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JUNE 2016
C O N TE NT S
volume IV issue 3
Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey Principal, Ahlcon International School
COVER STORY
CHALLENGES OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA
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Mentoring
32 Dr. Manisha Mehta Principal, Excelsior American School, Gurgaon
Education
34 EVENT REPORT
INDO-UAE CONFERENCE REPORT
Dr. Dinesh C Sharma Principal, Vidyasagar School, Indore
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Institutional Profile
42 Elizabeth Sholtys Co-founder of Ashraya Initiative for Children, Pune
Initiative
06 Readers Column 07 Editorial
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08 News Ms. Revathi Balakrishnan Works with gifted students at Patsy Sommer Elementary
19 Special feature 37 Achievement Education At 38 School Crossroads
41 Parenting
Special feature
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44 Enterprise 50 Sports
Mr. Sanjay Kapur World’s renowned Master Tea Taster
54 Special feature 55 British Council
Career
56 Language Study 58 Mind Mine 4
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Defamation Case Against Minister
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READERS’ COLUMN Household Chores for Children The responsibility to develop a child lies on the upbringing by the parents. The article related to parenting has given good ideas of how to make the children responsible. But as a parent, I feel that it is not easy to convince the teenagers to involve in this work. I request Brainfeed to provide some expert’s opinion on how to manage with teens and their anger.
NEW CONCEPT
Ms. S. Prabhavathi, Hyderabad
Civil Services Examination
WATCH
LISTEN
Mr Israel Jebasingh has suggested practical information to both the school management as well as the students about preparing for the Civil Services. If they can follow the given tips, it is sure that anyone can crack Civil Services. I hope Brainfeed will bring out many such interviews that can be a motivation for everyone.
Now you can read as well as listen to your favourite article and also watch videos on education, career, sports, skill building, entertainment and a lot more.
Mr. Joseph David, Bengaluru
Brainfeed magazine started presenting a new concept – that is you can listen to your favourite article being read by experts while you go through the article. And also watch videos of your interest from the list of videos given in the magazine.
Money management skills are to be inculcated in the students right from their young age. This will develop the saving habits and inculcate value of money in them. The article related to it will give a good idea for students and equip them with the skills to secure a good financial future. It will be good if saving systems will be implemented in every school to know about money management.
This is how it works
Mr. T.Parthiban, Chennai
• A QR code sign will be given along with the article or the video. • All you need is a QR code scanner or QR code reader app on your Smartphone. • Download the app from Google play store or Apple app store. • Open the application, focus and hold the camera on the QR code of the article or the video you want to listen to or watch. • Then the QR code will lead you to the audio file of an educational expert, read the article for you or to the video that you wanted to watch. Don’t you think this is cool – so go on, read like an expert reader by just listening to an expert reader, read an article for you or watch a video to learn about an issue or topic or to learn a new skill.
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Money Management Skills
Importance of Sports It is true that sports and games are important in every walks of life. Now -a -days, students have become academic oriented. It is good to see that Brainfeed has covered the importance of sports with the opinion of a sports expert as well as the interview with Ms Mithali Raj. Hope this article will really bring some change in the students as well as in the thinking of the parents. Ms. Nilima Nikhar, PET, Riverdale High School, Aurangabad
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor in Brainfeed! Felt very good to see the career article where a different career option is introduced. Brainfeed’s initiative to take the interview of the person related to that career is praise worthy. It was good to see the responses from my favourite master chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Children will surely be more interested to read the responses from such great personalities. . Ms Suruchi Khana, Chandigarh
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EDITORIAL
june 2016
volume IV
issue 3
Chief Editor Brahmam K V Editor Seshubabu P V Executive Editor Bhageeradha G +91 91775 13996 Sub Editor Vanalatha Reddy T Art & Design Lakshmi D Rakesh N Director-Sales SreeNivas R B +91 85018 26497 Circulation & Photographer Hemachandra Rao S +91 91777 74851 +91 85018 26317 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
June beckons monsoon rains! For teachers and students it is a favourite month as schools re-open ending summer vacation, examination results are reviewed and plans unfold for an eventful new academic year! The results analysis of CBSE 2016 class X and XII has been part of ‘News’ along with Presidential promulgation on NEET. The cover story brings out a comprehensive picture of the ‘Challenges of Pre-School Education in India’ with an in depth study by Ms. Swati Popat Vats. Ms. Anne Sivanathan discusses ‘Experiential Learning in an Inclusive Environment ‘ in the Special Feature.
