What does the most promising school do for its students, learners, and pupils? The most promising school makes every effort to provide a holistically vibrant educational ecosystem to the budding minds to help them explore themselves and become independent, compassionate, and global citizen leaders of tomorrow.
Ryan International Group of Institutions, India’s leading K-12 chain of schools is totally committed, dedicated, and devoted to nurture lifelong learners.
Preparing Tomorrows Leaders, Today
Dr Grace Pinto, Managing Director, Ryan International Group of Institutions, says, “We’re a group of schools dedicated to encouraging students to realise their full potential by helping them explore beyond boundaries. We teach our children to think, explore, and learn with joy. Our first school in Mumbai was started in 1976, and since then, Ryan International Group has grown and branched over 43 years. Our core interests have since then developed but have remained in the sphere of quality education, commitment to excellence and shaping the future.”
Ryan Group of Institutions was established by the visionary educationist Dr A. F. Pinto, Chairman, with a vision to spread quality education across India. The Group is considered one of India’s largest privately owned groups of schools offering K-12 curriculum through state, national and international boards. It has 18,000 faculty members in schools across 18 states and 40 cities. Over 20,000 children pass through Ryan Group schools yearly.
With the motto, “Excellence in Education and All Round Development” the Ryan Group is focused on delivering holistic education through integrating academics and co-curricular activities, as well as offering learning opportunities beyond the classroom.
An Endless Journey of Learning
All Round Development and growth are embedded in the Ryan Group learning process. Right from the inception, their constant effort has been to reinvent themselves consistently, nurture inspiring educators, leverage technology and develop ecosystems to enable our students to become confident global citizen leaders. This is achieved by providing a challenging learning environment that fosters the intellectual, emotional, physical, social and spiritual growth of every child to nurture them to become global and humane, and that’s what sets us apart from the rest. The Ryan Group believes in nurturing lifelong learners and that education should be experiential and immersive in arts, culture and international relations. Madam Grace Pinto has worked with her team to pioneer several national and international events to develop different life skills among students.
International Theatre Festival (ITF): The Ryan Group was the first in the country to organize the ITF, which has become the largest flagship event in India for school children over the past two decades. Over 12,000 participants from over 30 countries gather annually on one platform to learn about different cultures from around the world, develop friendships beyond boundaries and foster international mindedness.
Indian Model United Nations (INMUN): INMUN is India’s longest-running student-run simulation of the United Nations, initiated by the Ryan Group of Institutions that started in 2001. INMUN allows students to play the role of diplomats representing various UN member nations, addressing specific issues of current interest through debate and negotiation and attempting to resolve regional and international problems. Every year 1000+ participants from over 90 schools across Asia-Pacific over the past two decades embraced the spirit of the UN charter and learned the art of diplomacy, public speaking, lobbying, and crisis response.
The World Scholar’s Cup (WSC): Spread across 34 countries, this prestigious event was first brought to India by the Ryan Group. This international event strives to raise the bar in group debate, collaborative writing, and general knowledge of literature, science, biotechnology, art, music, and history. WSC hosted its largest-ever Regional Round in Mumbai in 2013, with more than 1,400 delegates in attendance.
International Cultural Exchange (ICE): This program fosters a greater understanding of arts, culture, and global perspective among institutions in the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, Eastern Europe, and the United Kingdom. Over the past four decades, Ryanites has participated in various educational and cultural exchange programs in over 60 countries. Furthermore, their students are allowed to participate in a special workshop at NASA (USA) each year as part of the educational program.
Ryan TV – A Media Initiative: Ryan Group is the first to introduce students to Media Studies and Film Making, the concept of Education through the Lens. They have a full-fledged team of media and social broadcasters who mentor media-savvy students. A series of short ad films are screened at the annual IAFA (Iceplex Ad Film Awards) by Ryan TV, allowing students to demonstrate their talents. Through its “Young Jourknows” and “BBN – Beyond Breaking News” programs, Ryan TV has grown tremendously successful. Being the only school in India with an in-house media studio gives the Ryan Group immense pride.
Sports: Dr A. F. Pinto says, “To raise sports persons at the national and international level, we must start right from an early age. Integrating sports culture in school not only develops physically fit youth but also ensures the emotional wellbeing of every child.” The Ryan Sports Club prides itself on providing its students with a world-class platform for practising and taking part in multiple sports at many different levels and has teamed up with the best in the industry to provide them with top-notch training. They have had students reach District, State, National, and International levels, notching up some impressive achievements. Many include Arjuna Awardee Chirag Shetty, International Tennis player Karman Thandi, National Level Badminton player SimranSinghi, Mountaineer Arjun Vajpai, Professional Alpine Ski Racer Jiah Aryan, and Professional Footballers Rahul Beke and Nikhil Prabhu, as well as a Table Tennis Player, Arnav Karnavar.
Global Collaboration: The Ryan Group has collaborated with globally renowned organizations to enable thousands of students from state, national, and international boards to access higher education and get scholarship opportunities in reputed universities in India and around the globe. The Group has successfully partnered with PennHub (The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) and associated with the College Board to serve students and facilitate them to pursue and further their learning journey.
Nurturing Socially Responsible Citizens: To generate awareness among the students and help them develop a selfless attitude, the Ryan Group of Schools strongly emphasize activities aimed at advancing the welfare of society as a whole. Activities such as cleanliness drives, rehabilitation and relief work, health awareness, and elderly care are regular events on the school calendar. As an environmentalist, she believes in spreading eco-awareness and undertakes cleanliness and tree plantation drives across all her schools.
