About Us

Swati Popat Vats

An educator, an avant-garde educational activist, a teaching expert and a parenting guru, Dr Swati Popat Vats makes compassion and empathy with theenvironment the sole language of integrated learning. She is the force behind India's superlative college of early childhood teacher training called the Podar Institute of Education and the director of Podar Jumbo Kids, one of the most successful and parent preferred brand of preschool and day care chains in India.

The President of ECA believes that it takes a village to raise a child and that nutrition plays an important role in the growth and development of a child.

Dr Swati understands learning as something not restricted to schools but part of everyday living. She is a world forum leader for India and her goal is to get more and more Indian Schools involved on International forums like World Forum Foundation.

She is also the National Representative for India at the World Forum Foundation which works for early childhood in 150 countries and whose mission is to promote an ongoing global exchange of ideas on the delivery of quality services for young children in diverse settings.

As the leader of Asia for NAAC (Nature Action Collaborative for Children) she works tirelessly to ensure that children in India grow up knowing the earth and learning to respect nature right from the start.

She is a member of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).

An advocate for children's rights, Swati has worked incessantly to promote developmentally-appropriate curriculum and banning school interviews of children. Her most recent agenda is the pursuit to bring an awareness about child safety be it traffic safety or child sexual abuse and for this she has developed workshops and written a book- 'When Touch Becomes Trouble, that can help kids, teachers and parents

Swati sought to spread an awareness on parenting and preschool education in as many avenues as possible: as the educational advisor for Tata Sky's interactive television games channel, Actve Whizkid; while designing an education kit released by IL&FS, called Smart Kit; as well as through the parenting columns she wrote in for Savvy and Mother & Baby, DNA newspaper Bengaluru, and presently for Parent Edge and on Aditya Birla web portal.

Swati's efforts were recognized when she received the Gold Award for Child Education from the Governor of Goa and recently the Fellowship of Honour from New Zealand Tertiary College. Most recently she was awarded by the Federation of Obstetric and Gynacological Societies of India for outstanding achievements, transforming lives, dedication to service and immense valuable contributions to society.

Fatima Agarkar

Education Pioneer, Fatima has a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA)from England, apart from her B.ED and ECCE and began her journey in the corporate world. She was adjudged Education World’s “Top 50 Young Educators” in 2014, and is also the recipient of several awards for outstanding contribution to education in 2013, 2015. The most recent being the Young Achiever’s Award in March 2017 that recognises women in different walks of life for innovative practices in their chosen field. Commerzbank, Times of India and Egon Zender International as diverse organizations were the perfect foundation before she was involved in the set up of three premier K-12 national and international schools in Mumbai. Having gathered tremendous experience as a result of managing 18 national and international schools including pre-schools and a school for children with learning difficulties, with which she has been associated with, Fatima now aims to create more opportunities for stakeholders in the education space with a passion for teacher training, special needs and sports. Pioneering, “out of box” and a risk taker, Fatima’s love for children defines her passion for the team she leads. Fatima is also the Vice President for the Early Childhood Association in India, a forum for the network of pre-schools in India; Advisory Board Member of Lit O Fest – Mumbai Chapter, a literary arts festival bringing young writers together and Wockhardt Foundation.