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A comprehensive report on ‘Indo-UAE School Education Leadership Conference 2016 held at The Hotel H Dubai on April 30, 2016, is presented in the Event Report. In the monthly feature series commencing this month Dr. Ashok Pandey would be answering the queries of the Principals on “Principal as a Leader”. ‘What is Right for my Child for University Admission?’ by Dr. Manisha Mehta discusses the right choice of education parents could take for their children. Achievement is all about the success of Ms. Chekuri Kirthi, the topper in UPSC 2015, from the two Telugu states.
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Mr .T. R. Gupta explains what is wrong with our school education in the special feature ‘School Education at Cross roads’. Dr. Shyama Chona describes the art of parenting in “Teach Children to talk about their feelings”. Dr. D.C. Sharma talks about personality development through all round growth in the ‘Institutional Profile’ of his school. While Iris Florets’ success journey is very enterprising!
‘Initiative’ tells how Ms. Elizabeth Sholtys’s initiative helped street children lead a good life. In another special feature, Ms. Revathy Balakrishnan discloses how she has become ‘Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year 2016’.
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Published from 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad-500 038 Telangana, India Contact No. : 040- 6551 5151 +91 94944 39444 Email: info@brainfeedmagazine.com brainfeedmagazine@gmail.com
Mr. Saumil Majmudar is cautioning parents about corruption in ‘Sports’. ‘Career’ enlists the qualifications of a tea-taster. Deutsch language has been introduced this month. Listen to the audio for correct pronunciation. Happy Reading! ppyy Rea
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Brahmam K V Chief Editor june 16
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NEWS UAE businessman launches $1.14 billion education fund
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AE businessman Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair launched the Arab world’s largest education fund on May 12, 2016, with AED 4.2 billion in grants for underserved youth from the region. The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education plans to provide scholarships for 15,000 Middle Eastern students over the next 10 years. Al Ghurair said: “Today, we are telling every Arab youth ‘if you aspire to be a leader who wants to give back to your country and region, work hard and set your sight high. The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education wants every bright young Arab who may have otherwise not been able to afford a high quality education be able to pursue it.” He also said that as long as the economy remained stable and the family’s group of businesses continued to perform well, it should be able to maintain its objective of donating one-third of its assets over decades to come. He has long been committed to improving education in the UAE, having established the country’s first boarding school in Masafi in 1964. He founded a second school in Bur Dubai in 1990 that accommodates 1,000 students and is still regarded as one of the emirate’s best schools.
Girls Outshine Boys in CBSE Class XII Board Examinations 2016
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BSE announced the results for class XII Board examinations 2016 on May 21, 2016. Girls once again outshone boys by recording a pass percentage of 88.58 whereas boys recorded a pass percentage of 78.85. Sukriti Gupta, a student from Montfort School, New Delhi is the national topper. She scored 497 of 500 marks followed by Palak Goyal from Tagore Public School, Haryana securing the second position with 496. Two students bagged the third position. Somya Uppal from St Teresa’s Convent School, Haryana and Ajish Sekhar from PSBB Senior Secondary School, Chennai scored 495. Excited Sukriti said, “I am happy that I secured first rank in CBSE class 12th examinations. I want to be an engineer. For securing good marks, understanding of every subject is must. My school teachers have always clarified my doubts whenever I sought their help.”
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President promulgates NEET ordinance
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resident Pranab Mukherjee signed the ordinance to keep State Boards out of the common National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for MBBS and Dental courses in 2016. The promulgation, provides the directive that NEET will become the uniform entrance examination from the next academic session, i.e 2017-18 onwards. The examination will be applicable for candidates applying for candidates applying for Central Government and Private Medical Colleges.
Students find JEE advanced paper tough
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he Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) was held on May 22, 2016. Around two lakh students appeared for the examination for entry into the coveted IITs. The students who appeared for the exam found that the question paper was “more difficult” than last year’s, especially the physics section, which contained many difficult questions. The JEE (Advanced) followed the pattern in which students had to appear for two papers with combined questions from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The two papers carried 186 marks each. There were a total of 54 questions in each paper. Paper 1 contained 5 single correct options, 8 multiple correct options and 5 single digit integer type questions. While, Paper 2 contained 2 comprehensions.
