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June 2022 Volume IX Issue 3 `75
Teaching
history
today
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Contents COVER STORY
Teaching history today
EdTech
Indian Edtech feels the pinch
Pedagogy
Student-Centered Classrooms to build trust
12 28 36
Career
Design your future: Make fashion your career
www.brainfeedmagazine.com |4| June 22
50
June 2022 Volume IX Issue 3
SPOTLIGHT
24 32 42
The school that has redefined learning
Case Study
Teachers Matter
Life Skills
Motivate yourself to make it!
Memorise
52
Key pointers for a strong memory
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Insta
NEWS T
exam has also been released. The merit list for the same will be published separated by NBE. Results and score cards can be downloaded from their official website nbe. edu.in post June 8th, 2022. The Union Health Minister, Mr. Mansukh Mandviya has congratulated all the candidates who have cleared the exam. Candidates will have to register themselves for counseling and the schedule will be published by the MCC shortly.
NEET PG results declared
he National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) PG results have been announced by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences within a span of just 10 days after the completion of the exams. It was scheduled to be declared on June 20th 2022 but has been declared twenty days earlier, on June 1st itself. Candidates can view their score sheets on the official website at nbe. edu.in and at natboard.edu.in The NEET PG exam was held on 21st May in 849 centers across the
country. 1, 82, 318 candidates had written the exam. The NEET PG was conducted in the CBT format and candidates had to complete it within a span of three hours and thirty minutes. The cut off for the NEET PG 2022
Bus converted into classroom in Kerala
A
double-decker bus that was operating under the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been turned into a two-tier classroom in Kerala’s Manacaud. After the State-operated transport body discarded few buses as they were lying unused in depots, it was handed over to the government school – The Government Teachers Training Institute (TTI) in Manacaud. The bus is used for the recreational activities so that lower primary children can learn in a holistic environment. The classroom on wheels comprises a TV, ACs, multi-coloured tables & chairs, book shelves with a small library. The upper deck of the classroom on wheels is crafted for recreational activities and reading. The interiors of the classroom are vibrant with light-blue and yellow colour and it has sketches of
natural flora and fauna on walls with pictures of birds, animals, trees and books. The classrooms facilitate for a lively interaction for pre primary children after a long gap in learning due to the pandemic. State Transport Minister, Antony Raju, earlier this month, on May 17 decided to give two transport buses to the government schools to facilitate learning for government schools children at low cost.
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Cut off for admission into colleges: Category Eligibility Criterion Cut of (Out of 800) General (EWS) 50th PERCENTILE 275 SC/ST/OBC
40th PERCENTILE 245
UR PWD
45th PERCENTILE 260
(INCLUDING PWD OF SC/ST/OBC)
Include more lessons on Hindu Kings: Akshay Kumar
I
ndian film actor, Akshay Kumar’s statement on the inclusion of certain chapters on Indian Hindu Kings had created a divided debate once again on the internet. He urged the education ministry to give due representation to Indian emperors too, along with the Mughal rulers in the history textbooks. A balance has to be struck between the Hindu kings and Mughal emporers in the school books as both contributed significantly in the Indian history. The statement comes at a time, when his film “Samrat Prithviraj” is ready for release in theatres across the country. He further stated that it is unfortunate to know that people don’t know about their own kings. He added that children don’t know about Hindu Kings but they know all about British rule and Mughal era kings. There are few lessons on Indian kings like Maharana Pratap Singh, Rani of Jhansi, and more chapters on Mughal emperors in the school textbooks.
Insta News
India and Hungary in talks to admit medical students
I
ndia and Hungary are in talks to admit the medical students from India who have been stranded due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Many students had to return to India and are now in a state of confusion. S. Jaishankar, the union minister of external Affairs said, “We are talking to other nations around Ukraine in order to work out a solution so that Indian students can continue their medical courses in the universities there. We have spoken to Hungary and they are willing to make arrangements to admit as many Indian students whose academics have been interrupted due to the
Ukraine conflict. We are taking this issue seriously to help our children as much as we can,” the union minister of external affair stated. The union minister of external affairs also handed over a financial assistance of Rs 1.7 crores to 17 orphans who lost both their parents to the Covid 19 pandemic under the scheme of PM cares for Children. Each student has been alloted Rs 10 lakh which the government will deposit in a post office account. Every child will therefore have an ‘Ayushman Card, a passbook and a certificate of the PM Cares scheme. The scheme states that each of the
Dharmendra Pradhan exhorts schools to develop quality e-content
T
he Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan exhorted all stake holders in the education space to develop quality e-content at the National Education Ministers’ Conference in Gandhinagar. The meeting is attended by education ministers of various states and Union Territories. The focus is on the implementation of NEP 2020. He called for a collaborative approach among all stakeholders for developing quality e-content for all classes from Balvatika to Class 12, including in local languages. Participants visited the Vidya Samiksha Kendra in Gandhinagar with Education Ministers and representatives of various states and UTs. Speaking about VSK, Pradhan said that it is a nerve-centre for technology-enabled learning in Gujarat. “He also lauded VSK as AI and data-driven approach that has given a boost to enrolments & participation, and improved learning outcomes.
To achieve the goal of enhanced learning outcomes across India, the Minister encouraged the Government of Gujarat to organise workshops for sharing best practices in governance and technology-enabled learning,” the statement added. It caters to end-to-end skill development, training and research needs of the Indian automobile industry. “Pradhan said that the joint venture between Government of Gujarat and Maruti, iACE is a wonderful example of industry-academia collaboration, blended and employment-oriented learning. He suggested NCVET
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beneficiaries will receive a stipend from the age of 18 years to 23 years, after which he will receive the full payment of Rs 10 lakh. In addition to this, the child will also receive Rs 4,000 and an additional four thousand from the Chief Minister’s children’s fund. They are also bound to receive Rs 3,000 under the state government’s protocols. Apart from these, students from classes 1-12 will also receive a scholarship of rupees 20,000. to evolve ways to provide degree equivalence to skill training programs conducted there,” the statement said. The conference is expected to witness deliberations on strengthening the education ecosystem in the country with focus on implementation of National Education Policy 2020, skilling in schools and digital initiatives like NDEAR and NETF?. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State (MoS) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology; MoS for Education Annapurna Devi and Subhash Sarkar, education ministers of states and UTs and senior officials of the education ministry are participated in the meeting.
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Readers’ Forum The cover story ‘CBSE One step forward, two backwards’ is very informative and throws light on the crucial developments at the state of affairs that took place in the CBSE. The author has meticulously explained the pros and cons of the latest decision over conducting one board exam from 2023. Nupur Saini, Kolkata Kudos to Brainfeed for instituting awards especially ‘Brainfeed EduLeader Award 2022’ and ‘Brainfeed Women Edupreneur Award 2022’. It is wonderful to see how academicians around the globe are serving the educational needs of lakhs of students, enlightening them with wisdom of knowledge and inspiring many in the education field. Shashank Chaubey, Bhopal Many congratulations to Brainfeed for the successful award ceremony and the National Conference! I could not attend the conference but the report helped. ‘Skill in 21st century and empowering youth’ was enlightening and insightful. The views expressed by the educational leaders were encouraging and must be incorporated at the school level for holistic learning. Kartikey Topas, Delhi The article ‘Early childhood education is no child’s play’ was an amazing read as I came across various new points about early childhood learning. As a preschool teacher, it ushers me with valuable and innovative solutions for the learning of children in the formative years. I believe schools must deliberate upon the strong views presented by the school leaders and implement them in the early childhood learning. Sandhya Chauhan, Bangalore Reading Brainfeed magazines is a delight as it brings so much information on one platter. This time too I was amazed to read about Brainfeed’s 9th National Conference, one of its kind comprehensive award ceremony held every year. I loved reading the views of the educational dignitaries as they are inspiring. I was happy to learn how a young cohort of edupreneurs and educationists are emboldening the education system with their knowledge. Looking forward to many more such educational conferences. Adrija Denis, Chennai (Readers can send in their suggestions / feedback to info@brainfeedmagazine.com by 10th of every month)
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The article ‘The days of the pandemic’ under the Reflection section is quite nostalgic as it bring backs the awful memories of the pandemic that has been dwelling over the past two years. The author has highlighted key points that are important for teachers, parents and students to integrate with the changing learning ecosystem. It talks about how teachers have become more active listeners, schools integrating syllabus with the digitised platforms, mental health experts hired to counsel students tide over their anxiety issues. Anam Siddiqui, Secunderabad
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Editorial
June 2022 Volume IX Issue 3
T
he good news first. In several cities in India, mosques are being opened to all faiths to strengthen the bridges of understanding among people of all religious faiths. For instance, Masjid-e-Azizia in Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad from where I belong has done it with success. Now the bad news, Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi has become controversial and taken the whole nation by storm as Muslims and Hindus are at loggerheads on the question whether a temple stood where the mosque is located. The brighter side of all the noise over the ownership of mosques and temples across the country has brought the study of history into focus and how it is taught becomes all the more important. The cover story focuses on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of teaching history rather than what has to be included and what should be the curricula. The need of the hour is to rid the way the discipline has been handled by way of memorising dates and treaties. Instead of teaching history as a dead record of the past it can be by way of projects, historical visits followed by reports and blogs making the subject come alive. Unlike other subjects, history does not have definitive answers to questions. It is not a matter of objectivity but a process of continuous interpretation. Historians collect facts and interpret. As generations pass, new scholars revisit the past with further research. Swami Vivekananda said, “No nation can move forward unless it looks squarely at its own history.” What better way than first studying about one’s own city and town. A heritage club in every school could do wonders in enthusing students on their own city’s heritage. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has chapters in several cities and school managements could tie-up for activities.
