my thoughts

E xamination : An Opportunity to Showcase Your  Hard Work “The will to succeed is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare .” Board /annual  examinations are at hand.  Both, p arents  and children  are experiencing tremendous stress. In his  recent speech honorable Prime M inister Mr.   Narendra   M odi  postulated that examination season should infuse a spirit of festivity among parents and teachers as it is a chance to express and pen down the hard work done or the efforts exhibited throughout the year. But it’s easier said than done. The fact  remains that  exams are  still  stressful and testing for students as well as the parents.  I have come across many cases where parents approach teachers seeking solutions of  the  problems which are mostly self created and virtual. Unfortunately, everybody becomes cautious  and concerned during the time of examination but remain reluct...

The times have changed. The way children are being raised, has also changed. The children are not only being protected but cocooned, more than ever before, in the name of the safety and this is up to great some extent important also. The safety of children is an issue which is so often discussed and given a lot of emphasis, at home and in the schools as well. This is not a new thing but is more in focus now than before. But sometimes it seems to be going beyond limit. This has been mentioned by me in my articles that a line should be drawn for any kind of restriction or freedom. Even in our constitution, the freedom of speech comes with certain riders. I think some of you might be wondering, what I am talking about? So I must come to the point. As mentioned earlier, children are the most important assets and resource of a family, society, nation and the world and this is the reason they should be treated and raised with utmost care. The environment provided to them should be such tha...

Sometimes, you tend to ignore a reminder or an advice even if it comes from someone you trust or rely upon. The reason, we overlook it or do not take it seriously might be that we weren’t expecting such a thoughtful piece of advice from that individual. This person could be your junior, son/daughter, student or any other member of the society. This could be a person who is not considered equal to you in terms of position, socio-economic background or experience. But the same person might make your thinking chords ring on some very important issue regarding the work you do or the kind of thought process you have. My firm belief lies in the idea that children are the noble souls and they should be treated with affection and their bringing up should be as gentle as possible. I take pride in the conviction that children are the real essence of an individual’s life. But, in the race of being number one and running after the accumulation of as many materialistic things as possible, we tend...

While addressing the gathering of Samajwadi party the Chief Minister of the state Mr Akhilesh Yadav mentioned an important thing indicating the conflict with his uncle. The statement was that if he had been equipped with a sword then it was inevitable to use the same. It was as if taking a horse to a pond and not allowing it to drink water. This was something which is so true in case of the parents and the children, specially the school going children. The general feeling in the mind of the people nowadays is that the children of the day are more demanding and less respectful towards their parents and the teachers. If I say that the behaviour of the children in the school is the reflection of what they have learnt at home, proves to be true in today’s scenario. Similarly, some people might argue that this is vice versa and I think nobody is right or wrong. So, this proves that the family and the school have significant impact on the child’s personality. But what we usually miss is th...

The advisory circular by CBSE to its affiliated schools is a welcome step and all concerned should pay attention to it and try their best so that the problem of weight of bag can be handled and solved for the benefit of school going children. This should not remain confined to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools only but should apply to all across the school board. The weight of bags and the stuff taken by the children to school has been increasing year by year. The text books, notebooks, art & craft copy, moral science books, grammar, literature, practical books are few in the list of the material carried by the children to the school. Not only this, as the schools are located away from the home of the children, they have to carry Tiffin boxes & water bottles also. The weight of the water bottle is around 500 grams and when it is filled with water (if it is one litre capacity bottle), then gross weight  becomes about one & half Kgs. and thi...

In India, 29 th August, is celebrated as National Sports Day in the memory of  Maj. Dhyan Chand, who was born on this day in the year 1905 in Allahabad, UP. I am really keen to state a few things about him.  Maj. Dhyan Chand had two brothers, Shri Mool Singh Ji & Shri Roop Singh Ji (who also became an excellent Hockey player).  He joined Indian Army at the age of 16.  There is a belief that his name was changed from Dhyan Singh to Dhyan Chand because he used to practice in the night when the moon would appear which was after his duty hours (In the earlier days nobody knew that he was good in Hockey, hence no excuse for the practice during duty hours).  As the Hindi meaning of Moon is ‘Chand’ hence he was called by his friends as Dhyan Chand. He retired from the army as the Major and his promotions were mainly due to his extra ordinary skills of the game of Hockey. It would not be an exaggeration to state that in those days and even today Hockey is sy...

The facebook post by an IIT Professor and a news story based on that should have awakened the conscious of all those who really worry about the plight of the children in the name of making them super stars. An article ‘overburdened school-going children’ by Rashmi Pramanik in the book ‘ Childhoods in South Asia’ should also be an eye opener for all such people. The answer to the question of the child that ‘How would he find time out of 24 hours at his disposal when so much time is spent (much of that can be wasted)’.   School going children were already over loaded with the number of books and other stuff to be carried by them almost every day. Then the sudden explosion of knowledge from different sources made available to them.   Internet has already made their life difficult by giving the platform of social sites which take away substantial time from their already busy schedule. The school is a place where the child should be given opportunity to explore and create but ...

My previous article on the topic ‘Preventing violence in students’ attracted so many comments and most of the people specially the teachers by & large agreed that teachers will have to own greater responsibility to help children to learn values and save them from being trapped in a negative situation. But at the same time, some people did mention that the role of the family in ‘Indian context’ cannot be ignored and I fully agree with them. The social support system and the ‘needs’ satisfaction of the children has been fulfilled by the family from the ancient times. The family has always played a key role in the growth of the children in a manner that they become competent to face the challenges of life. The family here becomes the axis which is most important to achieve this mission. The children, particularly up to the age of adolescents are largely impressed by the way family fulfills their needs to develop core competencies.  Even in the disadvantaged groups (like SC, ST ...