Yoga to be Adopted as Part of School Syllabus
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he Centre has asked the state governments to adopt yoga as part of their school syllabus so that willing students can take it as a subject. Minister of State for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik said, “We hope that yoga will be part of school curriculum for the next academic session.” He also informed that the first International Day of Yoga was celebrated in the country on June 21, 2015, involving 192 countries and the arrangements for celebrating Second International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2016 has already started.
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Indian students win six awards at Intel competition in US
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ndian students have won six awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in the US. New Delhi’s Shreyas Kapur was declared the grand winner of the “Google Thinking Big Award.” Organised by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public in Arizona, the Indian team comprising 16 students won a total of $9,500 in three grand awards and three special awards in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, biomedical engineering and mathematics. Kapur from Modern School, New Delhi, won the award for the “project that
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sciences for developing an “Innovative Strategy using Endophytes for Effective Biocontrol of Insect Pests in Cotton”.
addresses a large and seemingly-impossible problem, by finding an elegant solution with broad impact”. His project titled “Cellphone-based Optometry using Hybrid Images” also won him third position in both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Biomedical Engineering award. Arvind Krishna Ranganathan
from Ecole Mondiale World School in Mumbai won the second place for his project titled “Deterministic Approach to the Position, Trajectory, and Collision Prediction of Particles within Bounded Two-Dimensional Environments”. Suhani Sachin Jain and Divya Kranthi of Centre Point School, Nagpur won the third award in plant
Vasudev Malyan of Maharaja Agarsain Public School in Delhi won fourth spot in translational medical science for the development of a “Novel Paper Sensor as a Diagnostic Test for Multiple Sclerosis”. The 16 Indian students were selected to attend ISEF as finalists of the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) 2016 that featured more than 1,700 young scientists selected from 419 affiliate fairs in 77 countries.
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NEWS Indian-American Students Sweep National Geographic Bee Contest
Ramanujan Math Talent Initiative
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he Spirit of Ramanujan Math Talent Initiative strives to find undiscovered mathematicians around the world and match them with advancement opportunities. Participants in the open round will be invited to apply for further enrichment. Up to 20 eligible individuals will be awarded Templeton-Ramanujan Scholarly Development Prizes to use for furthering their educational pursuits and development. Successful applicants will be invited to participate in the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings, which will be held in Atlanta from January 4-7. Organised by the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society, the JMM is the largest annual mathematics conference in the world. Its purpose is to advance mathematical achievement, encourage research, and provide the communication necessary to progress in the field. Up to 10 participants will be offered financial support to attend and participate in approved summer research in mathematics. They will receive a Templeton-Ramanujan Summer Fellows Prize to cover the summer programme expenses.
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ndian-American students have swept the prestigious national bee competitions, securing the first three positions for this year’s National Geographic Bee championship finals.
place and a USD 10,000 college scholarship was grabbed by Kapil Nathan, a 12-year-old sixth class student from Alabama. In fact it was a nail-biting, seven-question final round between Rishi and Saketh. Seven of the ten finalists were Indianreceived Americans.
Rishi Nair, 12, a sixth class student He from Florida took top honours a USD 50,000 at the 28th college annual National scholarship Geographic and a lifetime Bee held at membership the National in the Geographic headquarters in National Washington. Geographic
The final question, which clinched the win for Rishi, was: “A new marine sanctuary will protect Eighth class Society. sharks and student Saketh other wildlife around Jonnalagadda, 14, Isla Wolf in which from Massachusetts archipelago in the Pacific was the runner up Ocean?” For which Rishi and recipient of the USD 25,000 college answered, “Galapagos scholarship. Third Islands”.
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To enter the open round, visit the link: expii.com/ramanujan
MICROSOFT TO TEACH COMPUTERS HUMAN LANGUAGE VIA ALBOTS
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icrosoft CEO, Satya Nadella said his company was trying to teach computers more of human language to make computing faster and interacting with them more natural and easier. He added that developers could in fact build bots that have fundamental understanding of human language. “You are going to build these bot interfaces that understand human dialogue . . . which is going to be the most democratizing force and make it accessible to anybody,” Mr Nadella
explained. The company was looking at giving equal opportunities for developers to access Microsoft Technology which will help people in day-today lives. “It is about celebrating the technology that India creates,” Mr Nadella reinforced. He asked the youngsters to “continue being bold and ambitious”. Microsoft is already running pilot projects to bring lowcost solution to internet connectivity in India. He reiterated his vision of participating in ‘Digital India’.