Editor-in-Chief Brahmam K V Executive Editor Harish Kakani Editor-at-Large T P Venu Sub Editors Asmita Maurya, Shinjini Malik Art & Design Raviteja Vakkanti Cover illustration Sachitanand Sharma BFA , Sculpture, JNFAU Circulation Hemachander S +91 91777 74851 Printed, Published and Owned by Kakani Veera Brahmam Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd. 1-1-60/5, RTC X Roads Hyderabad-500 020, Telangana, India Published from 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar SR Nagar Post Hyderabad-500 038 Telangana, India Contact No.: +91 72070 15151 Email info@brainfeedmagazine.com brainfeedmagazine@gmail.com www.brainfeedmagazine.com facebook.com/brainfeededumag twitter.com/brainfeededumag
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Editor-in-Chief
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Cover story
Teaching history today The clamour for rewriting history textbooks is getting louder and so is the demand for a relook at teaching history
T P Venu
H
istory teachers are in the spotlight and the history class often referred as a sleeping pill is now alive and kicking thanks to the nationwide debate on what has to be taught and omitted. What is ‘correct’ history and what is not? Is undue importance being given to particular dynasties, periods, kings and queens? Monuments across the country tell a tale of a bygone era which have stood tall against the vagaries of nature are now being studied and their existence questioned. Questions are raised on the depiction of dynasties in history textbooks. Role of different personalities and their portrayal is questioned. Arguments for the inclusion of certain personalities are gaining ground. In short- the clamour to rewrite history is getting shriller by the day. To further their footprint, political parties of all hues have been orchestrating changes in history
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textbooks. From an academic point of view there are questions on the teaching of history. Does history have to confine to the memorisation of dates, treaties, and wars? What role does the study of history play in shaping young minds? How can the knowledge of history help in daily life and can one make a career by studying history as a subject? For the first time in post independent India, the debate on the teaching of history has reached touched a crescendo. The debate has made its way in dining rooms and board rooms and the history teacher’s job is now cut out. Radhika K, a history teacher on condition of anonymity says, “Even the staffroom is now abuzz with discussions on ‘what ought to be taught’ what should be the syllabus and colleagues from other departments too initiate talks on the teaching
Cover story
of history. She adds, “I am happy that history as a subject is now in the foreground. History should arouse curiosity and one needs to comprehend the past.” India is so huge that several states are bigger than some western countries. Religion, myth, legend and history often overlap in India which is why the teaching of history becomes challenging. In the last few decades, questions to revamp history textbooks were raised in regular intervals. There is a school of thought that believes the present education is a British leftover and one learns more about western knowledge ignoring Bhagavad Gita, Kalidasa, Pranayama, Ayurveda and scholars of Indian origin. The call for chopping and churning history textbooks has been happening for quite some time and in the recent past it has escalated.
Sample this: On May 25, 2022 two eminent Kannada authors Devanur Mahadeva and G Ramakrishna asked the Karnataka government to drop their works from school textbooks after the inclusion of a speech of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and dropping works of Sree Narayana Guru, L Basavaraju, A N Murthy Rao, P Lankesh and Sara Abubacker. Earlier this year, in the month of July, the Indian History Congress (IHC) objected to rewriting the history textbooks in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) school textbooks stating it was done for ‘political reasons’. IHC argued that eminent scholars including Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra and Bipin Chandra were removed and books with a majoritarian bias introduced. (See box for a chronology of deletions and inclusions of topics across different states and boards).
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Cover story
History of deletions and additions CBSE 2022 The CBSE dropped chapters about the Non-Aligned Movement, the Cold War era, the rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories and the chronicles of Mughal courts from the history and political science syllabi of classes 11 and 12.
2020 CBSE deleted topics such as federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism in the Stds. XI and XII Political Science course.
2019 The CBSE scrapped the chapters on ‘Democracy and Diversity’, ‘Popular Struggles and Movements’ and
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‘Challenges to Democracy’ from the Std. X Social Science syllabus for the academic year 2019-2020.
2017 Included government’s policies such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and demonetisation. A chapter on Rajput king Maharana Pratap was introduced in the history textbook of Class 7. The books meant for classes 6 to 10 have information on ancient Indian philosophy, yoga and Ayurveda.
2021 The University Grants Commission (UGC) revised the undergraduate history syllabus with increased focus on Vedic literature and fewer topics on Mughal history. A paper called ‘The Idea of Bharat’ has been introduced.
Cover story
GUJARAT 2022
KARNATAKA 2022 Karnataka State government has adopted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s speech as one of the lessons in Class X Kannada (first language, State syllabus) textbook from the 2022-23 academic year. From the Kannada non-detailed text, lessons dropped include those of well-known writer and journalist P. Lankesh’s “Mruga Mattu Sundari” and Leftist thinker G. Ramakrishna’s “Bhagat Singh”. Instead, writer Shivananda Kalave’s “Swadeshi Sutrada Sarala Habba” and M. Govinda Pai’s “Naanu Prasa Bitta Kathe” have been added.
HARYANA 2022 Haryana government made changes to the history syllabus for Classes 6-12. New chapters on Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad were added.
2021 Haryana government decided to include the verses of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus of school books from the next session.
2015 The Haryana government decides to include in their school curriculum textbooks on moral education authored by Dinanath Batra (convenor of the RSS-backed Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti). Batra tells The Indian Express the books “will have essays, couplets, stories and poems to instil ‘Indian values’ and ‘nationalism’ in students”.
Gujarat Government included Bhagavad Gita in school syllabi for classes 6 to 12 from the academic year 2022-23.
2016 Gujarat state board of school textbooks introduces a chapter on ‘economic thought’ in the Economic higher secondary textbooks which includes Deendayal Upadhyay, Chanakya and Mahatma Gandhi as the main economic thinkers.
PUNJAB 2022 The Punjab government banned three Class 12 history books-‘Modern ABC of history of Punjab’ authored by Manjit Singh Sodhi, ‘History of Punjab’ by Mahinderpal Kaur and ‘History of Punjab’ by M S Mann.
2018 In Class 12, all 22 chapters used to be on Punjab and Sikh history which have been changed to Indian history (nine chapters) and two chapters on Sikh history. For Class 12, two new chapters – Towards a Sikh State — From Banda Singh Bahadur to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and Punjab under the British – have been included. The new syllabi introduced by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) for classes 11 and 12 have run into opposition. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alleged that a major portion of Sikh and Punjab history has been removed from the Class 12 curriculum. The board and Congress government maintain that the curriculum has only been‘re-aligned’ to match the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus, as for other subjects (physics, chemistry and maths).
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Cover story
MAHARASHTRA 2017
RAJASTHAN 2022 The Class 12 Political Science examination of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) had six questions on the Congress. ‘Which party dominated the first three general elections in India?’ ‘How many seats did the Congress win in the 1984 Lok Sabha Election?’ ‘Who gave the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’?’ ‘The 1971 General Election proved to be an election for Congress restoration. Explain ‘Under what circumstances did the Congress contest the 1967 General Election and what mandate did it get? Explain’. The BJP accused the Congress of ‘politicising education’.
2019 The state government discontinued four textbooks that talked about the Modi government’s policies, which were being taught in state board schools under his predecessor Vasundhara Raje.
