Global Indian International School (GIIS) will open the most technologically advanced SMART campus in Singapore — and probably all of Asia — which combines 21st century pedagogy with state-of-the-art amenities to educate a new generation of leaders.
The SMART campus, upon completion, will be one of the first buildings in the Singapore Government’s planned Punggol Digital District (PDD) which is being developed as a residential, commercial and business district as the city-state implements its Smart Nation initiative.
Phase 1 of the school will accommodate 3,500 students in its sprawling 33,000 sqm, seven-storey school, with more than 130 classrooms powered by ‘virtual classroom’ e-learning technology as well as interactive TV display panels, tablets and projectors.
This virtual approach to learning gives students access to a network of specialist faculty members, industry leaders and international universities. They can also collaborate with fellow students from other GIIS campuses across seven countries.
The school will offer the International Baccalaureate, Cambridge IGCSE and CBSE curriculum and Montessori Kindergarten programmes under one roof. It blends academic learning with 21st century skills-based education, designed to inculcate in students a set of four key skills (4Cs) — critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity — that will equip them to face the challenges of the future workforce.
In keeping with its SMART theme, the school has also established three centres of research excellence for the students, focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, robotics and artificial intelligence, and design technology. Other campus features include 40GB fibre broadband connectivity, sports data analytics and smart safety features like facial recognition.
To teach students about nature and environmental sustainability, the entire campus is supported by green initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. These include different uses for various types of water, such as rain water conservation, NeWater for utilities and industrial water for emergencies. The school’s Environment Labs will also bring students closer to Nature.
GIIS has tapped the expertise of leading architects from the US, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore to design the campus.
“Students and their learning outcomes are at the heart of the design of our SMART campus, which is likely the largest of its kind in Asia and possibly the world, with technologically advanced systems that will enrich our award-winning 9GEMS model of holistic education,” said Atul Temurnikar, Co-Founder & Chairman of GIIS.
“This new campus has also implemented the Small Learning communities concept, which will give students an experience of a small ‘school within a school’ inspired by the Finnish method of education,” he added.
The school is expected to be operational from the third quarter of this year.
