my thoughts

The months of March/April come with a lot of academic activities in a family. All these are related to one point programme and that is the final/annual examinations in schools and colleges. I am more concerned about the problem (self created) faced by the parents in addition to the stress faced by the children who appear in these examinations. The ministry of human resource and development and central board of secondary education have taken several steps to reduce this stress of the parents and the children. The designers of these policies seem to be happy with the steps taken by them. They feel that the stress level of the   concerned stakeholders has gone down significantly. But the reality of the situation seems to be otherwise. There may be some cases where the children and the parents would have been happy with the reforms in examination and evaluation system. I would like to share with you all the real situations and activities in the families whether children appeared/ ...

It was in the year 2002 when we shifted to our newly built house in Jodhpur. This was a small colony with the limited number of families residing there. As this was not an old residential area hence the number of trees and shrubs etc were also limited. We planted a few trees and most of them survived. One day we found that one of the neem plants was broken from its middle which made me a little unhappy. I was not sure whether the same will survive or not but as there was a lot of attachment with those plants, I had a special affinity for it (all must have felt the same if the saplings were planted by them). I tied the broken part (stem) with the rooted one with the help of a cloth. I would like to clarify that the broken part was loosely attached with the rest and not completely removed. After twelve years, when I see the plant growing into a huge tree and providing shelter to many during scorching heat, I feel very happy. This ordinary incident made me think that if a broken tree c...

It is a popular notion that Education is a process through which knowledge, learning, skills and understanding is passed on to the next generation through interaction, sharing and teaching. It is not innate but acquired. In our country, education is passing through a transitional phase and all stake holders are trying to cope with the same.   It started with the introduction of CCE by CBSE and since then many more steps have been taken to make things easy for the children and those aspiring to become engineers and doctors. I would like to emphasize on the word used ‘easy’ because it is very important for us to understand this and respond accordingly. Our great philosophers and educationists defined education in their own ways but one thing common is that this is the manifestation of the potential already possessed by an individual. As we know that all seeds grow into plants or trees if they are provided with a proper and conducive environment. They can grow anywhere whether it b...

The end of the year 2012 left all the countrymen troubled and concerned about the kind of society we witness in the present age. The heinous crime and foolish act on the part of a few mentally imbalanced people has shaken the faith of the people in the systems and when I say systems I mean all the agencies responsible for the welfare of all the citizens of the country. Though apparently it appears as to have touched the right chord in the rampant acts of corruption, particularly the crime against women but the reality speaks something else. The brave girl fought for her life and the people in position tried to fight for their own sake. My intention is not to cast shadow on the thinking of all but by and large people took it as an opportunity to be in limelight by making tall statements as and when they got an opportunity. The public feels helpless and the faith in the people in power and position is getting eroded fast. Our respected elected representatives are very good in divert...

The two incidents which happened in the last few days have slackened all the people across the world. The first was in the most developed nation of the world and the second in the most developing nation. These incidents force us to believe that East and West are no different in terms of the end result and acts of the citizens of the country. The person who killed twenty innocent children of age six to seven years and six seven adults ended his life also. The six accused that outraged the modesty of a young girl are considered to have indulged in the most heinous crimes against mankind. This innocent young girl succumbed to death recently. But shall we remember the same after a few days or months? Remember the case of Jessica Lal, Ruchika Girhotra, Kavita Choudhary and there were many more which perhaps are not in the near memory. Today there may be a wave of concern and protest but are we really alarmed about the degradation of the societal values? Do we really want to take some c...

We keep discussing about the future of our children and show a lot of concern about the same. Sometimes this concern changes into anxiety not only for the parents but the children also. In this tussle of seeking the right way for the future of the children to become secure, we tend to miss on something very important and that is the proper development of the children. More emphasis is given to academic area due to which other important issues are neglected.   The recent incidents in the schools and families are forcing all the stakeholders to rethink and help the children to learn things in a comprehensive way. Though the parents and teachers seem to be spending more time with their children but this is also true that the children of the day are more close to their friends and are willing to do things as suggested or asked by their friends. Some children who present a good demeanour at home tend to behave just opposite in the school and vice-verse. I think even the children of...