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NEWS No Detention till Class V
CBSE CLASS X 2016 RESULTS
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he Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class X 2016 results showed 96.21 % pass percentage.With the pass percentage of 96.56 girls outshone boys. Nevertheless, with the whole pass percentage of 96.21, the over-all pass percentage has come down by 1.11% Area wise the Thiruvanantapuram Region was ahead of other Regions with the pass percentage of 99.87%. Another important milestone is over 1,68,541 students across the country scored a perfect 10 Cumulative Grade Point Average. The number of students getting the highest possible CGPA has increased massively across the country. This was because “children are better adjusting to the system and that has increased participation”, said Jyoti Arora , Mount
Abu Public School. However, Delhi has the dubious distinction of being a bottom ranker in the Zone wise ranking of pass percentage. The Region’s success of 91.76% is significantly lower than last year’s 96%. Delhi had the largest number of candidates among all States. “The drop in pass percentage can be attributed to the clause that a candidate has to secure at least 25% marks in the summative assessment to pass a subject,” said Dr Ashok Pandey, Principal, Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi. However, he felt that if the trend showed, “continuous decline” in the future, it might point to the non-detention policy mandated by the Right to Education Act being behind the fall in the success rate.
CBSE Class 12 Topper in Singapore
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n India-origin student, Anushka Gaikwad, topped the CBSE Class 12 examination results among South East Asian students studying in one of the biggest school groups offering Indian curriculum in Singapore. Anushka Gaikwad, from the Global Indian International School (GIIS), scored 98.2%
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followed by Shubham Saraf, from GIIS, also an Indian-origin, by scoring 98%. Living up to the spirit of academic excellence, the CBSE Batch of 2016 from GIIS, Singapore has created yet another record with 25% of the students securing 95% and above, and almost 48% students securing 90 per cent and above marks.
VIDEOS TO WATCH
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imiting ‘no-detention’ till Class V, grading schools and introducing a new curriculum framework to replace the 2005 National Curriculum Framework (NCF) were among important recommendations made by the HRD ministry’s panel to evolve a national education policy.
Headed by ex-Cabinet secretary Mr. T. S. R. Subramanian, the committee has said textbooks and pedagogy should have a high ethical content so that education contributes to making for a better human being. It has recommended a review of curriculum every five years instead of 10 as is the case now. The panel has also recommended elementary level teaching in mother tongue and a massive programme of remedial coaching in government schools. The committee said performing states should be rewarded and extra support should be given to teachers who have done outstanding papers and research.
http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ june-2016-video Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning
http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ june-2016-video Teaching in the 21st Century
http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ june-2016-video Can Technology Change Education? Raj Dhingra
http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ june-2016-video English Language Classroom: Position Words
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COVER STORY
P. V. Seshubabu
CHALLENGES OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA Background Several educators like Robert Owens (UK), Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (Switzerland), Friedrich Froebel (Germany) and Maria Montessori (Italy) began to develop educational systems, as early as 19th century, designed for early childhood in the hope of actively helping children during one of the most crucial stages in human development. Robert Owens’s New Lanark School for young kids of poor mill workers spurred similar institutions in England. Froebel’s ‘Kindergarten’ focused on giving children the freedom to discover their abilities and personalities without forcing predetermined self-images upon them, supporting the development of creativity, language and social skills.
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Philosophy Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a pedagogical approach to education of children from infancy to six years! Pre-School education, however, is a matter of choice, formal, state-mandated education beginning with entry to elementary school. Child development occurs in the following domains:
• Physical - growth and development of gross and fine motor skills • Perception and Sensory Development – use of senses and the ability to process information • Language and communication development - use of visual and sound stimuli and exchange of thoughts and feelings
• Cognitive development – thinking and reacting • Emotional development – awareness and control of feelings • Social development – identity and understanding of society The proliferation of pre-school education can be connected to the nature of psychological development that occurs in the early years of childhood. Froebel recognized that children need stimulation, particularly, that provided play and role-play, from a young age to develop their full potential. Thus, the Pre-school environment varies depending on whether the main focus is care of the children or such as in a day-care programme which is only for socializing that extends beyond the family and prepares children for school and specifically designed to provide early educational experiences such as ‘Kindergarten’. Thus, the Pre-school environment offers experiences that may not be satisfied in the home. BRAINFEED had the privilege of seeking views and opinions of eminent educator in this field Ms. Swati Popat Vats, President, Early Childhood Association to learn about the ‘challenges of pre-school education’ in India. Please read on. . . .
