SIX SIGMA in Education: FAD or Reality??

Dheeraj Mehrotra (MS, MPhil), National Awardee)

Head, TQM in Education Department,
City Montessori School & Degree College, Lucknow, INDIA

Quality is the culture of demand and education as an industry today has

mushroomed from over the years to a mega segment for profit making and
learning to earn for more. The essence of Quality demands commitment and as
one of our Quality Gurus, Jagdish Gandhi, the Founder of the Worlds Biggest
School, CMS, Lucknow, INDIA and the awardee of the UNESCO Peace Prize,
says, the mantra has to be Catch Them Young and Innocent. There is a time
now to encapsulate the art and cult of this routine otherwise job of the
academicians. We need to evaluate our system of educational and of course
the education process to produce best of Quality and Quantity being faced by
two customers the Parents and the Students the ultimate. Talking of Six
Sigma, the phenomenon of Zero Defect to negligence of the theory of 3.14 per
million, sounds far fetched.
It is good to agree and comment of the fact that the very business of education
today is just thata business. It focuses more today on the bottom line and it is
important to stay on the competitive edge for all of its customersfrom the
students and their parents to the faculty, staff, and donors, as well. At the
same time it needs to considered of the view that the act of education also has
a greater accountability today. This means that installing quality improvement
across the board is more important today than ever before. It is important from
both the business and academic sides. A quality improvement program can
improve all areas of education.

Six Sigma in education is a Quality Philosophy. Its a

philosophy that talks about attainable short-term goals
while striving for long term objective. Our mission to have
a Total Quality Person (TQP) with a vision that Every
Child is Potentially the Light of the World and a Pride of
the Human Race

As of a common layman points of view, in education, Six Sigma pertains to

improving the quality of matter taught, the character generated of the pupils,
and the quality of study and school life. With the revolutionary usage of audiovisual devices, like projectors, video conferencing, etc., the students can also
be asked to write papers on a particular subject and after the presentation of
papers, a discussion can take place on the respective subject. Under this
method of imparting knowledge of literacy with quality, the thinking, writing
and presentation skills of the students can be kindled. In addition, the existing
method of quality improvement through SQCC (Students Quality Control

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Circles) have created the value based concept as a simile for the Six Sigma
standards. It infuses a spike of excellence, emotional development,
humaneness and self discipline. The fact lies with the acception of the novice
ideas by the school principals and the decision makers of how to install and
implement the cause of Education to make it the need of the hour by
implementing the best media possible to laminate the success of each and
every child, making them Good and Smart. The mission should be to Make Every
Child a Gift of God to Mankind and A Pride of the Human Race.
The six sigma implementation evolves around the following:

Here lies Six Sigma: The culture of Six Sigma suggests a work environment and
quality of work life where everyone in the company desires to achieve the Six
Sigma target, to increase customer satisfaction, to increase efficiency, to
lower costs and to improve profitability. This culture provides an important and
continuing focus to management. The Six Sigma quality concept penetrates
applying to all processes within a company whether defective means an
out-of-spec time coming off a production line, the amount of re-work in a
batch of a product, a document with a misprint, or a late delivery time. The
implementation in the educational arena requires the teachers to be
considered employees, or the workforce in general. The customers tend to be
the parents who pay the fees and want quality in return of the good result of
their wards. This is the time when we need a new defined definition of
PARENTS as no more as stake holder but a part of the organisation as we need
to be dependent on them of feedback and change in the work culture at
schools to give them more of satisfaction, delight and out of the most getting
them Zapped !.
DEFINE:

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This phase involves the definition of the project/assignment, using process

map, application area, desired improvement, likely benefits, etc. The
importance lies in having the chance of a high successful delivery of better
quality and saving costs in totality. In the context of academic strata, the
failures include identifying and defining the problem. Projects may include real
life problems such as distractions in the classroom, for example.
MEASURE:
This phase involves the analysis of the process to determine its present state
and the future, as obtained. Data collection is the main emphasis of this phase.
ANALYSE:
This phase involves the data analysis for identification of parts of process which
affect the quality of the problem.
IMPROVE:
This phase adds to the process to find a permanent solution to the problem.
This may involve better forecasting, better scheduling, better procedures or
equipment, specifying teaching techniques, work environment for the teachers,
and school campus quality life.
CONTROL:
This phase involves the process of closing the problem by putting in the right
procedures and management statistics.