2018 Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra said the roles of national icons such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru would be “restored” and it would be ensured that “their contribution is given due representation”. In May 2016, the government had dropped Jawaharlal Nehru’s name as the country’s first prime minister from class 8 textbooks.
2016 Former Prime Minister Nehru’s name was dropped from Class VIII textbooks in the state, both as our first prime minister and as a prominent leader of our freedom struggle?
UTTARAKHAND Uttarakhand decided to introduce Gita in schools, the history of Uttarakhand will also be taught.
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The new textbook does not mention any Muslim rulers except Akbar. There is no trace of Razia Sultan, Sher Shah Suri, or Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Earlier, the history textbooks comprised chapters on Mughal emperors and their contributions.
2016 The Maharashtra government announces that teaching Maharashtra’s freedom struggle would be compulsory in all CBSE, ICSE and IB schools. School education minister Vinod Tawde says “schools set up in the state need to teach the history and geography pertaining to the state.” (Compiled by Sai Sri Kanda, Glendale Academy, Hyderabad) Can history be taught without bias? Can information and ideas that are presented be completely objective? If knowledge is to progress in any field, a critical analysis is inevitable and adding information is necessary. However, when changes in textbooks happen at the behest of ‘powers that be’ with an ulterior motive, the purpose of learning the subject is diluted. Continuous exploration of ideas and perspectives including controversial aspects helps in enriching the subject. Ultimately, the student needs to critically analyse and infer and come to an understanding. He or she would dig deep to delve further on the topic. When large chunks of certain periods and personalities are deleted the complexity and richness of India’s history is lost and the very purpose of teaching history to arouse curiosity and a spirit of enquiry is lost.
MADHYA PRADESH Madhya Pradesh government too decided to introduce the Bhagavat Gita in colleges in the state.
Cover story
How to make the teaching of history interesting? Cannot be taught in silo A good number of History teachers go about their job in a routine manner it should not be taught in isolation but by correlating subjects such as Geography, Civics, Economics and Architecture.
Bias A History teacher who has religious and racial bias can never be objective and could distort facts and make it seem one-sided. He or she would never be able to present or explain a period in history objectively.
History is not just dates & events History deals with the drama of human beings. Just dishing out dates of dead kings and events will make the study of history lifeless.
Field trips Exploring one’s own city and preparing reports of its historical past. A visit to old graveyards, monuments, culling out information of unknown and hidden monuments, collecting data of little known historical facts could do wonders and make the teaching and learning of history interesting.
Facts and interpretation Notably, history cannot be reducible to facts. If anything, the reigning consensus amongst professional historians is that history makes sense only when grasped as a relationship between fact and interpretation. That is, academic history always walks on two legs and does not aimlessly hop around between one fact-point to another fact-place.
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Cover story
Bring life into history • The student should be given freedom of thought in analysing history from different approaches. • Brief highlights of world history will do • Visits to historical and archaeological sites should be encouraged. • History should not be taught as a dead record of the past make it alive with projects
History is used as cannon fodder and the obsession with undoing the past, the future is placed in peril. Shashi Tharoor, former international civil servant, author and Lok Sabha MP
The education that is given to children is basically a British leftover. That is, you learn by heart tremendous amounts of Western knowledge, but you know nothing about Kalidasa, one of the greatest poets ever of humanity, or the Bhagavad Gita, Francois Gautieris a French journalist and author of ‘A History of India as It Happened’.
With regards to the teaching of history, majorly there are two views. A group believes that the education given to children is a British leftover and there is a need to relook at the way history is taught and the textbooks need to be changed. This group believes that textbooks lay too much emphasis on the Mughals who ruled for 200 years but not much is written on other periods, for instance, Cholas who ruled for over a thousand years. Another group believes that India
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introduced Yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, Vedas and Upanishads to the world which the western world is now beginning to acknowledge does not find enough mention in textbooks and thus history books need to be rewritten. History is important in shaping young minds. Teaching history can be made interesting if it enthuses curiosity and let one infer from the past and decide the future.
NAS Survey
Massive fall in academics According to the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 in which 34 lakh students of classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 were covered showed a dip in performance
T
he repercussions of the pandemic have left the entire education sector in crisis with learning taking a backseat. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 data showed a huge dip in the performance of the students across all subjects and classes, especially in subjects spanning from social sciences to maths. The comprehensive Central Government survey showed an enormous fall to the extent of nine percent between 2017 and 2021 in the students’ scores in various subjects. The wide-ranging study was executed as year in November in 720 districts, including both rural
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and urban regions and approximately 1.18 lakh schools students participated in the survey from all over India.
The NAS 2021 assessment findings • Almost 24 percent of the students examined did not have access to online resources. • During the pandemic, 38 percent of the students faced difficulty in studying at home with limited means. • 80 percent of the students said they learn effectively in school by interacting with their peers. According to an official statement from the Ministry of
NAS Survey
PANDEMIC EFFECT
Online learning The table list the perception of students on learning at home during the pandemic, according to the National Achievement Survey 2021 report Perception of learning at home
Share of students (in%)
Joyful, was fun
45
Faced difficulty in learing
38
No difference, same as school
50
Burdensome, lot of assignments
78
No digital device at home
24
Learn better in school with peers help
80
Lot of time to learn new things
70
Performance levels have dipped across subjects and grades from 2017 to 2021 National average scores (in%)
CLASS X (2021) Maths
32
Science
35
Social Science
37
English
43
MIL*
41
Language
68
62
Maths
64
57
EVS
65
57
Language
68
62
Maths
64
57
EVS
65
57
CLASS III
To conduct periodic national sample survey
To improve teacher’s professionality
To assess grade-level abilities
Aims & Objectives
The assessment will also aid in uncovering the learning gaps and will buttress state and union territories governments to devise short and long term plans to enhance academic framework based on the lines of NAS 2021 data captured. The survey depicts detailed class-wise findings as follows –
of NAS
To evaluate learning assessment
To assess classroom involvement
To know the health of education system
• The national average scores of grade 3 in languages students achieved 68 in 2017 nosedived to 62 in 2021. • Likewise, maths scores too plummeted from 42 percent in 2017 to 36 percent in 2021. The states and UTs cumulative performance showed that students achieved below the national average.
Mathematics
240
Moreover, the NAS report 2021 data shows that there has been a huge downfall in students’ academic scores of every class and it is expected to deepen further due to the persistent learning crisis looming over the education ecosystem. However, there was also a ray of hope when Punjab emerged as the best performing state throughout all classes and subjects. The centre had asked all states and UTs in February to plan beforehand the solutions based on the outcomes of the study.
2021
CLASS V
*Modern Indian language
Education, the aim of the study is to estimate children’s progress and learning capacities so that remedial steps at different levels could be taken to measure the efficacy of the education system. The pandemic has resulted in low performance levels in subjects like English, Maths, EVS, Language and Science and a decline in the overall national average scores.
2017
School closure
Typical last day
230
75%
220 6th grade
50%
210 75%
200
25%
4th grade
50%
25%
190
180 Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 1
Jan 1
Feb 1
Mar 1
Apr 1
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 1
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NAS Survey
West Bengal tops in NAS survey West Bengal performed better than all the states in all the subjects Number of Schools participated Centrally run 10.1%
Un-Aided 37.4%
The survey was conducted in November last year, 3,110 schools participated out of which 49 percent were state run, 37 per cent private, 10 percent centrally run and 3 percent were government aided. 14,959 teachers and 98,694 also took part in the survey. Out of the total students surveyed, 52.9 percent were girls, while 47.1 percent were boys. 30 per cent of the students surveyed were from rural areas while the rest were from urban areas. The percentage of general candidates was 52.4 gg West Bengal 61%
National Average 57%
57% 43%
WB NA Language
53%
42%
WB NA Mathematics
39%
WB NA EVS
37%
WB NA Science
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Govt. Aided 3%
West Bengal has performed better than most of the other states in the education sector in NAS which was held in November last year. West Bengal has scored a credit of 62.7 per cent, in the national average which is just 59 per cent for the rest of the states. The state fared 52.1 percent for class 5 students while the national average was just 49 per cent. Class 8 students of West Bengal schools fared 44.6 per cent while the national average was just 41.9 percent. The same for class 10 students for the state was 38 percent while the national average was 37.8 per cent.
