Journey of R.Vanisri Saravanan, the Founder of Globalink Group
R. Vanisri Saravanan has a Master's in Software Engineering from the University of Malaya. Her dissertation for her Master's Degree was accepted without any correction made at the first attempt as her research covered a subject which is way much more advanced and needed in Malaysia in 2006. She has also written and presented journals at International Conferences overseas.
She has good exposure in the systems development field. She started as a programmer, developed many ERP systems for in-house and MNC companies, and managed complete system development projects for clients. She has good exposure in Visual Basic, C++, and PHP languages and has sound experience integrating with databases such as MySQL, SQL and access. She developed standalone systems, client-server-based systems, and web-based systems. She always tries to keep herself updated in the computer science and software engineering field. Later she was promoted to Application Engineer and then Project Manager from 2000-2003. Within a short period, she climbed up the ladder in the software development field.
The expertise and industry experience she gained in software development made her enter the lecturing field in 2003.
She worked as a Lecturer at reputable Universities such as Monash University, La-Trobe University, Taylors University, Asia-E University, Al-Madinah University, Nilai International University and Technology Park Malaysia College for the field of computer sciences and Knowledge Management. She has lectured for students from Diploma, Degree and Masters programs under the MQA programs.
At 28, she becomes a subject matter expert for Knowledge Management, one of the pioneers in the subject in Malaysia. She has developed course content for universities such as Asea-E University and Al-Madinah University. She also conducts training for multinational companies and government departments.
She had her first child in January 2004. This made her start her research in Early Childhood Education in 2003 before her child was born. Her passion and realisation that Early Childhood is essential in human life made her extensively involved in the field. Her research shows that Malaysia was far behind other countries in the subject, which made her and her husband initiate a preschool in 2008 to bring the necessary changes in Malaysia as well helping many young mothers who are looking for quality early childhood education centres.
Her teaching ability further leads her to accept and help children with Autism, ADHD and learning disabilities. At that moment, she knew these children needed support, and she sought a solution from doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and special educators. No one can give her the answers to the question about Autism, ADHD and learning disabilities, nor can they provide a proper solution to help them. Everyone just turned a blind eye towards this topic of learning disabilities.
"What should I do now to help this kid with learning disabilities? Frankly put, if I don't do it, who will? Since I was young, my parents have taught me to be independent, take matters into my own hands, and not expect others to do it for me. Should I rely on someone else, which might take another 5, 10 or even 20 years? What would happen to this kid if I relied on someone else to do it? Should I allow the kids to spoil their lives in front of me and remain oblivious? "Those were the questions that were running through her mind.
After serious thinking, she decided to start her research and create the right system to help children with Autism, ADHD and learning disabilities, as the statistics show an increase in the number of children affected. For this to happen, She knew she had to do this without any help from any parties, and she had to make a lot of sacrifices. She employed the relevant experts in the subject to assist her. At the same time, she does aware that this new venture will take up a lot of her time, and for this to be successful, she has to set aside her career goals in speaking and lecturing and her intention to further her doctorate studies in her field.
Three things were going on simultaneously: research, implementation and testing. It wasn't easy, and it took up much of her time, sometimes up to 18 hours a day! It took about seven years to develop a suitable methodology, process and results for all children, including typical children and children with autism, ADHD and learning disabilities.
Initial Challenges She faced.
Moving from a high-profile job as a lecturer and subject matter expert to a preschool founder was difficult. The apparent mindset then was to look down upon preschool educators regardless of how respected or well-known they were. Many people mocked and laughed at her when she said she was moving from lecturing and subject matter expert to preschool education. They said she had made an awful decision. Even some of her family members could not accept that she had studied up to a master's degree just to become a "normal" preschool founder. She could almost feel anyone and everyone looking down upon her one way or another. However, that did not stop her.
Another challenge she faced was making education inclusive for typical children and children with learning disabilities. Familiar parents could not accept that their children would be mixing with children with Autism, ADHD or learning disabilities. Parents of children with Autism, ADHD and learning disabilities feel their children need special attention and feel insecure when mixed with typical children. Both group parents felt that their children would be bullied, in other words, special children driven by typical children and typical children being forced by special children. Fortunately, after various awareness campaigning and seeing the change of the special children going through a normalisation and recovery process, the typical children's parents understood our mission and accepted the children. The typical children also understood the special children and said they should support them to live better. Therefore the blending between regular and special children happens very well, and they learn to live together.
Further to these challenges, human capital to has been quite a demanding challenger for her. She needed staff that were well equipped in the education or medical line and found a common point between the two fields concerning special kids. But even then, the team needed special training to handle the children well. Thus, to overcome that situation, Globalink had to start a training centre.
Her most challenging task yet was financially supporting the preschool. With no financial funding from the government or other sources, she had to lecture at three different universities and simultaneously be a subject matter expert in sustaining the school financially for the first five years.