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COVER STORY
f you look at preschools in our country now and compare them to those 15 years back you would definitely see change. More colorful classrooms, more and better quality toys, and equipment, more children attending these programs and many more such positives. But if you look more minutely you will notice a major change which is not good for young childrenthe focus of preschools has changed from playful learning to classrooms where three to five year old children are expected to achieve specific academic goals within specified time periods.
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Kindergarten is a term that was coined by Fredrick Froebel in Germany, it means ‘children’s garden’. When did the children’s garden turn into a formal space? I guess when we started referring to them as preschools instead of Kindergartens. When we say And each school of various preschool it means ‘before school’ education boards has a different so the focus then becomes on curriculum for standard one preparing children for school which is extremely different, (standard one) so more reading, which means some schools may writing and number work is want children to know addition being taught in a formal manner whereas some will want kids leading to rote learning. So the to know addition, subtraction major challenge faced is that and multiplication, before being the curriculum of preschools is given entry into standard one! So decided based on standard one the preschool has to ‘train’ the requirements. So preschools are children to achieve standards set now only preparing by different schools. children for Brain research and neuro standard Kindergarten science has proven one. is a term that was that 98% of the brain coined by Fredrick develops in the Froebel in Germany, it first six years. So means ‘children’s garden’. it is imperative When did the children’s that parents and teachers use this garden turn into a formal crucial period to space? I guess when we teach the young started referring to them brain ‘how to learn’ as preschools instead and not ‘what to learn’. of Kindergartens. When we teach children
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how to learn they learn to be independent thinkers, problem solvers and logic seekers. When we train their brains what to learn then we have only one result- rote learning, a brain that cannot think, understand or relate or conduct executive brain functions, it can only remember. Another major challenge is that publishing houses are setting the curriculum and ‘books’ that are then pushed on to preschools to use. Most of these books, I would say 99% of these books are not written by early childhood experts so you will be common mistakes like picture books with picture names written in all capitals! Or words that should be in first letter capital are in all small and words to be in all small are with first letter capital. So there goes the foundation of reading in the early years because of incorrect books being used by preschools.
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Curriculum is decided by untrained or semi trained teachers because another major challenge is the lack of a common fixed early childhood teacher-training course in the country. So you have teachers who teach the names of the planets to children as young as 3 years who do not know their own address! Each state has its own teacher-trainingprogram, no common course like B.Ed. so some courses are for two years, some for a year and some for a ridiculously short span of three months. So untrained teachers are being appointed by schools to ‘train children in rote learning’. Teacher’s salaries are unregulated so teacher attrition is another major challenge faced by preschools. And teacher attrition at this age means a negative impact on children’s emotional development. Emphasis on instruction in English
is another deterrent and challenge to
The handful of preschools doing child to survive. a quality job are again The socioaccessible only to the emotional middle or urban class which development means more than 90% of our of the child young children who belong to suffers when poor families have no access constantly being told or access preschools to express its with incorrect and needs in English. detrimental Grading and ranking practices.
preschools. Children at this age are still learning their mother tongue and schools start teaching concepts through English. Yes children can learn multiple languages in the early years but here we are talking about teaching them abstract concepts like shapes, animals, and colours in a language other than their mother tongue. Expressive vocabulary first develops in the mother tongue and before a child can learn to express in its mother tongue we throw the child into this vortex called ‘English learning’ and expect the
is another challenge that ails the preschools. The early years are the right time to focus on developmental milestones in the areas of physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development, because if these milestones are not met then teachers can initiate early intervention which will be beneficial in the long term to the child. But instead of focusing on assessing developmental milestones preschools are forced to test and grade children because they have to show their ‘report
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COVER STORY
card’ for admission to standard one. The handful of preschools doing a quality job are again accessible only to the middle or urban class which means more than 90% of our young children who belong to poor families have no access or access preschools with incorrect and detrimental practices. So how can change be brought about to reduce or remove these challenges faced by preschools?One of the solutions would be parent education, because when parents are educated about the impact of quality education in the early years on their child’s emotional development and personality and cognitive growth, then they would make better choices and demand better developmentally appropriate quality from preschools. But parent education is sourly lacking and thus because of this even the few handful preschools who are doing a good job have to shut shop or turn formal due to pressure of finances and inability to run their schools.
