Helping the nation

The last few years have witnessed introduction of many reforms in the education system of the country and this has awakened the citizens of the nation to discuss and put forward their views in public domain. The concept of CCE has been to help children develop into a complete and holistic personality including the value based growth which will help them to live in a better environment than otherwise. Another reason for introduction of CCE and school based examination was to reduce the stress level among the students.  Now after about three years of CCE being into force we need to understand whether it has started in the right direction and is giving the desired results. When discussed with the teachers, parents and children we get a mixed response.  Even among the students, there is a difference of opinion regarding the advantage they might have received appearing in school based tenth class examination than the board examination. The students who consider themselves to be academically good think that the previous system of examination was better as it was more challenging than what they feel for the new system. At the same time the children who were not that good in academics find the new system easy and they are comfortable with that. We do not have any study which can prove which side is correct in their assessment. One response which I got from a teacher who is a parent also is that the new system has made children easy going and they do not show any seriousness towards what is happening in the class. The argument of such teachers is that the children in the earlier system were better and more focussed towards their studies which they are not at present. They always strived to perform better in their examination whether it was a unit test, half yearly or annual examination. When the same is discussed with the people who have difference of opinion in this regard their argument is that some teachers and parents are not able to abandon their preconceived notions of teaching in the class and examining/testing the children at the end of a particular period of time. They seem to be right in their approch that education is not only the cognitive development of the child but the development of other areas as well like affective domain and psychomotor domain. I tend to agree with the second thought because cognitive development without the proper development of other areas will induce incomplete personality.

In the new system of teaching learning  and evaluation the role of teachers is very important and they have to work harder than before because they have to comprehend the new system themselves and make parents and students fully aware about the same. Until the teachers take the share of responsibility, it will take longer for the new system to be successful in achieving the goal which were kept in mind by the reformers while introducing the system. I am sure all will agree with me that new system does not stop teachers from teaching well in the class and children learn better, rather this helps them to do better by exploring the latent talents in the children. Any change introduced has resistence from different corners and so is the case with the change in our education system. Only thing which can be debated is the pace of the change with which it is brought in.  The mindset that the teaching learning takes place in the classroom only should be changed immediately because learning takes place at every steps and in every situation. The students follow their teachers in primary section and do exactly what the teachers tell them or the way the teachers behave. Almost the same thing remain in middle school students and upto some extend in  secondary school students also. Now the question is do we want our students to follow teachers and parents blindly or they should be encouraged to think independently and have a different and logical point of view than the teachers and parents. I think one of the most important objectives of education is to develop critical thinking and this can be done by exposing them to different situations other than classroom also. Some teachers complain about the size of the class which seem to be a genuine problem raised by them but as I always say that in a class of forty children we need to work hard for about five to seven children because rest of them learn things on their own without much efforts from teachers or elders. I am not saying that those children do not require the attention of teachers but the teachers can take the help of such students to make others learn by using the method of collaborative learning.  Here the children would learn what is being done in the class and also indirectly acquire a capacity/learning of working with a partner or in a group.  The new system encourages teachers to be facilitators and the guide in the class and not the controller. He/she is supposed to provide the help as and when needed inspite of being the only source of knowledge for the children. The teachers would have to think beyond classroom situation and extend their support and help to the children in all their efforts.  The students now a days are engulfed by electronic gadgets which help them develop many skills but at the same time too much exposure is taking them away from the parents and family members. The children would be able to learn the lessons of life alone, but need the company of the parents and family members as guides and mentors. The role of teachers has become more important now than before because the students live in nuclear family and they seek for the support which they used to otherwise get from the family members. The teachers must have positive thoughts which will help the children to develop the same. The teachers must think beyond their service condition and salary structure etc., because there cannot be more satisfaction than seeing a child doing well in life because of some sincere efforts made by the teachers when the child was in their company. The teachers will have to work very hard to remove the fear of the parents and students that the teachers might not give appropriate grades to the kids who may not be considered “good” by the teachers. Discipline and the grades of the children should be kept apart and the students should not be made to suffer in Formative Assessment (FA) because the teacher found the child lacking in discipline in or outside the class. The children should not act artificially to show their respect towards teachers for the sake of getting good grades but we must work hard to develop positive attitude, values, love towards family, society and the nation. 

The teachers in our country have been given very high status in the past and the same continues now also though we may feel  that there has been some erosion. I always say that the good teachers were respected, are respected and will be respected in the future also by all including parents and students. The Teachers’ Day is celebrated on 5^th of September every year to remember Dr. Radhakrishnan and is dedicated and devoted to the teachers of the past and the present.  This day gives the teachers also an opportunity to introspect and judge what more is to done for the betterment of the future of this country because they are with the most innocent minds and future of the country. Let us be proud of our profession and the service we are rendering to the nation without expecting anything in return to help in evolving better future citizens.

I wish all teachers a very happy teachers day and may God give us strength to keep working hard  and help our children to the best of our ability.