Towards Six Sigma In Education

1. 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
www.sixsigmaineducation.com
tqmhead@aol.com
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 committment 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 rountine 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 Quantitiy being faced by two
customers the Parents and the Students’ the ultimate. Talking of Six Sigma, the
phenemonen of Zero Defect to negligence of the theory of 3.14 per miillion,
sounds far fetched.
It is good to agree and comment of the fact that the very business of education
today is just that—a business. It focuses more today on the bottom line and it is
important to stay on the competitive edge for all of its customers—from 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. It’s 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 point’s 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 audio-visual
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 Circles) have created the
value based concept as a similie for the Six Sigma standards. It infuses a spike

2. 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:
This phase involves the definition of the project/assignment, using process map,
application area, desired improvement, likely benefits, etc. The importance lies in

3. 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 indentification 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 withing a school. Six Sigma works here
with the inception of Six Sigma Capsule of Solving Techniques. How it would
function in education would have a defined and rather a redefined defination as:

4. GREEN BELTS: These represent the Six Sigma practioners, with a thorough
grounding of the approach. The teachers and instructors of the students act as
these designatures.
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.

5. 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
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

6. 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.