a common policy and curriculum framework in early childhood education and care, to care for and nurture the children of our country? Why does every state reinvent the wheel with different policies when the goal is the same? Why are some children forced to write at the age of two and made to read at age 3 and some denied the nurturing, security and nutrition they require in the early years? These children Another solution would be to grow up in a stressed environment advocate to the policy makers the and will grow up needing need for a common emotional and social early childhood remedial care or may policy that Culture and grow up to be a cannot be language is the burden and stress changed, best foundation to give on society as modified or our children so once a fractured youth. negotiated common policy is designed Isn’t it easier in for implementation all across to bring up different states. the country the freedom to strong children than to rebuild Isn’t it do so in its unique culture broken men? time to and language will always think about Culture
be open to all states.
and language is the best foundation to give our children, so once a common policy is designed for implementation all across the country the freedom to do so in its unique culture and language will always be open to all states. After our country’s independence it was imperative that we focus on youth education and so our education policies were geared to make our youth strong and selfreliant. Now almost 60 years after independence it is time to focus on our young children and design policies that will benefit them all round. Most countries have 30 hours of playbased kindergarten mandatory after age 4 as these countries have understood and acknowledge the importance of the early years. Its time we do so in India too. In the battle of who should regulate preschools – (policies are made by Women and Child Development Ministry and at the state level the preschools supposedly come under the Education Ministry governed by HRD ministry) we are forgetting a crucial point- what to regulate? First lets get that clear and defined and common across the nation. Let there be a separate ministry for Early Childhood Education as young children may just now be only 20% of our population but they are 100% our future, if we want to become a super power. Its time to create adequate political and social will. If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for muchMarian Wright Edelman.
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SPECIAL FEATURE Ms. Anne Sivanathan Educationist, Malaysia LISTEN
Experiential Learning
in an Inclusive Environment t is essential that when students graduate with a special needs degree, they enter the field with a great deal of knowledge and practical experience too.
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The inclusive outdoor classroom is a community project; it is a space where special needs children are learning alongside their typically developing peers. The philosophy of ‘the inclusive outdoor classroom’ is that all children need and benefit from the outdoor learning and that full development and integration of the outdoor and indoor programmers create the optimal learning and growing environment for children. This space helps prepare future professionals in the field to offer opportunities for the students to gain real life experience in a programme with collaboration of this manner, it helps not only in the programme getting extra hands but it is also collaborating with area colleges to strengthen the field with qualified experiential trained professionals. This initiative requires effort and preparations are necessary to ensure a quality experience for the student. Due to the increasing number of children with different needs entering programmes today, experiential learning for special education majors are essential. In most cases special education students lack knowledge of ‘inclusive education’ and spending
time in a programme that stresses on proven practices that will be an important addition to their education It is important that students should be placed in an area where they will go away with the richest experience. The inclusive outdoor classroom provides this; students come with different needs, children with Down syndrome, Autism, Cerebal Palsy, Slow learners and the typically developing children.
Seventy five students accompanied by Venus Lim their course coordinator from Kolej Dika ,a college specialising in Early childhood education ,visited the ‘Inclusive outdoor classroom’ The purpose of this visit was to observe an inclusive setting and the students are currently enrolled
in the module of Inclusive Education. There are many factors that determine child care quality, the nature of the interactions between the teacher and the child is important. These interactions are where learning happens. Learning is not just about the environment provided and materials used. What makes it work in the inclusive outdoor classroom is listening to the child and allowing them to lead. Adults can carefully scaffold learning, but following the child’s lead will always bring better results. When I asked the students about their experience in an inclusive environment as it was the first time for the majority, the response was ‘The children have the freedom to choose their desired activities and this develops responsibility and independence through everything they do. ‘When we watched children playing in the park we realised how happy the children were and through playing children build relationships that become the foundation of success in school and life. Empathy from children was seen as well without being told. There is no one way to teach a child.” We are all different learners”
Students came in three different batches over a period of three weeks. Great emphasis was placed on the adult caring for children in different working areas i.e. art, music, book corner, manipulative toys. It was ensured that the adult is trained and is knowledgeable of the children. june 16
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EVENT REPORT
INDO-UAE
SCHOOL EDUCATION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE - 2016
P. V. Seshubabu & Vanalatha
Indo-UAE Conference Report BRAINFEED GROUP in association with The Great Schools Network and Early Childhood Association, organized Indo-UAE School Education Leadership Conference - 2016 at the hotel The H Dubai on April 30, 2016. About 150 delegates from India and UAE attended the Conference. he objective of the Conference was to promote and inspire a collaborative environment among schools in India and UAE. The collaboration draws the schools of the world closer to work together. It is akin to the classroom situation where teachers and students interact with each other. It is all about rising together and not working in isolation! The Great Schools Network with this vision started pairing schools as partners in school development.