Pragmatic Knowledge Transition
Ryan Group’s approach is to provide a hands-on learning experience to our children. While they work on providing good amenities, their focus is to provide our children with experiential learning opportunities, developing upon 21st Century Skills of Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership Skills. “We believe that practical knowledge and experience of these skills will help students in the smooth transition into higher education to pursue their interests and develop their talents,” says Madam Grace Pinto.
While women in various sectors have made a difference in the education field, Dr Grace Pinto has made a phenomenal difference in touching the lives of children by providing quality education in India. As a leader and example to others in her field, she stands tall, donning multiple roles with practised ease. Passionate about teaching, she took a keen interest in children’s development and commenced her journey as a teacher in Mumbai.
Along with her husband, a visionary, Dr A F Pinto, Chairman of Ryan Group, she began her mission of making education accessible and affordable to the children of our country as the Managing Director of the Group. As a leader with clear foresight, she provides overall strategic direction to the Ryan Group. She has nurtured a team of dedicated educators who consistently make efforts to ensure that education at Ryan is relevant, engaging and meaningful. For her noteworthy contribution, today, she is a force to reckon with in the country’s highly competitive and challenging segment of education. Her contribution to the education and social service segment has been recognized with innumerable national and international awards, honours and recognitions. Recently she was bestowed upon “Women Leadership Award in Education 2023 by Economic Times, Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 by H. E. Mr. Prithvirajsing Roopun, GCSK, President of the Republic of Mauritius at Mauritius and Her Power Award 2022 by the Brand Story. She humbly attributes all her success to Lord Jesus Christ.
A Purposefully Enjoyable Experience
Understanding the need of the time, the first school was started with 36 children in the mid-70s. In establishing India’s premier education group and matching it with global standards, the Ryan Group also had its share of challenges. It involved opening branches across the country and establishing consistency, standards and practices. However, along with her team, Madam Grace Pinto provided the required strategic direction in expanding Group’s reach across India.
Madam Grace Pinto says, “As the demand kept increasing, in the initial years, we opened several state board curriculum schools in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nashik and Aurangabad and later began our venture into other national board curriculum schools across the country and then progressed to providing international curriculum as well.”
She adds, “We are also grateful for the people God has blessed us with – the stakeholders, our dear students, the staff, our parent community and all our well-wishers who continue to support us to make education a meaningful and enjoyable experience.”
Despite various challenges, the Ryan Group has successfully taken quality education even in towns such as Shahjahanpur and Raebareli in U.P, Jalna in Maharashtra, Bolpur in Kolkata and Durg-Dhamtari in Chattisgarh, yielding encouraging results.
Fostering Minds
When asked how they help students prepare for their careers in different industries and what kind of special facilities and initiatives they have launched for the same, Madam Grace Pinto says that while academics have an essential role, the holistic development of the child is equally important.
She elaborates: Leadership development, enhancement of communication and listening skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills are all well embedded in our education system and are achieved through the day-to-day activities, both academic and extra-curricular, through experiential and project-based learning. We have pioneered several national and international events, a regular fixture on our school calendar that fosters these skills among children and helps them become confident, well-equipped, lifelong learners and responsible citizens. The NEP 2020 also resonates with our endeavours of developing life skills, creativity and critical thinking.
Through Sports, Academics, Media studies, environmental awareness, theatre, art, leadership skills, international exchange programmes with countries across the globe, and collaboration with foreign universities, we have provided opportunities to our students to discover their talents, nurture them and aspire to achieve their desired goal in life. Higher education allows students to evolve in their interests and aspirations, and through our activities, we provide a platform on which they can further build on their interests.
We have a legacy of four decades to share and boast of our proud alums making commendable contributions in diverse fields such as IT, Banking, Medicine, Sports, Mass Media and Journalism, Engineering and so forth globally. Also, the group has been recognised innumerable times for its commendable contribution to education and social service.
Imbibing Timeless Wisdom
In her advice to budding professionals aspiring to venture into the education sector, Madam Grace Pinto says that with the largest young population in the world, there is a growing demand in India for more educational institutions that can meet the country’s changing demographic needs. “Rapid changes are taking place in the education sector, and it’s becoming increasingly important to innovate and be creative and progressive in our approach.” A huge responsibility is to enhance life skills and nurture mindfulness by preparing the present generation for a rapidly increasingly complex world. “Those attempting to enter this segment must focus on relevant curricula and methodology to provide accessible, quality education to our nation’s children.” They have a massive responsibility to empower individuals and generations to come.
On envisioning of scaling of her institution’s operations and offerings in the future, she reveals that in alignment with the overall organizational vision and mission and the New National Education Policy, they will continue to provide holistic development, which includes vocational skill training and development by leveraging technology to reach the remotest parts of this country and ensure that every child becomes a lifelong learner and a global citizen.
“Our numerous awards and recognitions are a testament to our marvellous achievements,” she concludes.
Recent List of Awards and Recognitions
- Ryan Group of Institutions Awarded Navabharat CSR Award, 2023, for Child Education and Upliftment.
- Brainfeed Excellence Awards 2022– Nineteen Schools of Ryan International Group received the Brainfeed Awards at the 9th Brainfeed National Conference at Hyderabad on 6th April 2022.
- Times Education Icons Awards 2022for emerging, national and international curricula.
- Excellence in K12 Chains of Schools in India– at the Radio City Business Titans Awards in Dubai, August 2022.
- Samson Daniel Awardby Helpage India – for the immense contribution towards older people of our society.
- Dr Grace Pinto Receives Lifetime Achievement Award– The Award was presented by E. Mr PrithvirajsingRoopun, GCSK, President of the Republic of Mauritius.
- Most Innovative K-12 Education Brandby Global Brands Magazine.
- Most Respected Education Brand 2022by Mid-day.
