017 will start with Pre-K-7 in first year and is pursuing accreditation by the International Baccalaureate (IB) and plans to offer the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP) and Career Programme (CP) curriculum. The school has the capacity to accommodate 700 students.

While this is the first school of Big Picture India in Mulund, in the words of the founder, their "goal is to redefine education in our country".