Dr. D K Vadodaria’s birthplace was Devgam, Lodhika Rajkot. He was born on September 15, 1969, into a very simple family, his father was a farmer and his mother took care of things at home. With the responsibility of six children, it was not easy to consider expensive education and high-end schools. His primary education was from the village school, his father was keen the children have at least a decent education, though in those times not too much stress was given on education. Secondary education was completed from Leuva Patel Boarding, Mavadi & CN Mehta School, Rajkot, and Higher Secondary (Science stream) from Mohandas Gandhi vidyalaya,Rajkot (Alfred High School, Rajkot). The father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi was an alumnus of this school. Graduation and post-graduation from the Virani Science College, Rajkot.
The next apparent step – Profession
Education was completed; it was now time for the professional journey to take flight. He started with a job at a Chemical factory at Ankleshwar, Gujarat. After learning the ropes he decided to get into chemical product marketing and equipped himself with a Diploma in Marketing from M.S. University, Baroda & M.Sc in Organic Chemistry , Saurashtra University . He spent a few years in Chemical Marketing for Gujarat Region, he realized he was good at it and with his knowledge and experience; it was time to venture out on his own. Here was born his dream project.
In 1997, he started a venture of a chemical factory at Shapar, Rajkot. Huge investment by him and his friends had only a short life span. In some time the project failed and in time he ended up in huge financial losses. It was but natural to be dejected and depressed. This created health problems but there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
He strapped himself with courage and took the spiritual route. Slowly but steadily the benefits showed results and he started getting back to normal.
A detour
When one door closes, another door has to open and in his case, it was the teaching field that was the next step.
Financial conditions were hard on the family. His wife Jayshri Vadodaria took up a job as a teacher and suggested he too take up teaching at least to tide over the tight financial spot they were in. Since he had the relevant qualification he decided to take up teaching. The remuneration they got was only around one-third of the salary and incentives he was bringing home a few years ago. A teacher connects with students and if the connection works positively it gives immense satisfaction to the teacher and great motivation for the students. In the case of Dr. Vadodaria that’s exactly what transpired and he realized his explanation techniques thanks to his academic knowledge and work experience clicked with the students. The love and respect from the student was humbling
Destiny always follows
Humans at times get tired of the monotony and that leads them to seek a new area to explore.
In the case of D K Vadodaria he thought of going back to the marketing job which he loved. He and his family were all set to move to a new city if he got the job. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, the whole job movement was cancelled.
This was fate and he was destined to stay in the academic field. A turning point of sorts for him, and he thought that there might be a good reason behind that cancellation. He got back to work with the same enthusiasm – teaching it was and will stay.
Teacher for life
D K Vadodaria always believed that learning is a lifelong exercise. He enrolled for B.Ed in 2005 and M.Ed in 2007. Cleared with extremely good scores and topped the university. Whist in this course (2005-2007) he continued with his teaching job in the mornings, which meant his day would start at 5 am. So it was work and then college with no break in-between, even for lunch.
Tragedy struck and he lost his brother to an accident. The family was understandably deep in sorrow and parents heartbroken. D K Vadodaria took his parents to his home giving them strength and emotional support. It was a tough phase. However, his hard work and dedication got him a promotion to head the department and gave him a management position. He got involved in the process for the newly established college and understood the nuances to manage educational institutes.
In 2008 he started managing one government establishment but was unable to get the desired results. Not to give up he analyzed the reasons. With a lot of plans and execution strategies, he started the Panchshil School in 2011. He was hands-on and played the role of a student, parent, and education understanding the roles holistically. It was a great beginning and the student intake crossed a figure of over 2500 students on the campus. A big leap indeed for him personally and professionally.
In 2013 he came up with an idea to value add to the existing system. He collaborated with the British Council for a first of its kind, International Exchange Program for Saurashtra region. His institute won “International School Awards” consecutive two times (2013-16 & 2016-19). This is the only educational institute that is proud to have collaborations with seven schools from North England for exchange programs. Besides, this school has 44 world records including “Genius Book of World Record”, Limca Book of World Record, Asia Book of Record, India Book of Record in 2016 for the “ Gandhi JivanDarshan” program.
Panchshil school organize exhibition on life in Mahtma Gandhi under his guidance it was first exhibition organized by any school in the India school got 21 records and awards on it school also create worlds largest Gandhi cap and it place in “Genius Book of World Record” and on occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi Panchshil school send 150 Pictures of Mahatma Gandhi in OHP seats for Durham Lumiere light festival 2019 in ENGLAND for making of friendship tree.
Some of the partner schools Panchil has partnered with are:
1. St. Anthony Catholic Girls Academy, Sunderland – North UK G
2. Queen Alexandra School, Gateshead
3. Monk house primary school, North Shields
4. Brighton avenue primary school, Gateshead
5. St. Mary’s RC primary school, Durham
6. St. Jonas School, Durham
7. Arden Primary School, Manchester
As D K Vadodaria believes, learning should never stop in life. He completed his Ph.D. in the Education field before few years and Journalism in 2006 & MJMC in 2019.
Lessons from challenges
Challenges are like the waves, they keep coming only to ebb and bring calm leaving you stronger and confident. He sadly lost his father in 2013 and losing a parent is an emotional setback that takes time to heal.
Idols and Ideals
The father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi is his idol and Gandhiji’s ideals are what he relates to when faced with challenges.
Education a great tool
Education is the only tool that never lets you down in life.
Dr.Vadodaria’s daughter is pursuing her education in Bengaluru and him as a parent ensures every support for furthering her education and career goals in the future.
The world today spins around an axis called KNOWLEDGE
