my thoughts

The debate raised by the statement of the telecom minister seems to be settling down with a feeling that the government does not intend to censor social networking sites. This can be called a welcome move by most of the people who advocate the freedom of expression and speech. But the question that arises here is regarding the extent of  freedom. Do the people have the right to say and write anything they want even though it may be derogatory to others? All, whether using social networking sites or print media should realize to self regulate and follow the idea of live and let live and not only live in context of self. Let us leave the broader issue of the social networking sites and think about what is the right age to express the views in the public? Should it also be decided as we have the minimum age to obtain driving license or have a voting right? This seems to be a slightly tricky and confusing question but it does need to be deliberated upon and then reach to a decisio...

The proposed initiative by the union communication and IT minister to put the social networking sites under the scanner has raised heated debate through out the country. The government is worried due to the misuse of these sites by some perturbed minded individuals who use them to play with the emotions of the people. The government and the people of the country will have to think seriously before forming their opinion regarding the use and misuse of these sites. Some people are calling it as the attack on the freedom of expression and there is another group who endorse the idea of the minister as to be a step thought of in the right direction. The arguments given by both the sides seem to be correct from their perspective and that is the reason we should be very careful and control our emotions before criticizing others. We have a right to express our views but at the same time the other people are also equally eligible and free to express their views. Sometimes we ...

Few days back when I was in a function and was talking to some friends while having food.when our attention was drawn by a child who was about four years of age and he was also having food on another table. He was quite free to talk to everyone around him whether known or unknown to him. Initially, I was impressed by the confidence and the behavior of the child and really wanted to talk to him about his family and the school he was studying in. I moved to his table and was about to talk to him when he asked me (without looking at me) to get some water for him. The waiter around so I asked him for water for the child. He brought a bottle of water and placed it on the table and the child immediately asked him to open the same. His parents were not around him but he was not bothered about anything. I stood there for a while and in the meantime the child finished his food and left the table without bothering about the used plate or the half filled water bottle left lying on t...

This is the month of December which is known to us not with the help of the calendar but evidently by giving a close look at the faces of the school going students, specially the students who will appear in class XII board and other competitive examination. The faces have become slightly stressed and this is likely to escalate in the days and the months to come.The reason certainly is the fast approaching board exams that they write in the month of march. The parents of the children studying in class XII have restricted their outings for the functions of even close relatives because they feel that their child`s studies will get disturbed. The mothers always want to be with the child and motivate him /her to study hard. Every statement of advice has some impression in the mind of the child that this is the most important examination and if he /she performs well in that, then the life ahead will be very easy. Not only the parents, the school teachers are also...

While attending a workshop conducted to make the new educational leaders aware about the methods which will help them to perform better in their respective schools in the interest of the students and the teachers, they were given a case study in which the head of a school was told to have taken the help of the students and the staff of the school for the purpose of doing some work in the school, because the school was short of funds. Most of the participants applauded the efforts of the head and all the people involved in the noble task which helped many students later on. Many people felt that it served two purposes. One, it helped the school to manage the deficit of the funds and second the children learnt dignity of labour. In our city itself we have one great educationist and human being who changed the concept of education by introducing an idea of self help which leads to helping others. The people who studied there and are doing very well in their profession, give credit to thi...

The violent incidents taking place in the country seems to be on the increase in the recent past. Earlier it used to be either the terrorists or the extremist who would indulge in such activities which were designed to create panic among the people of the country. By and large our nation has been peace loving and it has been rare that we provoked somebody or got provoked. The problems related to one of our neighbours have been created more by the circumstances of the partition and the attitude of the British Empire during the time when freedom was achieved by the two nations. Disgruntled group of the people helped the ill design of the neighbouring country and we did manage to control it in one of the major states but there are still some states badly affected by the activities of the people who are against the country or are otherwise unhappy with the government policies or unequal opportunities available to different people in the country based on caste or the region. The democratic...

In the last days, I came across two important issues raised/shared by the parents of the children studying in the school and the one who passed out from the school last year. In the first incident, the child was admitted in the school this year and had come from other school from a different city. The child had been doing all right but somehow the parents were not happy with the way the teacher had handled the newly admitted child. This is a genuine problem with the parents of the children who are frequently transferred from one place to another due to the nature of their job. The children of such parents have to re-root themselves in the school having new students and almost unknown teachers. This is natural that they take some time to adjust to the new environment and the teachers also need some time to understand the child and the way he/she is to be integrated in the class. This is not an easy task, neither for the teacher nor for the children. In this situation, the experienc...

1) Understanding Assessment Assessment and knowledge are the heart and soul of education.And education is the bedrock of society without which there is no progress.The root of the term assessment is "assidere",that means 'to set'; used in the primitive period to measure the growth in business.Apropos education,assessment is used interchangeably for evaluation.The history of this techniques is glorious and in the early societies,assessment not only indicated the educational emergence,but also the social and moral uprising.It assessed the different facets like, if the student is ready for advancement,the epicentre of his/her potential,level of competence and measure of intelligence along with social,cultural,moral and spiritual traits of the learner. Assessment is an integral part of any system if the improvement or the progress is to be made. It has different meaning in different context but educational assessment can be referred to as the learning outcome of the stu...

The teachers have to perform many important duties in and outside the school and the most important of all is the interaction and proper guidance to the children being taught by them. In addition to this, the teachers in government schools are engaged in some other works also which may not really be helping them to learn for the benefit of the students in terms of effective class room environment. Most of the class teachers are responsible for the collection of the fees or such tasks which are primarily of clerical nature. Proper record of the children including their family background (this is necessary for the teachers to know) and the caste and the religion they belong to is also expected from the teacher. Then the preparation of the result and the report cards etc is also to be done by the teachers in most of the schools, Not only they are responsible for the bus duties etc. so that the children are transported to and from the schools safely. We can list many more which are equall...

The birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is celebrated as the children`s day also and on this day every year many programmes are organized in the schools and competitions are held at different places. The children are made to understand that they are the most important entity in the life of the parents and the schools. The future of the country lies in their future. This is very true but the question which comes to the mind of many people is that what role such celebrations play in the improvement of the life of the children. If we try to understand the change from the day in the year 2010 and 2011, not much improvement can be noticed. I do not think the number of the children involved in child labour has reduced. Though we do not have any scientific data or survey done during the said period but there seems to be no improvement in the condition of the children specially the ones from rural and economically poor background. Most of our children do not have access to healthy food, good ...