The Intense Journey:
In 2010, Globalink added another school named GlobalinkHouse Preschool, which caters to children from 1 to 6 years of age. In 2014 they slowly started the primary education pilot project. In this school, they have implemented the system from their research outcome, which has customised methods which bring results to both typical and children with Autism, ADHD and learning disabilities. They also focus on Fun Learning and want the children to enjoy their childhood life. In 2014, they also researched and implemented the STEAM and Life Skills Program.
At the same time, they also conducted Early Intervention Plans and Multi-Disciplinary Therapy and were one of the earliest schools with in-house therapy facilities. Many parents enrolled their children for a complete set of help.
In 2017, another branch for Globalink, Balakong, was added. Additionally to this, three more schools were added in 2019.
Altogether, they have six schools using Globalink's system and three training centres to train the teachers in education and learning disabilities.
All the schools above were inaugurated due to the parent's satisfaction with our school and the results that Globalink has produced for the students.
In addition, she has successfully implemented affordable, qualitative and comprehensive services for typical kids and kids with learning disabilities who came from families of all incomes, regardless of their backgrounds. This was proven when Globalink won the International School Award 2018, held in Dubai, and Vanisri was chosen as the Edupreneur of the Year.
Vanisri also has been accredited the Advanced Certified Autism Specialist by the International Certification Board in the United States of America. She is also an international affiliate of the American Psychological Association. She has been an International Reviewer for Psychological Journals for Global Research and Development Services since 2017. She has been a subject matter expert for PhD students pursuing their studies in Learning Disabilities at local universities. She has initiated a research program with the prison department of Malaysia, analysing the relationship between learning disabilities and crime.
She ordained Vocational Training Manager certification from the Department of Skills, Malaysia, in 2017 and also gained an exemption from Train the Trainer Program from HRDF, Malaysia. She has successfully organised a National Seminar bringing together 15 experts in the field of Education and Medical to talk, discuss and analyse Early Childhood Education and learning disabilities. She designed and coordinated the whole program for the seminar and outlined and managed the 15 speakers to achieve one objective: all kids need to be allowed to hope, learn, succeed and contribute.
She has gained the attention of local universities and private universities in Malaysia. 3 Universities have signed MOU with Globalink under the leadership of Vanisri. Those universities are University Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), University Technology Malaysia (UiTM) and Unitar International University. Vanisri also pointed out that Globalink has been certified as HRDF Training Provider, IBCCES (US) and IACET (US). More local universities are on their way to collaborating with Globalink. Vanisri has made a point to these universities that it's a must for these universities to partner with the industries to produce the right human capital. She was one of the main contributors to the 2U2I program at UPSI. 2U2I is a program where the undergraduates will be with the universities for two years and with industries for two years. Globalink will be the pioneer in the Education industry's collaboration with UPSI.
Current Achievement
Vanisri believes that everyone has abilities and disabilities. The right light is essential in cultivating their talents. For her, skill is not measured by the ability to think or perform well but by the passion and willingness to do something wholeheartedly.
She also trusts that All children have unique talents and the power to HOPE, LEARN, SUCCEED and CONTRIBUTE to society. Every child has their strengths and disabilities, and let's not just look at the disabilities, but let's look at the Abilities and concentrate on them and make the world a better place for them to lead a good life.
With this, she has successfully developed a chain of education businesses that focus on
- developing the talents of all children goes beyond race, religion and disabilities. She has successfully developed a complete system for the STEAM and Life Skills program. These programs have been implemented since 2014 and are fully used in Malaya International School, a school founded by Vanisri. Her students, who started with her at the age of 2 years in 2014, are in their secondary schools either locally or internationally. One of her students is currently in Singapore School and is the top student. And she has many amazing stories like this to share.
- Making the children with psychological conditions become functional. She has successfully developed GoldenChild Therapy & Special Education systems to help children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, Global Development Delay, and Slow Learners reduce their disabilities and normalise and recover from the condition. She is also a Majlis Tertinggi OKU Selangor member and a panel member in the Women, Child and Family Ministry in developing the policy for disabled People. Her achievements are she has more than 100 proven testimonials that at least 90% of the children who follows her guidance and GoldenChild Therapy system has recovered from their initial condition. Yes, she has gone through a complete cycle where her students who started at the age of 5 years are already in their 19s and successful in life.
- She has the best framework for developing Educators and Therapists, which she started in 2011. She has developed courses for educators and therapies. She is a practitioner, lecturer, subject matter expert and course designer. Her success story is that she has produced excellent educators and GoldenChild therapists. She has also developed three assistant educators with only one credit for their SPM into functional and performing assistant educators over four years. All the modules are fully developed, tested and implemented. Educators and Therapist Development Centre has programs to develop educators and therapists in terms of academic certification (accredited by MQA), Skill certification, and professional certification (certified by HRDF).
Vanisri believes her starting pathway and well-established Information Technology and Software Engineering knowledge have given her the right wisdom to create her education empire. She has brought the fundamental philosophy from her educational background into practice, which helped her develop her education empire. Her achievement in education will obtain an education revolution that will change how education is being implemented in schools in Malaysia and globally.