When Life's Adventure Starts Young

With the world changing rapidly and its uncertainty, parents of toddlers are often in a tizzy about what is best for their child. Jitendra Karsan gives us his take on the subject.

- Tsunami Costabir

Safari Kid is an international brand of preschools that started in 2005. Jitendra Karsan, Chairman of Safari Kid India joined the brand in 2013 after having realised certain flaws in the educational system through first-hand experience with his daughter. He and his wife took it upon themselves to do something that not only helps their children but all children.

Edited excerpts...

Q. What are some of the methods of teaching and learning that Safari Kid employs?

A. Kids have difficulties learning during their initial years. They're suddenly exposed to new symbols and sounds and many don't even learn English as their first language. We did some research around new-age curriculums that have elements of classical techniques as well as new-age, research-based techniques. The most common method of teaching a child the alphabet is to go on rote mode. You make them repeat the same thing over and over for a whole year so it becomes part of their subconscious memory.

Where we differentiate is we have more techniques in teaching and try to understand what suits the child best. So if a child likes art, we try to explain it to them using art. If the child is more logical, we try to explain it to them using their logic. When you work with all the child's senses, and not just rote learning, the learning becomes quicker.

Similarly, we use techniques to help them understand spelling and pronunciation and introduce them to math at an early age.