Playtos Miniversity, a global educational institution, has introduced its innovative Beyond School model, which seeks to bridge the gap between traditional schooling and competency-based learning for children from 10 to 14 years old. The model emphasizes three types of skills – life skills, leadership skills, and entrepreneurship skills.
Playtos' methodology is based on Socratic Dialogues, where learning is facilitated by encouraging the asking of questions to stimulate discussions and stories, with an emphasis on experiential learning. Thus, Playtos takes its name from “play” and the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who wrote many of the dialogues featuring his mentor Socrates.
Playtonites engaged in teamwork and Socratic dialogue
It offers a program, known as the Playtos Odyssey, which lasts for two years, which children can begin at any point from ages 10 to 14, with sessions held on Saturdays and Sundays. The curriculum takes a holistic approach that embraces four key elements of competency-based learning – abilities, skills, qualities, and knowledge. Participants, known as Playtonites, are encouraged to speak freely, ask questions, and learn from each other, not just from the educator.
The Odyssey is divided into four Quests, which are further subdivided into four core areas – each dealing with the Playtonite's individual worldview, the environment around them, the changes happening in the world, and how they can make a positive impact in the world.
Each Quest lasts for 16 weekends, and at the end of each Quest, there is a punctuating event. However, unlike traditional education, they are not evaluated whether they pass or fail. Instead, the event allows each child to demonstrate the culmination of the skills they learned throughout the quest. For example, at the end of one Quest, the Playtonites hold a public speaking event, where each one will speak to an audience of 500 people about a topic of their choosing. Another activity involves them pitching their for-profit or nonprofit business idea to a mock panel of investors.
A Playtonite performing a public speaking challenge at the culmination of a Quest
Founded in 2021, Playtos is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur and public speaker Yash Vasant and Balazs Simon, a veteran humanitarian worker with various United Nations agencies. They met through a common acquaintance on a trip to Africa, and they came up with an idea to improve how education is provided, moving away from the traditional industrial-type classroom.
The two were joined by Janki Vasant, Yash's mother, who founded the nonprofit Samvedana Trust, which helps improve nutrition and education for underprivileged children in India. In 2016, she received the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar Award for women from the Indian government in recognition of her work. With more than 30 years’ experience working with children, she heads the operational aspects of Playtos.
Yash says: “The ages of 10 to 14 are a crucial period where we begin forming our identities, and the things we learn during these ages are more likely to stick with us for the rest of our lives. This is why Playtos caters to children in this age range, because we want them to provide not just knowledge or skills, but to help them shape who they are – curious, self-aware, and resilient youngsters.”
From its first campus located in India, Playtos is looking to expand its reach internationally through franchising. Its curriculum is designed to be globally applicable and is easily adaptable to local contexts. Furthermore, Playtos is looking to partner with influential individuals, such as business leaders and philanthropists, to help spread its model of going beyond regular schooling by preparing them for the challenges of today and the future. The international team at Playtos in conjunction with global AI experts, are working on the Playtoverse, their online platform, to exponentially increase their reach to more learners. Playtos aims to create well-rounded individuals, who are leaders in their own right and in sync with their personal values.
“One of the greatest dilemmas faced by educators and parents is that we want our children to become successful, but we want them to be safe all throughout the way,” Balazs says. “It's somewhat contradictory because it's impossible for them to truly grow in life unless they face some challenges. They have to risk something and encounter some struggles in order to learn and grow. At Playtos, we aim to guide and challenge Playtonites and encourage them to grow into responsible and empathetic citizens who are capable of fostering positive change in their communities and society at large.”
Media contact:
Name: Janki Vasant
Email: [email protected]