State 49.5%
percent, 20.9 percent were OBC’s, 19.1 percent were SC candidates while 7.5 were ST candidates. West Bengal performed better than all the states in all the subjects. In language, the average of West Bengal was 61 percent while the national average was 57 percent. In mathematics, the national average was 42 percent while that of West Bengal was 43 percent. In EVS the national average was 53 percent while the state average was 57 percent. In science, the national
average was 37 percent, while that of the state was 39 percent. Urban students performed better than the rural students. Girl students of West Bengal performed better than the girl students of the other states. NAS is conducted to assess the progress of education in the country by recording the learning competencies of class 3, 5, 8 and 10 students. The state fared the best among all the other states in learning outcomes like ‘Reads printed scripts on the classroom walls: poems, posters, charts etc.’ West Bengal students fared better in the ‘Read textual/non-textual materials with comprehension and identify the details, characters, main idea and sequence of ideas and events while reading’ section as well. Districts like Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Jhargram, Purbo Medinipur and Kolkata performed better than districts such as North and South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri etc. The survey suggests that the learning outcome falls as the students age increases. The survey also took into notice the response of students, teachers and head masters on parameters like, facilities that the schools provided, the resources it provided during the pandemic, and the hurdles teachers faced while teaching and also the problems the student’s faced.
SPOTLIGHT
The school that has redefined learning Kids’ Kingdom Public School has changed the educational landscape in Nanded by innovative ways and focus on quality education
Sunil Shriwastav
Principal Kids’ Kingdom Public School Khurgaon, Nanded Maharashtra
I
mparting education has always been a challenge in tier 2 and tier 3 cities especially with dearth of quality human resources. It has been an uphill task and no less than what mountain man Dasrath Manjhi did by carving a road through the hills. 20 years has been a long time but not without hiccups. It has been a roller coaster ride where the school management encountered many unforeseen circumstances including the blow of Covid-19. The school could contain all these challenges by the grace of almighty and the mountain like support of all the stakeholders. The uniqueness of the school does not lie in the infrastructure because education is not all about the building or the infrastructure; it also doesn't lie in the curriculum as every school in the country has one or the other curriculum which in itself is unique. Then what makes the school so special? It is the desire of the teachers and their untiring efforts to make this school a temple of joyful learning where the students and the teachers strive to transform the school on the lines of Rabindranath Tagore who said:
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SPOTLIGHT “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls ….” The school is also unique because the teachers plan and execute the local version of the global values, 21st century skills and try to practice the pedagogy based upon Blooms Taxonomy, John Dewey's Project Based Learning and Piaget’s Constructivist pedagogy. In the campus sometimes the teachers fail to learn but this failure never stops them from learning, experimenting with the new things and working on implementing innovative ideas. Meticulous curriculum planning supported with effective and result oriented training from the best resources from the industry both National and global strengthens the academic aspects of the school. The School has a track record of hosting teachers from UK, Norway, Sweden and Germany. To support and ensure all round development of students the school actively engages the students in sports and cultural activities with the support of various regional and national organizations and participates in various events.
Students are also given exposure to visit international destinations and organizations such as NASA and also an opportunity to study abroad in Japan. Every year almost 30 to 40% students crack NEET & JEE entrance exams. The school in its 20th year is launching of “Ultimate Curriculum” wherein the students will be given an opportunity to explore four qualities of human growth that is : Intellectual ,Entrepreneurship , adventurism and leadership. Students are also given exposure to visit international destinations and organisations such as NASA and also an opportunity to study abroad in Japan. To inculcate the spirit of discipline, unity and life skills the school runs programs like NCC and Scout and Guide. The school is privileged to be member of AFS where children get exposure to various national and international activities. A separate wing for career guidance and competitive exams is crafted to guide and hand hold the students of all cognitive levels to choose a career of their choice and interest. As a result, every year almost 30 to 40% students crack NEET & JEE entrance exams. Nevertheless many students also choose various skill based innovative courses. This reminds me of the lines of Robert Frost ‘Road not taken’
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SPOTLIGHT “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.”
opportunity to explore four qualities of human growth that is : Intellectual, Entrepreneurship, adventurism and leadership.
While celebrating 20 years of its service it has not only imparted the best education but also changed the landscape of education in the city like Nanded and is looked at as a source of inspiration to the educational institutions. The school in its 20th year has envisioned two important aspects one is formation of “Student International Council” wherein the students will work and come out with solutions for global issues this will help them get connected emotionally with the issues so that they progress with an attitude of giving back to the society and striving for the larger welfare and betterment of the people, the second innovation that is being introduced this year is launching of “Ultimate Curriculum” wherein the students will be given an
Though the idea and outcome of these initiatives appears to be hazy but the breeze of prayers & the winds of efforts will clear and bring a ray of accomplishment and satisfaction.The school in the last two decades has proved its mettle but still appears like little is done and more is yet to be achieved. It reminds us of Robert Frost:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” In this journey the support of the stakeholders and wellwishers is immensely solicited. For queries please contact: +91 96044 75400, 97670 67100
www.brainfeedmagazine.com |26| June 22
EdTech
Indian Edtech feels the pinch Online edtech ventures are reviving their business models to work in tandem with the offline education market.
Asmita Maurya
T
he Indian Edtech space made hay while the sun shone during the pandemic. With educational institutions opening edtech startups are starting to feel the pinch. Over the last two years, India’s edtech sector has grown exponentially with a record profit of $ 2.2 billion and edtech giants like Byju’s making huge profits. The investors had to fund these edtech companies which grew from 16 billion dollars to 22 billion dollars in the current year. Another major edtech player, Unacademy, too showed growth of 70 percent from $2 billion in 2020 to $3.44 billion in 2021. However, the momentum has taken a beating with schools starting physical classes. Himanshu Bajaj, Head of Byju’s Tuition Centre, says, “These centres offering hybrid model of learning to students are curated in a way that would fill learning
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EdTech
gaps, strengthen conceptual understanding and bolster knowledge through regular tests and practice.” Many other edtech companies like Unacademy, Vedantu, and Lido Learning too are shifting their base from online to hybrid model to facilitate the students learning, especially the ones preparing for government jobs and other competitive exams. Online edtech ventures are reviving their business models to work in tandem with the offline education market and cater to the students from tier I and II cities and also attract students from the catchment areas as well.
Challenges for edtech players’ hybrid model To sustain their share in the offline market, edtech players are mulling to foray into collaboration with these region specific brands and establish physical learning centres. Hyderabad based Sri Chaitanya Group’s Infinity Learn, an online platform too has adopted the hybrid strategy to train and test-prep students for competitive exams. However, if we talk about conventional edtech firms spanned across India, they are constricted to their area, i.e., within a proximity of 300 – 500 kilometres due to paucity of funds for better outreach. While solely digitally encrypted edtech companies have an edge over traditional edtech firms, as they have a finer course curriculum and price layout, states Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Investments. On the other side, private equity investors for offline coaching centres are aggregating the industry by thrusting them to construct an online method and technique to level up the hybrid model. For example, Uday Shankar and James Murdoch backed Bodhi Tree Systems bought minority shares in Kota based Allen Career Institute for 600 million dollars. According to experts, virtual learning can be best fit for some segments of study, especially for certification programs and skill-based training courses but might not be appropriate for all lines of study.
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Case Study
Teachers Matter Ahlcon International School’s initiatives in empowering teachers resulted in all-round development and career growth
A
hlcon International School (AIS) supported teachers and facilitated training to enhance their professional standard and pedagogical skills by organising workshops. The school also closely evaluated their performance and gave them feedback so that they could introspect and improve. The school has a transient process for promotion of teachers from primary section to middle to senior section.
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From 2003 to 2013, 12 teachers were assigned senior leadership roles as section heads, academic coordinators, HODs and moved vertically within the organisation. AIS constituted an in-house teacher development programme- In-Service Education and Training (INSET). AIS tied up with many national & international organisations for this programme and conducted training for its teachers. AIS partnered with Microsoft and came up with training modules for various tools.
