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Cover Story - The idyllic setting for an ideal school
"I believe in inclusive education as the key to human enrichment"
"A school that garners qualified, committed teachers to impart knowledge to students of all academic abilities and motivation levels and facilitate their holistic growth"
Rested in an idyllic setting of the Wordsworthian hills and fields, complete with the conditioned weather, distanced from pollution, all that a student would desire to learn from, observe, introspect, contemplate and seep into. That is Good Shepherd International School at Ooty for you sweeping you back to the world of nature and learning and poetic taste. Dr. P. C. Thomas the Founder and Principal of Good Shepherd International School quips to MENTOR, "I believe in inclusive education as the key to human enrichment and India's giant strides to further progress".
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A Legend Rediscovered - John Dewey: The Modern Father of Experiential Learning
John Dewey believed that learning was active and schooling unnecessarily long and restrictive. His idea was that children came to school to do things and live in a community which gave them real, guided experiences which fostered their capacity to contribute to society. An American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been highly significant in education, John Dewey (1859—1952) is lauded as the greatest educational thinker of the 20th century.
For example, Dewey believed that students should be involved in real-life tasks and challenges:
- Mathematics could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking or figuring out how long it would take to get from one place to another by mule
- History could be learnt by experiencing how people lived, geography by what the climate was like and how plants and animals grew
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The Corporate Desk - The design of team work
"What I have learnt from the time I have spent with children is that we do not need to promote team-work among them. We only need to make sure we do not destroy it."
"Teaming is about learning the science and art of connecting, building relationships and dealing with emotions."
"To be successful in today's environment, one has to work in a team. When people work in teams, the quality of work and results are better, faster and most importantly – it goes with group accountability."
"Team work will help students become open to others opinions, learn to support each other and be open to seek help when needed; all of which are desired qualities at any workplace."
Schools have their own style of management when it comes to student learning and achievement. Managements work in compartments, teachers work in isolation devoid an understanding of the School vision, children are unaware of what is expected of them by the school. Add to this the pressure from both the school and the home environment at times that forces students to compete with their classmates and prove themselves to be better. A constant comparison made between the child and his/her peers pushes him/her to work independently and strive to be the best no matter what it takes. In this entire process the innate ability of team spirit and cooperation that all children possess is lost. With reference to this context, MENTOR's Christine D'Lima speaks to Chittaranjan Kaul, Kiran Gulrajani and Rupert Picardo...
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Feature - Reviving the Spirit of Sports In schools
"The sports ministry believes that even though the country has a population of one billion, it fails to win Olympics gold medals or has given great players to the world because over the years games and sports have got very little attention at the school level."
"The least we could do to promote sports is to keep sometime aside for sports compulsorily. It is important that we do not forgo play time for academics as it is a child's right to play and have fun".
Have we ever wondered if there is a co-relation between sporting facilities in schools and the number of sportsmen/sportswomen that a school produces? If the answer is in the negative, it is time we pondered over factors that can increase the quality of sportsmanship in our country. MENTOR's Ms. Shakuntala Patel seeks to explore means of reviving the spirit of sports amongst school students through an interview with Fr. Jude Rodrigues, President, Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA). The document also highlights some of the good work done by MSSA to promote sports amongst school students.
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