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Mr. K. V. Brahmam welcoming the gathering
Mr. Francis Joseph, Co-Founder of Great Schools Network and RMinds Education and Mr. B.S.N. Murthy, Kennedy High School, Hyderabad welcomed the august gathering. Class VI students of Aspam Indian
Mr. B.S.N. Murthy and Mr. Francis Joseph
International School, Sharjah – Mohammed Nehan and Firdaus Ansari - recited the holy verses from the Quran both in Arabic and in English. All the delegates joined the prayer. Soon after the recitation of Quran all the delegates stood up in honour of the national anthem of UAE followed by the National Anthem of India. Mr K V Brahmam, Chief Editor, Brainfeed Group has formally welcomed the gathering: “The Brainfeed Group is extremely privileged to conduct the IndoUAE School Education Leadership Conference in Dubai. Our earlier educational conferences have taken place in India, MalaysiaSingapore and it is time now to celebrate learning and sharing time in the UAE. The Brainfeed Group publishes various educational magazines Brainfeed Junior, Brainfeed Primary, Brainfeed High for schools teachers and students – and soon would be launching an IP-based Brainfeed TV in the coming months. I humbly welcome all the delegates to our Dubai Conference and wish you all the best in your discussions during the various sessions. . .” Students of Sabari Indian School, Dubai, welcomed the delegates with a melodious ‘Welcome Song’
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and a scintillating dance performance. Mr. Francis Joseph thanked Aspam Indian International School, Sharjah and Ms. Annapurna, Sabari Indian School, Dubai, for their continuous support to the conference. While expressing his gratitude for larger representation of UAE schools, he reiterated “It is all about collaboration; not competition. It is all about rising together; not working in isolation”.
Ms. Nada Salha and Ms. Maya Chayban of Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai were felicitated by Dr. Swaroop Sampat Rawal.
Mr. Francis paid rich compliments to the UAE government for its progress achieved in tourism, education, business and trade under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Indian and UAE bondage of friendship is further strengthened by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE. Representatives of Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai Ms. Nada Salha,Head of Education Programs and Ms. Maya Chayban, Projects Manager have been felicitated. Mr. Francis felt extremely honoured by the inspiring personality of Dr. Swaroop Sampat Rawal, educationist and Member, CABE, as the Chief Guest of the Indo-UAE School Education Leadership Conference. He extended a warm welcome to her.
Dr. Farooq Ahmad Wasil, a Ph.D in Education, CEO, Goldline Education, Director, Asian School at GEMS education, Dubai, Secretary & Chairman, CBSE Gulf Council and recipient of National Best Teacher Award in 2005 and author: ‘Pedagogy : From Perception to Perspective’ was felicitated and honoured with Brainfeed Excellence Award 2016 for his contribution for the cause of Education. Mr. K. K. Ashraf, Banker-turned educationist, former Director HSBC and honorary ViceChairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School, Abu Dhabi, MD, Al Basma British School, Abu Dhabi and founder-member and Chairman, Aura Edify Global Schools, Kerala, was felicitated with Brainfeed Excellence Award 2016 for his role in promoting school education in UAE and India. Ms. Swati Popat Vats, an educator, author, educational entrepreneur, parenting advocate, President, Podar Education Network, Member, National Association for the Education of Young Children and President, Early Childhood Association (India) and Director, Little Wonders Nursery, Dubai, was felicitated with Brainfeed Excellence Award 2016 for her contribution towards early childhood care and education. All the three were felicitated by Dr. Swaroop Sampat Rawal. june 16
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EVENT REPORT
INDO-UAE
SCHOOL EDUCATION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE - 2016
Dr. Swaroop Sampat, Educationist and Member, CABE, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, delivered her keynote address. Life Skills in Education Dr. Swaroop Sampat expressed her views saying, “As Principals and teachers we could make a huge impact on students. The children’s intellectual, physical and psycho-social well being is the key to successful education.” The teachers are taking care of intellectual and physical well being but “are they really taking care of psycho-social well being?” she wondered.