Case Study
AIS facilitated for certification for its staff from Centre for Teachers Accreditation (CENTA). Experienced teachers were encouraged to take up programmes initiated by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Designing and customising the class wise curriculum for its students in compliance with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) that focus more on thematic chapters rather than subjective knowledge paid dividends. It emphasized on building textbooks that are more vibrant, lively and interactive so that children can have the integrated knowledge and understanding of the concept. Digital technology was penetrating fast in the education space and making teacher’s tech savvy was paramount to accelerate quality education in classrooms. In 2005, the school in association with Microsoft, a technology provider designed various training modules for teachers free of cost. By March 2019, almost all AIS teachers successfully earned Microsoft credentials, becoming a Microsoft Showcase School. It also encouraged its teachers to complete the Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) certification. Twenty AIS teachers also completed the distinguished Global Career Counselling programme of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and more over schools played a
• Within a span of 10 years, 12 teachers were assigned senior leadership roles and moved vertically within the organisation. • In-service Education and Training (INSET) was established for teacher training. • Textbooks were developed thematically instead of sequence of chapters for pre-primary and primary classes. • AIS partnered with Microsoft and came up with training modules • Teachers were encouraged for certification courses from the Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) • Teachers were encouraged to read and contribute in newspapers and journals • Teachers represented the school in national and international seminars. • Section wise newsletters were started. • Teachers were encouraged to apply for scholarships including Fulbright Scholarship. • A teacher visited Cologne, Germany on a teacher exchange programme in 2016 and a fellowship to visit the United States for six weeks.
Teacher investment is Ahlcon’s USP: Dr Ashok Pandey Only a handful of high-calibre institutions grant professional teaching degrees and principals end up being administrators and not pedagogical leaders. At Ahlcon, teacher investment is a priority and is the USP. Maintaining a teacher’s dignity is paramount and has three aspects— human, economic and intellectual. Good food was provided whenever teachers had to come to the school for some additional work or stay back. They were allowed to attend
programmes at outside venues. In many instances, AIS took care of the conveyance and other needs. The school often sponsored its teachers to attend workshops and conferences. Given the difference in the timings of the primary and pre-primary sections, the school made crèche facilities available for pre-primary age-group children of the primary school teachers for an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon.
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Case Study
crucial role in negotiating the course fees and waived off the topper’s fee.
its teachers should be well versed in every aspect of communication, allowing them to learn and grow.
Schools established various awards like ‘Best Class Teacher award’, ‘Best Co-Scholastic Teacher award’, ‘Rising Star award’, ‘You are Noticed award’ to honour as many teachers as possible for their commendable work. He also focused on teachers’ ‘inner growth’ by encouraging them to read and write in journals, as this practice helped them improve their public speaking and communication skills. Many AIS educators represented the school at the international forums as well.
For the professional development of teachers, the schools earmarked 3-5% share of school earnings for teacher training.
School organised meetings with section heads, staff and academic coordinators to share knowledge, experiences and best practices to implement innovation practices in the school. The school invested earnestly in grooming a new teacher by helping her in lesson planning, classroom management & student notebook correction. Teachers were also encouraged to venture on social media platforms and the schools believe that
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The school aims to transform and strengthen its teacher’s wing not only in the administrative sphere but also improve and make them pedagogical leaders. The case study is based on massive data collection, evidence gathering, and personal interviews with the stakeholders. (Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad carried out a case study on the professional development programme undertaken at Ahlcon International School (AIS) from 2006 to 2016. This is a summary of the case study with due permission from the Director, Ahlcon Group of Schools.)
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Pedagogy
Student-Centered Classrooms to build trust Student-centric instructional strategies give impetus to their holistic development
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Pedagogy
T
eachers worldwide have been experimenting and reinventing classroom teaching practices to make students learning more holistic and engaged but many a times our approach is still bent towards conventional teaching practices, i.e., teacher driven classrooms. In the last few years, however, where teachers have realised the necessity to adopt studentcentric classrooms. Are students feelings being left out in the class? Are their contributions not being valued enough? If an educator feels the answers is a ‘Yes’, it is time to make some minuscule modifications in teaching. Teachers are going an extra mile to nurture and extend their relationships with students and foster profound connections. ‘Teaching’ can be a continual struggle for middle school and primary school teachers as they pour and feed vast amounts of information and knowledge into children’s brain where they might not be able to gauge perfectly on the spot whether a student has understood or not. Let’s learn more about student-centered classrooms and the ways to introduce and foster the same.
• Give voice to your students Under this practice, the focus of instruction shifts from the teacher to the student. Students are the key players in the learning process and an active entity in the classroom experience. They take initiatives and active part Learning needs Cooperation between Student and Lectures Enabling Higher Order Thinking
Students need to have Choice and Control Over their Learning
Required Activa Learning and Ongoing Reflective
Principles of StudentCentered Learning Students have Different Experience and Background Knowledge
Does not have OneSize-Fits All Solution
Recognize Students’ Diversity
Learning Starting Point Learning Community
Learning Time
STUDENT CENTERED LEARNING
Learning Tools & Technology
Learning Path
Learning Progression
Learning Talent Development
in the lessons by putting questions to teachers, thereby, becoming more involved in the classroom. The process helps student build independent problem-solving skills and gives them space to elevate their voice and opinions in the classroom. Teachers give them liberty to come up with innovative ideas to make lessons more interesting and engaging and facilitate open communication.
• Role of humour in the classroom To make this instructional method a success, teachers must develop trust among students. Use analogy, life experience, examples and lace it with humour. Teacher ‘s must make sure that he/she does not hurt the religious sentiments of students. To bridge this gap, teachers must maintain a cordial balance while delivering lessons like they can have light hearted tones as well as humourous tones which is admissible in the classroom.
• Give due respect and recognition to students work Many students exhibit enthusiasm. The teacher has to manage in such a way that all students get equal opportunity to share and contribute their thoughts. A teacher’s discourse must be to prioritize student’s thinking, validate their responses by supporting and encouraging their views. Not all answers are correct, but they can engage and help them understand the concept.
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Trend
Demand of teachers to rise by 2030 • It is predicted that there would be tremendous demand for teachers in the near future due to invasion of educational technology. • According to a study by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, around 69 million new educators are required by 2030 to meet world’s educational needs worldwide.
D
uring the pandemic, a good number moved from teaching and for ages people in India have been stating that teaching is the last resort. This is going to change in a big way. With technology making its way, teaching is undergoing a major change.
How wouldeducation look in 2030
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GLOBAL NUMBERS OF TEACHERS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION BY FIVE-YEAR INTERVALS : 2020, 2025 AND 2030 44
Replacement for attrition (Primary education) Total recruitment needed (in millions)
The main challenge that remains in front of teachers is of staying relevant in the technology induced learning ecosystem. They have to brace themselves up to accommodate with the fast-paced growing educational technology in the classroom learning for children’s holistic development. As Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain Technology and Machine Learning (ML) leverages their role in the education sphere, it is equally important for teachers to upgrade their technical knowledge in handling edtech tools and apps because this is the one kind of bracket of teachers that would be in huge demand in the upcoming years. A teacher’s role in the classroom will never lose its importance due to its emotionally intelligent quotient
Staffing new classrooms (primary education) 34
Replacement for attrition (Secondary education) Staffing new classrooms (Secondary education) 22
15
17 24 27
18 10 3 7
13
15 9
3
3 19
21
Trend
to guide children to integrate their energy and make learning productive. Another aspect of high demand of teachers in the future is the personalized learning experience, which technology cannot give no matter how advanced it becomes. It’s high time that educators worldwide become a part of this huge paradigm shift in the educational transformation & must break the shackle of the conventional teaching practice and naturally embrace technology.
How Will New teachers change the profession by 2030?
47%
Devote more teaching time to global issues like climate change
60%
Increase use of technology
48%
Increase focus on social and emotional learning
• Good opportunity for die hard Math fans
• Demand for ESL teachers to soar This bracket of educators is most in demand because every second child speaks a language other than English and English as a Second Language (ESL) becomes imperative to learn for children to build comprehension ability from the formative years. Hence, trained ESL teachers would be in vogue in the coming future that would help students understand the mechanics of the language and augment their English concepts. As students from non-English speaking background migrate to English medium schools, the demand for ESL teachers will increase. To be a certified ESL educator, one can do various online courses provided by leading universities.
Are you a mathematics nerd who loves playing with numbers? If so, it is time to go beyond 4+4 = 8 concept and create out-of-the-box theories. According to various studies, only a one-third majority of students excel in mathematic skills or are average proficient in it. Schools across the nation often face challenges to find good qualified and talented maths educators, who can help improve student’s current maths competency and calculation prowess. This scenario would ultimately create a demand for maths teachers in the near future. There are various programmes and degrees available online for teachers to hone their maths teaching skills & become an expert maths educator.
• Scope for special education teachers There has been an all-time high demand for special education teachers because there are children out there with lot of developmental dysfunctions like physical disability, orthopaedic impairments, or autism and for them not only being a licensed special educator is enough but one has to support these special children with learning differences and challenges, empathise and understand how they learn and make them empowered.
