Kaz Akbar

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Kaz Akbar From Training the Future Wizards of
Technology to Well-rounded Private Montessori
Schools
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A top the list of all the things the public
school system was hard-pressed to provide in the
past, up-to-date teaching in technology was
glaring earlier in the decade. Keeping up with
changing equipment demands and necessary teacher
training has been a rearguard action the past
several years in the schools, a flailing effort
to stay abreast of a computerized society that
keeps whizzing ahead.
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Kaz Akbar, former school teacher in the Greater
Toronto Area is among those who started his own
summer camps and after-school programs to address
the need. In the late 1990's, Kaz Akbar left the
public school system where he also taught
computers to become director of MindTech Schools,
which combine academic and technology learning.
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Kaz Akbar set up a full-day Montessori program by
day and then camps at all times regular schools
are on holiday, including Christmas, March break
and the summer, in addition to after-school and
weekend programs throughout the year. Kaz Akbar
developed his ideas for MindTech while observing
the challenges of teaching technology in the
public school system.
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"You've got a huge generation gap in the teaching
staff," Akbar observes. "There's a whole new
surge of teachers coming into the system who are
very enthusiastic about using the technology and
you've got an older generation of teachers that
are almost phobic about it."
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Kaz Akbar notes that sectors ranging from
robotics, telecommunications and space travel to
Internet use, graphics and animation are being
transformed and are becoming so increasingly
expensive to afford that kids are going to have a
struggle to pick up the required basic skills
during their school years or through the public
education system.
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"We know that the kids are starving for this kind
of learning," says Akbar, whose MindTech
incorporates a full-day Montessori school during
the academic year for families who want it, along
with after-school programs and summer camp. "The
whole idea is really to get them started in the
summer and then continue with the after-school
program," he adds. "Those children that attend
our regular day school will benefit tremendously
throughout the year."
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Now, with three locations in Markham, Ontario,
MindTech offers summer day camp on a week-by-week
basis, with such activities as sports, nature
walks and music lessons added to the academic and
technology learning. Programs are half and full
days, for kids from pre-school ages to 12.
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Kaz Akbar insured that as kids progressed to
using some of the more sophisticated multimedia
courseware, programs included such areas as
biomedical technologies, space technologies,
flight technologies and simulators,
computer-aided publishing, electronic
communications, graphics and animation and Web
page design. "Both in areas of Montessori and
Technology, the kids are teaching a lot of the
curriculum to themselves and we find they are
really able to handle the material," says Akbar.
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Summer camp may not be a phrase that immediately
conjures up robotics and computer-aided design in
the minds of most parents. But Kaz Akbar found
that kids actually have as much fun learning
about these as they do kicking a ball. Enhancing
the educational development of their kids makes
the fun particularly valuable to the parents.
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