In 1998 when the TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Palanganatham, Madurai, was in its silver jubilee year, Shobhana Ramachandran, the chairperson of Lakshmi Vidya Sangham (LVS) that runs the TVS schools, gave the school management two options – either host a grand function to celebrate 25 years or usher in the Quality Circle movement in the school for the benefit of the students.
“We chose the latter,” says Selvi Santosham, the Head of Administration, LVS, “because empowering kids is the best outcome of holistic education.”
The journey of internalising the quality circle concept in day-to-day school activities that began 17 years ago continues to reap benefits. A study conducted by LVS two years ago indicated that those who joined the Students’ Quality Control Circles (SQCC) were able to enhance various skills and find solutions to any problem later in life too.
“Future of the nation is in students’ quality circle as it readies them to face tomorrow’s challenges,” notes Selvi Santosham, who in the last two decades has trained, coordinated and facilitated various QC activities in the five TVS schools and attended several international and national conventions along with the teachers and students.
“It has been a tremendous learning process and a people building movement,” she says. The philosophy behind the QC concept is based on practicality and pragmatism. There is nothing abstract or idealistic but a very here-and-now approach to every problem, immediate or far.
Quoting Tony Wagner, the author of “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World”, she says, the SQCC movement creates innovators with a fresh thinking and determined approach. Tony Wagner, in fact, proposes seven survival skills required by students in the 21st Century. And it is these very skills that get identified and honed as students prepare for and present their case studies. Their smartness implies competitiveness and the drive to excel over others and the goodness in them implies serving others.
“I have seen it happening in our schools and many of our old students who were part of the QC movement keep sending us feedback,” she asserts, adding, “they attribute their success to their QC traits and that is our best testimony.”
So far 10,710 students from the five TVS schools run by the Sangham have been part of SQCC and among themselves taken up nearly 1400 case studies in the years gone by. In fact, the TVS schools have pioneered the SQCC movement in South India. Selvi Santosham says she herself was taken in by the QC movement for its equitable atmosphere and uniform application not only in problem solving but even for individual progress. Once in Mauritius she watched a QC case study presentation by just three primary school children from Japan who were struggling to learn Chinese language. “The honesty and the innocence of the problem chosen, and how they handled it and overcame the challenge impressed me a lot”.
When she further read up how the Japanese people solve day-to-day problems by using tools and techniques of QC method, she was even more determined and excited. “I felt such opportunities are important for our children back home. We should also create a platform for them to showcase their problems and projects,” says Selvi Santosham, who got lucky as the TVS management was extremely receptive and cooperative.
There is a limit to what students can learn through formal schooling. But when encouraged to use the QC tools and techniques, they learn on their own. With supplemental curriculum designed to integrate competency, collaboration, critical thinking, project-based learning and advocacy, academic institutions are silently helping to create leaders in the classroom.
The children are getting trained not just to participate in competitions and attend conventions but the desire to explore, experiment and imagine new possibilities, the passion to understand something deeply, master the difficult and achieve their breakthroughs are being inculcated in them forever, says Selvi Santosham.
“Being innovative is central to being human and these emerging leaders of today,” she adds, “are the sure change agents of tomorrow.”
What is QC:
When Japan was rebuilding its economy after the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing, it adopted a 14-point principle articulated by an American scholar, Dr.W.Edwards Deming. It called upon all managers, engineers, scientists and professionals to look at quality management from different perspectives. It was this Total Quality Management that revolutionised the Japanese industry. In the 1950s, Edwards Deming praised Toyota as an example of the practice and the idea was later formalized across Japan in 1962 and expanded by Kaoru Ishikawa. The first circles started at the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company and the movement never looked back but spread to more industries in Japan and in other parts of the world.
From focussing on enhancing the quality of industrial products, the Quality circle movement which is an off shoot of TQM, was extended to educational institutions to focus on the enhancement of the quality of the human resource.
A quality circle is a group of people who do the same or similar work, meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems. The group is usually led by a supervisor and presents its solutions to management; where possible, workers implement the solutions themselves in order to improve the performance of the organization and motivate employees.
QC in India:
The QC movement in India is represented by the QCFI (Quality Circle Forum of India) that was registered in 1982 as a non-profit and non-political organization.
Quality circles have been implemented in educational sectors. The first Students’ Quality Control Circle was conceived, conceptualized and launched by P.C. Bihari of Indian Railways in 1993 involving the students of City Montessori Inter College, Lucknow. The founder of the chain of City Montessori Schools, Jagdish Gandhi, is credited with pioneering and taking forward the QC movement to schools across the world.
How QC works
For any curriculum to be effective, it must be relevant to the students’ lives. It is they who identify and select a problem. In doing so, they are motivated to solve it themselves.
At every stage of problem solving, they are compelled to brainstorm either to analyse the reason for the problem and what could be the possible remedies. Understanding the relevance of data collection, planning and implementation, importance of communication and use of technology, they use the QC tools and techniques to solve their problems. The ability to collaborate and communicate gives them the confidence to take on any problem later in life.
The Impact of QC
The child is able to think logically, becomes more confident and excels in academics.
It helps conquer stage fear and effectively improve oral and written communication skills.
Develops the courage to face any problem either individually or while working as a team.
Enhances problem solving ability by using mind mapping tools
Motivates to gain more knowledge about various things and initiates the child into critical and analytical thinking
Develop faith that every problem has a solution and work meticulously on it.
Helps to manage stress and teaches how to behave even in the most challenging situations.