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Trust In
Strong trusting relationship integral for the
School Community Establishing strong trusting bond within the school community is the core for better holistic development of all the educational stakeholders
T
rust is the main building block for any relationship to foster and it plays a crucial role in everyone’s lives to a wider extent. Forming robust trusting relationships for teachers, students, administrators and parents at all levels of the school ecosystem is imperative to improve the social-emotional health of all. Doesn’t it feel good if every student feels welcoming or inclusive in the classroom with an optimistic approach towards them? Of course the technique can help students and
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teachers to a great extent. During these trying times, many parents and teachers have been experiencing overwhelming fear and anxiety. Therefore, to build trust with the families and students is a gruelling challenge. The more good relationship students have with adults, teachers, the better their bond, engagement and their learning process. The trust deficit within the school community at times can subvert the school working, which ultimately impacts the corrective action to be taken on school initiatives and policies.
Trust In
The term trust may mean different to different people. For instance, with workmates, it might mean being valued and respected whereas with friends or family, it might mean being loved and cared. Trust fosters when teachers, adults propagates to have open, cordial conversations with children and supports their perspective. Let’s learn more about some of the key engagement strategies and ways to cement strong trusting relationships among the school community.
Emotional security must Nurturing emotional security to students plays a vital role in the success of any classroom learning. It accentuates the student-teacher success ratio. Teachers and educators must eschew controlling children and take a student-centric approach in the classroom setting. A student feels supported and emotionally secured when a teacher instils confidence in them as they are open to discuss their problems.
Establishing a trust zone Whenever a child feels insecure or is being bullied, a student must be assured that the school is always there to take necessary measures in creating his/her safety. Having patience and time to listen, understand and know your child, what they are going through and what drives them. Frequent communication and collaboration with your child will fulfil shared goals. It is a time and investment well spent to build robust connection.
Building healthy environment for children One of the critical strategies that every educator must focus is on creating a safe, supportive and healthy space, where both teachers and students voices blooms. It
means they should be ensured that even the students from minority communities also have an equal say and participation in the educational ecosystem and classroom learning. To cultivate, build partnerships and deepen relationships, teachers must give priority to students needs so that every child feels belonged in every school.
Stable caring guardian/mentor for every student Another important strategy to build strong trusting relationships with students is to have at least one person in a child’s life with whom they can confide in, i.e., a positive and stable bond with a caring family member or at least one school adult they can rely on for any need. They can be any person – a mentor, teacher, sports trainer, counsellor or non-academic staff. Having such a person in every student’s life can have enormous benefits like minimal drop-outs from school, reduced bullying and better social-emotional health.
Parents’ participation equally essential The onus should not only lie on teachers and administrators to cement strong trusting relationships with students but equally on parents too. More parents must be involved and given space to accomplish trusting relationship goals by organising small cultural activities in schools like school fairs where parents can also participate in students’ creative endeavours. Small social circles can be orgainsed that can include running some games during recesses, offering materials as a token of appreciation, asking families for feedback on teacher survey’s, etc. Such fun communitybuilding events will foster and coordinate strong trusting relationships within the school community.
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Life Skills
A
n educator can play an integral role in boosting students self-motivation by intrinsic motivation, discarding extrinsic motivation and developing selfmanagement skills in students. Developing self-motivation skills in learners is essential to achieve goals, gives a fulfilling life, pushes them to newer heights of their career and brings them greater personal satisfaction. To bolster intrinsic motivation skills in learners, educators and schools can nurture their sense of autonomy, which means giving children the freedom of choice. Competence means appreciating their hard work, and relatedness means investing in students growth genuinely by encouraging learners to connect their learning with their real-life experiences.
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Self-motivation plays a critical role in elevating students learning outcomes and a significant part includes teaching the skill of asking for help to learners, prioritising work, and valuing your work. Another important aspect of inculcating and strengthening self-motivation skills in students is by fuelling enthusiasm. Teachers can make use of real-life connections to embolden self-motivation.
Be the master of your own situation Teachers can retain the self-motivation in students by allowing them freedom of choiceto choose assignments that interests them.
Life Skills
Also, giving them autonomy and control over their classroom tasks and learning. This technique can help them motivate to put extra effort into their tasks.
Ask yourself a few questions Every student is motivated and needs to ruminate on what drives them. They need to ask themselves what motivates them? Which activity or hobby they always look forward to? What makes them feel energised and excited? It can be anything leading a community, doing things in a creative way, etc. by finding it, you can maximise your self-motivation and increase your chances of achieving your goals quickly.
Be positive always To be self-motivated, keep negativity at bay because it can often overshadow your positive side, which can affect your personality. Always look at the bright side of things means
cherish good moments of your life. Recall and celebrate small achievements, express gratitude, and say positive things.
Nurture a healthy environment Assure students that the teacher is always there to mentor and help them create positive bonds. Therefore, educators must develop a safe and supportive atmosphere to gain students trust. In this way, learners will feel that they are being heard and their concerns are given importance.
Allowing them to reflect Every child wishes to succeed in life, and many remain confused how to reach their goals. This is a beneficial technique in which learners themselves do their SWOT analysis. They become their own critic. This strategy helps in identifying their shortfalls and they can work on them by self-motivating themselves through writing their aims and goals on vision boards.
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Going Digital
Blackboards to digital boards Teachers keeping up with the technology transformation Studies worldwide showed that successful technology transformation requires effective redefining strategies for the sustained professional development of teachers. Read to know more
T
he world came to a standstill in mid-March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic raised its head resulting in economies crashing and the educational sector being the worst affected. This however, accelerated digital transformation. Over the last three years, the teachers and schools have witnessed a paradigm shift in teaching and learning methodology by the use of tech tools. The pandemic induced education crisis has caused a massive learning loss. And the teachers,
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who are at the heart of the responsibility to recover the learning loss, have managed the unprecedented situation quite well by adopting to the changing landscape of teaching and learning without any proper teachers professional development programmes. In the present scenario, educators are experiencing a mix of both remote and in-person learning making the learning experiential and a bit complex for the novices. Upgrade in teacher’s teaching quality through well-laid professional development
Going Digital
programmes not only improve their confidence but also make them technology enabler for the learners. Therefore, they get attuned naturally to the significant digital transformation. District and school leaders realised that to spur the learning productivity, it is necessary to integrate and collaborate the digital Learning Management Systems (LMS) platforms with the schools system in every district and cities. Instructional coaches and trainers can be recruited to train teachers on how to handle new tech tools and LMS platforms.
Digital transformation paving the way With the constant evolution and shift in technology, educators need to upskill and upgrade their knowledge, pedagogical skills to maximise learning outcomes by professional development programmes so that they can use edtech tools effectively for class instruction. Ritu Garg, a senior school teacher, says, “I never used technology until the pandemic struck, there was no option left but to adapt to the changing scenario. Remote teaching was challenging for me initially, I took help of my husband in understanding how to use technological interface and quickly learned the nuances of using the digital tools to conduct hybrid classes. Now, I am empowered and confident in using the technology.” As per the 2020 GBH Education report, from among more than 1900 educators nationwide, only 66 percent educators felt extremely confident in using digital tools and services for teaching when the education sector shifted to remote learning due to the pandemic.
To address the problem, an in-house cohort of edtech experts, teachers and principals can come forward as instructional coaches to mentor teachers and have a robust professional development strategy in place to elevate educators through transformational practice. Many sectors have already witnessed gargantuan transition models taking place within the work spaces; hence, school leaders recognised that a dynamic approach of “learning while working” is needed to reconcile with the latest technological devices. Other major strategies include school authorities embed LMS platforms to provide professional development to teachers. The LMS can help organise virtual training sessions by engaging teachers with the edtech interface, course modules etc. The process ushers teachers to reflect on their learning and simultaneously get hands-on practice in using the edtech tools. As the world economies are gradually opening, the learning and teaching mechanisms have shifted rapidly, so to make technology transformation learning beneficial, educators need to re-imagine and think differently in using edtech tools to maximise students learning. District leaders and schools authorities can collaborate with edtech ventures to analyse where improvement is required in leveraging teachers’ professional development by constituting a framework where students and educators can use the edtech devices adroitly.
Integrate digitisation with teachers’ professional development A lot needs to be done on improving the teachers’ dexterity in using technological devices and gain confidence in using them. For which school authorities need to support teachers by providing instructional technology trainers to train them in using edtech tools. The purpose of the edtech training should be to teach them how to use these tools and also make them understand the fundamentals of when and why to use these digital services.