This if well treated as an industry is bound to get profit in bringing out Quality
Results of Wonderful and Campus Envy students with a heavy demand for
them. Taking an issue of HOW TO AVOID DISTRACTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM ?
would sum up as a good though novice idea to start the inception and
manipulation of eradication of problems within a school. Six Sigma works here

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with the inception of Six Sigma Capsule of Solving Techniques. How it would
function in education would have a defined and rather a redefined definition
as:
GREEN BELTS: These represent the Six Sigma parishioners, with a thorough
grounding of the approach. The teachers and instructors of the students act as
these designators.

BLACK BELTS: These represent the Six Sigma experts with a thorough grounding
in the approach, in addition to the ability to lead the projects (which is an
additional skill over the Green Belts). A subgroup of the teachers and
instructors act in this role.

MASTER BLACK BELTS: These represent people who spend their time focused on
Six Sigma, assist leadership for projection and consultation. The Administration
Officer or the Vice-Principal act in this role.

CHAMPIONS or LEADERS: They are the senior managers who ensure that
resources are available for training and projects and also conduct reviews. The
Principal acts in this role, in collaboration of the management or school board.
Let us all analyse the fact:
WHERE THE VISION IS ONE YEAR
CULTIVATE FLOWERS
WHERE THE VISION IS TEN YEARS
CULTIVATE TREES
WHERE THE VISION IS ETERNITY
CULTIVATE PEOPLE
The time permits of the fact to revise and define the product quality in
demand of the success stories and particularly the academic culture of today
defines the way to ultimate and towards the success of any individual.

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There is a preface to promote the quality culture in academic institutions to

pertain and to satisfy the routine job for the teachers and the principals at
large to laminate and to pertain the philosophy of learning and teaching
through the inception and perception of quality culture of making the fact in
hand to promote the self learning in making the good and the promotional
aspects of self activating tool towards the masses and making it a promotional
affair of making the preview of the success at large.

The time and tide promotes the self analysis of the fact to pertain and to
promote the self factual learning scenario to pertain the simplicity in regard to
flourish the fact in concern. The exploring duration of the simplicity in regard
to make view and preface to the learning methodology has in demand over the
years made the new and the old traditional concepts of education towards
learning the better. Now we flourish with implementing the TQM culture of
Total Quality Management with activation of tools in learning and the
practicing of making the Brainstorming and Data Collection techniques and
particularly having the GROUP LEARNING methodology has been the need of the
hour. Many of the conventions, as of observed and conducted conventions, over
the years have been in use for the Quality Circles national and International
Conventions, especially by City Montessori School, India

has been the

benchmark in making this strata of Inception of Quality In Academics has been

of the way to conduct a condusive learning environment. There deals in making
the students a Total Quality Person and in making the children, the future
leaders of tomorrow as the Builders of the Nation in a big way. It makes the
way the life goes on towards learning the best way possible.
There lies of the fact that it is in a big way to deal with the factual concerns of
learning and teaching to preview the condusive environments in schools and
particularly the class rooms and the staff rooms to make the sure of the fact in
view.
The topics in deal include the ones which relate to the view of making the best
possible information handling in action and in view of making the learning the

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FUN in exchange of the information to preview the actions in classes and the
motivation towards the lamination in regard to the products out of reach to the
action and the learning in the classes. The discipline and the productivity go
hand in hand particularly through hand in hand in action. I would request our
fellow colleagues and academicians to generate blogs on education towards
success for all. Let us share our feelings towards Quality Literacy for one and
all. Blogs may be shared at www.computerscienceexpertise.com towards Literacy
For all.
tqmhead@aol.com

Read a BLOG on QUALITY IN EDUCATION:

http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Affil/?315505/Blog.aspx/tqmhead/
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