my thoughts

Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta is a great lesson on education. In this epic, Arjuna is the pupil whom Shri Krishna educates. He gives Arjuna no set of predefined directions but asks him to know himself and direct himself towards his duty. We all know that education is a holistic process. It is not confined to just securing elite ranks and getting high grades. It aims towards making pupils self-sufficient. Many a times we come across cases where a student gives 100% to a particular subject or concept but is unable to get desired results. The major problem students go through is shortcomings in the existing strategies and failure in developing a new approach of learning . Problems in learning arise when students fail to assess the complexity of a concept and keep on applying the same old approach every time. The book, ‘ How Learning Works ’ discusses a very important principle of learning, “ To become self directed learners, students must learn to access the demands of the task, evaluate th...

“Education is a purposive, conscious or unconscious, psychological, sociological, scientific and philosophical process, which brings about the development of the individual to the fullest extent and also the maximum development of society in such a way that both enjoy happiness and prosperity.” This suggests that education system is dynamic and requires constant reforms, speculations and assessments on various levels across the world.   Considering the world as a Global Village, a substantial effort was initiated in the year 2000, which is known as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). India and China became a part of it in 2009, for the first time. Out of 74 countries which participated that year China secured the first position and India settled for 72 nd rank. Hopeless and despair-ridden, India decided to withdraw and had never been a part of PISA since then. After speculating on this matter and discussing it on many levels, the present government has deci...

The mother tongue of a child is part of the personal, social and cultural identity. It brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking. It is basically responsible for differentiating the linguistic competence. Research indicates that having a strong mother tongue leads to a much better understanding of curriculum as well as a more positive attitude towards school, so it is vital that children maintain their first language when they begin schooling in a different language. In spite of growing evidence and parent demand, many educational systems around the world insist on exclusive use of one or sometimes several privileged languages. Some educators argue that only those countries where the student’s first language is the language of instruction are likely to achieve the goals of Education for All. Rachel Cooper states that the push for teaching in universal languages such as English has been shown to hinder  children’s educati...

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’.”   – Plato September 5, the birth date of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, is celebrated as Teacher's Day in India. Once, a few students asked him if they could celebrate his birthday, he replied, "Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if September 5 is observed as Teachers' Day." With this auspicious day round the corner I couldn’t stop myself from penning down my thoughts to pay my respect all great Gurus. I remain in the company of budding minds and observe the teaching-learning process closely, on a daily basis. I have seen young men and women shape into competent and dedicated teachers with time. I see them grow each day and handle the most adverse situations nonchalantly. Teaching is not just a profession in our country but a mission to shape young minds. In our scr...

  “A teachable spirit and a humbleness to admit your ignorance or your mistake will save you a lot of pain. However, if you're a person who knows it all, then you've got a lot of heavy-hearted experiences coming your way.” With the advancement in technology and availability of all kinds of information on the internet the role of teachers have become more challenging. Many a times you,, as a teacher,   might have faced a situation in the classroom where a child is aware of a certain topic or argument as he has already gone through it on the internet( this is something we should be proud of in spite of taking it as a challenge). But this is also true that your role and importance as a teacher and guide is facing the test of modern times. It leaves almost no scope for you to commit mistakes (the same was true before also but now children have exposure to the variety of sources of both good and bad. The teacher of “today” has a huge responsibility to compete with himself/he...

I am very fortunate to be in a position which gives me a wonderful opportunity to interact closely with both students and teachers. School is a place where growth is inevitable and both teachers and students are its strong pillars. It is intellectually prolific and makes possible the holistic development of its students. But, a school which doesn’t cater to the growth and development of its teachers is bound to deteriorate the process of learning. Well, when we talk about growth, we do understand that growth is an exacting process which requires a lot of elements to function productively. Schools often neglect the fact that it is also important for the teachers to adapt to the changing times and adopt the methods which will rejuvenate the teaching-learning process. I am quite confident that teachers are keeping themselves abreast with the changes in the field of education; they are trying to adapt to the changing expectations and fast pacing technology. But, my focus in this artic...