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Pedagogy
Pyramid discussions gaining ground Pyramid Discussion, an emerging concept in classroom learning has been identified as an effective grouping strategy that increases students’ participation
O
ver the years, many classroom learning methodologies have been applied to improve students’ engagement in class; some strategies succeed, while others fail. With teachers often involved in the cumbersome task of preparing lesson plans, classroom schedules, the idea to experiment with innovative teaching and learning practices within the class often gets overlooked.
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Teachers often follow traditional grouping methods. Incorporating an innovative and engaging grouping strategy in the classroom learning can do wonders for the students. Pyramid Discussion, also known as Pyramid Analysis is an excellent trend and an effective grouping method to use in classrooms to keep the students’ engagement high and foster dialogue and critical thinking.
Pedagogy
How does Pyramid Analysis work? Under this practice, the educator asks one openended question. Students then pair up to discuss, respond and answer the question together, following which the pair unites with another pair, forming a community of four. This cohort again discusses the question and refines and further develops their ideas.This community of four connects to another group to constitute eight and the process continues until a huge group joins into a vast discourse. Now, at this level, the teacher can aid in mentoring students to reach an amicable conclusion as a united group.
Role of teachers and students The teacher checks whether the pairs and groups sufficiently anchor the question and provide enough details on the topic. As the students group enlarge, the teacher facilitates the ongoing discourse by popping up a question or injecting a new idea that the group can conceive, thereby, pushing the larger group discussion ingenerating new ideas. Whereas, students play as attentive listeners, respect others who are conversing, and immerse themselves in engaging discourses and debates, irrespective of the group size. In this grouping method, the students also take note of their learning by jotting down their grey areas. Moreover, teachers evaluate and supervise each group to keep the students in sync with the task and ensure maximum interaction with the class lesson at each level.
Benefits of PyramidAnalysis Model • Pyramid discussions are a great way for students to analyse experiments, improve their research skills, which helps them write lab projects and reports. • Educators choose this grouping method to accentuate students’ creativity and propel them to devise more new ideas and challenge their peer’s ideas as well.
• The idea is to make students practice refine their thoughts and add as many details as possible to the lesson content. It allows students to explore new ways of learning and involves them proactively in the classroom activities. • The entire exercise gives creative liberties to students as they decide and plan the lesson outline and format and also increases engagement in the peer review activity. • The model helps increase the cognitive ability of students in performing classroom tasks and accelerates maximum engagement with one another. It is a compelling and sustainable way to augment positive discourses in student groupings. • This method is best in examining complex themes and always encourages students to curate something new and think creatively. It also prepares students to take risks and further challenges of life.
THE LEARINING PYRAMIDE Lecture
5%
Reading
10%
Audio/Visual
20%
Demonstration
30%
Discussion Group
50%
Practice by Doing
75%
Teach Others
90%
Passive
Active
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Pedagogy
Differentiated Instruction, a boon for slow learners
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imply put Differentiated Instruction (DI) is ‘horses for courses’ strategy. Not everyone understands what is taught in the first go and many just do not get it through the lecture method. What is more! There are quite a few students who understand only when concepts are explained through a graphical description, and supplemented by audio and videos. There are some other factors too that determine the need for students to take differentiated instructions from teachers like academic
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background, home life and emotional needs because every student comes from a different background and it is obvious that their needs vary due to socio-economic factors. It is here the differentiation instruction comes into play where teachers tailor and plan lessons according to an individual’s ability to learn and understand. To make the classroom learning ubiquitous for students, differentiated instructional technique is used to make the
Pedagogy
learning reach everyone in class. The method is not new in classroom pedagogy but many educators might not have had explored it yet. Several studies have shown that DIstrategy has a wide range of benefits for students; the technique is helpful to children with learning disabilities as teachers’ use diverse instructional methods to deliver lessons at different levels of student’s ability to understand any concept. They adjust content material to meet students’ requirements. According to experts, educators can use four methods of differentiated instruction.
1. Lesson material As every student has different grasping power and some of them might be unfamiliar with the concepts in the chapter, in such cases teachers can use differentiated instructions by tailoring tasks and activities for students with lower competency levels. For instance, teachers can give activities like match the vocabulary words with their definition, read a story or passage and answer related questions, segregate facts and opinions in the narrative, write a brief summary of the chapter using a PowerPoint presentation, etc.
2. Embracing all learning styles Differentiated instruction succeeds when it delivers content in every style and format whether it is auditory, visual or kinaesthetic and via words. Under this mechanism, teachers need not to give equal levels of support to all the students, rather modify the lesson plan according to individual needs. Like some students may opt for one-on-one interaction while some may be comfortable in group conversations or public speaking activities. So in this method, students can keep the track of their own learning and can grow by themselves. For instance, to meet the needs of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners, educators can furnish
them with textbooks, audio lessons and an online interactive assessment, respectively.
3. Time to be productive Under this technique, students are provided with assignments and projects to demonstrate their mastery over the subject. Teachers can assign students some tests, reports, projects and other activities to showcase their talent on an educational concept in such a way that conforms to their learning style. Some of the examples of the output can be students can write a book report, they can prepare a graphic story highlighting visual elements, while some students can also provide an oral report, even students can present the story through animation and special effects.
4.Flexible classroom atmosphere To achieve maximum learning outcomes, teachers must ensure a flexible learning environment in classrooms, including psychological factors like embedding an infrastructure or arrangements that buttresses both individual and group learning. Teachers should foster a healthy and supportive environment through innovative classroom management methods. For instance to differentiate the environment, bifurcate the class into small reading groups where students can discuss their tasks, allow students to complete tasks as per their preference, individually or in groups, providing students distraction free spaces to complete assignments. In a nutshell, differentiated instruction is an effective strategy in making classroom learning easier for children with mild to severe disabilities. The technique offers autonomy to students over their learning and they become more engaged in classroom activities, resulting in lesser discipline issues in classrooms.
www.brainfeedmagazine.com |49| June 22
Career
Design your future: Make fashion your career If you love to work on fabric and have a creative bent of mind, fashion designing is for you
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any of us still might be in awe of the song ‘Fashion Ka Hai Ye Jalwa’ from the National Award winning movie ‘Fashion’. Well, that’s the charisma of the song that stormed the entire fashion landscape. Do you love to play with colours, fabrics, shades and tones? Do you have the required visual imagination to translate ideas into sketches. If so, then the fashion
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industry is the right place that awaits your insights to curate masterpiece designs for outfits. Fashion as a career can be a good choice for students who have a creative bent of mind and love experimenting with new fashion trends, designing and sketching, lifestyle accessories and craft something creative everytime in the world of vogue.
Career
Recently, in July, Hyderabad based fashion designer, Aruna Goud, made her mark by being the only Indian fashion designer to showcase her designs at the prestigious global Cannes Film Festival 2021. With this inspirational incident, many folks would love to join the fashion industry and make their designs – a global brand. Many students have unconventional choices for their career after intermediate. And a career in fashion can be a top preference for them. Students imbibed with high artistic creativity and a good styling sense can jumpstart their career in fashion.
One who wish to pursue career in the field can earn bachelors degree after intermediate. Some of the Undergraduate Level Courses are –
Some of the prominent institutes and colleges offering degrees and diploma courses in fashion studies include:
After acquiring a bachelors degree, if one wants to gain further expertise and master in the field, can attain Masters degree too. To be eligible for the same, aspirants must have a minimum of 45% marks in bachelors from any recognised university.
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi. National Institute of Design Ahmedabad (NID), Ahmedabad. Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID), Pune. Pearl Academy, Delhi. JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai.
1.
B. Design Fashion Design
2.
B. Design (Textile Design)
3.
B.Sc. in Fashion Design
4.
B.A. (Hons) Communication Design
5.
B.A. (Hons) Fashion Styling & Image Design
The Masters programmme opens more career avenues on senior profiles like Senior Fashion Designer, Fashion Manager, senior positions in production and management of any textile firm, etc. Some of the Postgraduate Level Courses offered in fashion are – 1. M. Design – Fashion Design 2. M. Design – Fashion Communication
The onus of making a person look good on any occasion lies on the fashion designer. Thus, the fashion designer plays a pivotol role in enhancing a person’s personality through the right outfit. But there are many other diverse roles/career opportunities too, apart from a typical fashion designer role, such as – Fashion Stylist
Fashion Blogger
Fashion Writer/Journalist
Trend Forecaster
Fashion Consultant
Boutique Owner
Fashion Merchandiser
Costume Designer
Textile Designer
Wardrobe Assistant
One can fit in any of these roles according to their interest, skills and expertise. Before venturing into the fashion sector, one must learn the nitty-gritty of the art and acquire knowledge to be equipped with the right skill sets. One can even open their own boutique houses and launch personal brand label, after some years of experience in the field.
