“I wanted a class children actually wanted to come to.”
Why I started
I started The Banyan Tree with one simple belief: learning should be fun.
I knew I could connect with children, and I believe children learn best when they feel connected to the person teaching them. I wanted a space children looked forward to — not because they were made to attend, but because they genuinely enjoyed being there.
I also kept noticing how many fascinating, relevant things children never meet in a school syllabus. Things that help them understand the world, think past their textbooks, ask questions, and know what is happening around them.
So I set out to bridge that gap. That became The Banyan Tree.
What I bring to it
Seven years teaching general knowledge.
A Bachelor’s in Commerce, and a Master’s in Business Management underway. A Post Graduate Certificate in International Teachers Education, and a course in Content and Curriculum Development from Podar International School.
The curriculum, the methodology and the philosophy behind The Banyan Tree are my own. There was no existing GK programme to follow and no mentor to learn it from — it grew out of seven years in the classroom, my own curiosity about the world, and a belief that children should learn to question and connect ideas rather than memorise them.
The Banyan Tree is not only a GK class. It is a way of teaching, built and refined over seven years.
How it grew
- January 2021Eight children, in a room in my house. A bunk bed, a world map across one wall, a movable whiteboard and ten blue chairs.
- June to September 2021By June, twelve children. By September, fifteen — enough to split into two Saturday batches, one morning, one afternoon.
- October 2023Our first centre outside my home, at Hi Life Mall in Santa Cruz. Three batches, all full — with no marketing and no Instagram. Every child came by reference.
- 2024An online batch of six children. All six are still with us.
- March 2026Juhu opened, with fifteen children.
- July 2026Worli, with eight.
One more thing, every year
The Banyan Tree was never about running classes and collecting fees. Every year I try to take whatever I make and put something back into the children.
These were not business initiatives. They were my way of saying: you have trusted me with your children, and I am going to give them more than what you paid me for.
Two ways in
For your child
Weekly classes where children explore the world, discuss and debate about it, and leave with better questions than they arrived with.
For teachers
Trained educators running their own Banyan Tree classrooms, with our curriculum, our brand and our team behind them.