Cover Story - A shade in the heat

“There is a lot going to happen in India, my dear Principal, set your goals for these years ahead rightaway. Review the goals that you set last year, do not carry it forward as it is, review these goals, set a different goal for this year. Keep the Corporates in mind who set goals for the year ahead, review them a year later and then set further milestones. Adjust your thinking with the changing years. Personally I have a lot of confidence in you dear principals. Do not be rooted in the past and at the same time do not be totally futuristic, everything has to be gradual and will change gradually...gradually...” says Mr Neil O’Brien, Chairman, Council for the Indian School Certificate (CISCE) and Chairman, Anglo Indian Association in a candid conversation with Dr Vidya Shetty, Editor, MENTOR.

Agile for his age, passionate about all that he has to do and say in education, Mr Brien dressed in his smart lilac shirt and tie, flamboyant in his style of speech, diction, sense of humour welcomes me to FAPS where he spent some time in a tete-a-tete with me while in Bangalore. Sensing his happy temperament, I got him discussing matters that ranged from the year that was to the year ahead, the RTE and its goodness apart from grey areas that concerns the Principal of today, plans for the New Year from the platter of CISCE, parenting and the role of schools to a message to Principals.

Academia Input - Metamorphosis in Education

“The crawling caterpillar cannot soar high unless it goes into a chrysalis and changes its state. It is exactly the same with current education. It needs a metamorphosis.”

A Chinese proverb states: “If we do not change direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.” Education certainly needs a metamorphosis, a transformation in its state and in fact a change in its direction. Dr. Sunita Gandhi, President, Nurture International Welfare Society and Co-founder, Council for Global Education, USA writes to MENTOR on Metamorphosis- the transformation from a Cocoon to a Butterfly...

Some talk about reform in terms of small changes like lighter school bags, while others talk about completely re-inventing education in this, supposed-to-be, enlightened 21st century. The fact is that we all agree education needs change, but how much change, where and what kind of change remains mostly ill articulated. Children lack the support and the guidance they once received. Can we really guarantee that children coming out of our schools are going to be caring, conscious and concerned members of our communities, young adults who know right from wrong and who possess the will to lead meaningful and virtuous lives?

Legendary Notes - If I Don't Learn The Way You Teach Me, Teach Me The Way I Learn...

In the last 30 or 40 years, a number of educators have proposed that teaching would be more effective when schools and faculty members take account of differences in students' learning styles. David Kolb an American educationist focused on experiential learning by which he developed the Learning Styles Model (LSM) that enhances learning.

Experiential learning is a term used to describe the sort of learning undertaken by students who are given a chance to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and feelings in an immediate and relevant setting. Experiential learning thus involves a, 'direct encounter with the phenomena being studied rather than merely thinking about the encounter or only considering the possibility of doing something about it.'

Experiential Learning...
David A. Kolb created his famous model out of four elements: concrete experience, observation and reflection, the formation of abstract concepts and testing in new situations. He represented these in the famous experiential learning circle that involves

• concrete experience followed by
• observation and experience followed by
• forming abstract concepts followed by
• testing in new situations

The Indian Education system has been static from a past few years now. However the Ministry of HRD has started bringing about some changes in CBSE affiliated schools. The latest example is of making Class X board exams optional and implementing the CCE system in schools, albeit at a very early stage. I am glad that people at the higher level have at least started realizing that the system needs changes and this change must continue at every level of a student’s education life. There should also be changes brought about in the Senior Secondary levels and at the Undergraduate levels since the Universities still rely profoundly on scores/marks that the student’s score at the plus two levels. Schools should accommodate diverse student’s needs by facilitating all styles of learners, offering individual and extracurricular support. We have to encourage learning by using different manipulatives, hand on activities and by using various forms of technology. However using modern techniques is a must in today’s education scenario but any education system is not comprehensive if it is not firmly rooted in our very rich Indian culture and values and also at the same time not have a global outlook.

I wish the learning process for all our young minds becomes more fun than a burden, to which they should look forward to. They should be eager and enthusiastic to go to schools every morning and at the end of the day be geared up to face life beyond the school gate. These young minds require good communication, life and soft skills, academic subjects apart. It is also the fundamental obligation of a school to teach them how to develop self esteem, empathy and interpersonal skills. On the other hand, our teachers should be dedicated to their profession, be collaborative in nature and should have innovative classroom skills, for it is they who will actually implement all the new policies on the ground and transform it in to a reality.

My prolonged experience in the field of education has made me realize that India as a country has not undermined the very essence of education with respect to the overall societal context.

Every Indian family, rich or poor, marginalized or non-marginalized, tries it’s very best to educate it in a distinctively plausible way with whatever existing resources it has. If we rank the priority of monthly expenses of an average urban Indian family, we can see that education comes even before health, clothing, housing and other essential services. Only investment in food and grocery comes before education.

The Indian education system at present is vividly bifurcated into the performing private sector and the severely laid back public sector. The real critical aspect of Indian public education system is its low quality. The actual quantity of schooling that children experience and the quality of teaching they receive are extremely insufficient in government schools. A common feature in all government schools is the poor quality of education, with weak infrastructure and inadequate pedagogic attention. What the government is not realising right now is that education which is a source of human capital can create wide income inequalities. Hence, it is imperative for the government to correct the blemishes in India’s education system which will also be a step towards reducing income inequality.