3. MBA in Fashion Merchandising 4. MBA in Textile Management 5. MBA in Fashion Design & Business Management Most of the prestigious institutes in India conduct national level entrance exams to seek admission to top colleges. It is a highly competitive exam where aspirant’s in-depth knowledge, skill’s are assessed. Like NIFT entrance exam, NID entrance exam, SET for Design, and Pearl Academy entrance exam. Aspirants clearing these exams have to go through meticulous interview processes and once they clear all the interview rounds, they can charter on their dream journey to be a fashion stalwart. Priyanka Panda, a senior fashion designer in Asmita Marwa studio, Hyderabad says, “There is a tremendous scope for students to carve a career in fashion because the apparel market is gradually gaining momentum and there are good career prospects for fashion enthusiasts to become trendsetters in future”.
www.brainfeedmagazine.com |51| June 22
Memorise
Key pointers for a strong memory Most of the time, children face difficulty in focusing on a particular task and for a healthy mind, a strong memory is vital. We bring you some key ways to boost your memory through this article
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oes your child often have moments of forgetfulness? Is he/she lost most of the time or misses their important class tests? If the answer is ‘yes’, then no need to worry, because following these simple tricks would definitely help your child embolden their memory. A strong memory plays an integral part in a child’s overall cognitive development. In today’s busy life, it is completely normal for any being, of any age, to have a fragile memory, and at times it is also quite frustrating. Children have a tendency to jiggle their mind often from one activity to another; hence, it is natural that they cannot
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concentrate on one activity for a long time. To accomplish career goals, a student needs to excel in his/her studies, and this can be achieved through a healthy and strong brain. There are subjects where students require a massive amount of memorizing like mugging up periodic tables in chemistry to learning trigonometry/algebraic formulas in mathematics and many other facts and figures. We bring you some of the best techniques that will help in improving your child’s memory. Let’s delve to know more about these simple strategies that will cement information into your long-term memory.
Memorise
Researches have shown that reading out loud remarkably improves a child’s memory. Even teachers and psychologists have identified that making students guide new concepts to others strengthens their understanding and recalling power.
•
Say goodbye to sugar consumption
Well it would be a bit difficult for a child to completely bid-adieu to sugar as it is every child’s favourite. But we can try and encourage them to lessen the intake. Many researches have shown that a high diet of sugary foods can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in children. High processed sugars found in fruit juices and canned packs can lower the brain functioning.
•
Try to concentrate
Paying attention to a particular task is a necessary element of memory. Try to be more active in receiving information and keep your study place free of distractions like no TV, playing station or music should be there. Though, it can be bit challenging to get rid of various diversions and distractions, but ensure to keep aside some time of the day, where you can be alone and immerse your mind in work.
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Memorise
•
Cramming won’t help
Feeding and memorizing study lessons in one marathon session will not boost memory rather it might exacerbate confusion because you are not giving adequate time to your brain to process information. Therefore, many studies have shown that to keep up the memory retention, it is advisable for students to study lessons regularly at frequent intervals than cramming all lessons at one go. •
Mnemonic devices
Mnemonic devices are a unique way for students to help them recall information. It is simply a technique used by students to remember information and prevent it from getting vanished from mind. For instance, you can paste a small slip, diagram or chart near your study table with key words or terms
associated with your lesson/chapter and are important for your class test or exam. By seeing that term you would be able to recall the entire concept or definition. •
Mind boosting exercises
Many of you might be interested in playing puzzles, crosswords, chess and some other brain boosting games. These mind-exercises are a good way to keep your memory sharp and active. Moreover, helps in memorizing facts and numbers easily. These are better alternatives to watching TV non-stop or indulge indefinitely on play stations. A robust memory is an important asset for every child to improve their study goals and by making these simple tweaks in your daily study regime, you can strengthen your memory, enhance recalling and bolster memory retention.
Say goodbye to sugar consumption
Try to concentrate
Cramming won’t help
www.brainfeedmagazine.com |54| June 22
Mnemonic devices
Mind boosting exercises
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Writing Skills
Many aspire to write and have it in them but to realise this talent help from the teachers goes a long way Asmita Maurya
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ed time stories have been popular among children from time immemorial. Generations have grown up listening to stories from grandparents and parents. Childhood bed time stories remain etched in children’s memory for a longer time. How lovely would it be if we could craft stories. It is possible if a teacher helps students through a systemic approach and applies best practices to teach narrative writing skills. Every child can
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master in narrating a story by penning their ideas vividly through practice. Though it is also true not everyone can be a Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw or S.E Hinton. But they can surely be good narrative writers. Robin Moore once said, “Inside each of us is a natural-born storyteller, waiting to be released.” Children often juggle up their ideas and thoughts and end up being in frustration for not being able to express their ideas beautifully and clearly
Writing Skills
through writing. Effective strategies at every level of the writing process can aid children harness their writing prowess and be an impactful storyteller for the audience and their peers. Every day we come across many stories from all walks of life from gossip on the doorstep with a fellow neighbour to the ads flashing from billboards and television on the road on daily basis. Every instance is telling a story through different mediums, which is much of an art, of storytelling and when it comes to children craft a good tale on paper, this too has a good set of challenges. Let’s discuss some of the best practices and strategies for teaching narrative writing to students as it helps build creative thinking skills and makes imagination power strong in students. Narrative writing skill helps communicate ideas impact fully that one can connect with the story to the real life characters. The following five ways and methods can help students master their creative literary skills
context of the story. Graphic designers can outline and teach students the skills to spot and use the best narrative style and structure to the story. For example, students can first draft a narrative timeline with a sequence of events occurring in the story to ensure their story has all the necessary ingredients of a narrative style.
2. Colour coded technique Shalini Mehta, a language teacher in a school says, “I use a very different approach for teaching narrative writing to my students which is the colour coded strategy, in which students analyse details of the writing by marking it with different colours.” For instance, students can mark blue colour for the plot, green colour for the character development or yellow colour for the scene narration. This approach helps students in distinguishing what kind of content they have used and what is still left to be included. In this way, they can improve their narrative structure and style.
1. Graphic elements
3. Goodbye to writing jitters with pre-writing sessions
A graphic element helps enhance a write-up and narrative context as it highlights the visual
Lack of ideas not flowing organically is also a crucial problem in some students. It makes their
Narrative Essay Structure
1
2
3
4
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
5
HI!
Introduction
Lessons Learned
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Writing Skills
minds blank and creates obstacles in thinking vividly. Here the prewriting conversations help students discuss their story ideas with the peers and then teachers ask random students to share their story ideas aloud with the entire class. This method allows students to delve deeper as writers by penning down their ideas with words, images, key phrases and highlights. This activity cements their spoken stories in their memory and then they can start writing independently.
4. Reading is the crux Before writing your own story, it is best to read and go through some of the literary works of writers. Students can read and examine a familiar narrative which interests them to get the hang of the different narrative patterns and develop their
own narrative style and structure. Through avid reading, they come across different genres and also learn the mechanics of writing.
5. Don’t tell, show One of the best techniques to craft students’ narrative writing prowess is to make them act out a scene from their story as the exercise helps them hold the key narrative elements lucidly. Students read aloud story scenes and act it out so that they decipher the scene with main character actions and breaks down it into a timeline by creating small descriptive paragraphs of events that occurred in the scene. This strategy comprises vivid character details, setting of the plot, dialogue and internal thinking.
Ways to improve narrative writing skills
STRUCTURING YOUR WRITING TIME EFFECTIVELY
DO NOT BE TOO MUCH DESCRIPTIVE
AVOID REFERENCES BETWEEN THE TEXT
MAKE AN EFFECTIVE ENDING
AVOID SECOND PERSON NARRATIVE
CHOOSE DYNAMIC WORDS
CREATE LIFE-LIKE CHARACTERS
TAKE HELP TO IMPROVE THE WRITING SKILLS
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Posted at PC Nampally on June 7-8, 2022 Date of Publication: June 6, 2022
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