Dr. Sampat said, “Mental health which is the prevention of mental illness is promoted through Life skills education.” Teacher plays a role in prevention of mental illness because the teacher meets the child on a daily basis and she also encounters the first problem arising in her class room and she can see it. Life skills Education
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is the way to make the children resilient as they can confront the problems that they face in their lives every day. It helps children overcome hard times which they have to deal in their young lives and empower them to become young adjustable adults. It also works for prevention of abuse, prevention of bullying and so on. Dr. Sampat stressed that schools should have special lesson for Life Skills. This helps the children become stronger, more resilient, raise their self esteem and will even help them academically. Life Skills are identified as social and inter personal skills that include communication, refusal, empathy, cognitive skills like decision making, critical thinking, problem solving, self evaluation, and emotional coping skills including stress management and internal locus control. It is a dynamic process and it can be only learnt through experiential learning. Dr. Sampat focused the importance of ‘Drama in Education’ as it is a natural vehicle for experiential learning because it is the extension of the imagination of the childhood. It enhances the psycho social aspects of the child’s growth. It enhances communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, mutual decision making and problem solving. She also highlighted on ‘understanding and managing emotions’. “We need to take children beyond because there is an awakening involved -‘ours’ and ‘theirs’. We need to notice what is to be noticed and listen to what is to be heard, see what is absent, what is attained.
PANEL DISCUSSION 1: Happiness Quotient in Schools: Ways to strengthen, Ways to Measure Ms. Aparna Shankar Principal, Aspam Indian International School, Sharjah was the Moderator. Panelists: Dr Sayed Khalanthar, Director of Education in ETA, Star Education Systems, Dubai,UAE; Dr. Smita Desai, Founder-Director, DRISHTI, Psychological & Educational Service; Ms. Karan Brown, Head, Indian Curriculum, Al-Najah Education The Moderator formally welcomed the members of Panel 1. The great philosopher Socrates said that ‘happiness is not only the purpose of life but it is also attainable through human effort’. Gautama Buddha said that one could attain happiness through the power of mind. Aristotle identified happiness as a purpose of human existence. He envisioned education as multi-dimensional and consists of academic, sport, aesthetic and instilling values and deriving happiness from them. The 17th Century writer John Locke, in his masterpiece, “Pursuit of Happiness” says ‘human understanding could form, ‘physical, emotional and mental well being of children. Johann Heinrich Pestolozzi has explored how education could bring happiness and improvement focusing beyond
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keeps students happy in schools? Ms. Aparna Shankar summed up the panel discussion by the statement: You measure what you treasure! How do we strengthen happiness in our schools?
(From L to R): Ms. Aparna Shankar Principal, Dr Sayed Khalanthar, Dr. Smita Desai, Ms. Karan Brown.
academic outcomes promoting physical, mental and emotional development on the child. We want all children to be happy. What makes schools happy? It is a quantitative benchmark constituting evaluative and effective happiness. Dr. Sayed Khalanthar, at the outset asked, ‘What is the meaning of life?’ His happiest moment was when he was a class teacher. He asked everybody to smile. Smile to children and get the smile back! He suggested that seminars could be organized; group activities could be organized. A balloon named with the marker and searching the name written on it. Call out the name on the balloon. Response is immediate in the classroom with children for being happy! There is a paradigm shift in thinking. It is Gross National Happiness! Family plays a major role. “Teachers and Mentors are responsible to make children happy,” he emphasized. Dr. Smita Desai asked the audience pertinent questions: How many of you were happy going to school? Were you happy in school? About sport? Drama? Anyone happy about history? Or geography? Anyone remember geography teacher? What do you think is the best about him or her? Was she kindly or friendly? Was she/he assertive? Remember one teacher you did not like? This is what happiness in school all
about? Break – Drama – Sport. Happiness in the classroom? What makes kids happy in the classroom? Mindset of the Teacher –MAT? Teacher the architect of the classroom? Is it adaptation of the curriculum? To be responsive and differentiated? Or Psycho-Social competence on the part of the students? Or is it the emotional climate in the classroom? Ms. Karan Brown has the idea that students feel stress, pressure and pain about examination. It is quite normal. He feels that one in every five children is mentally disturbed. Pain is natural. One has to live with it. Children get adapted and accept it. Are we conditioning our children to accept it? Can we bring a new paradigm shift? Can we bring our children to the jobs of future? Emotional quotient - that is what is happiness all about. One must create alert mind, physically fit body and strong heart and everything else will fall in line. How do we strengthen it? What
By creating awareness about happiness. What makes children smile? Looking at my friend makes me smile. Friends’ and Mentors’ appreciation, encouragement and motivation help the children feel happy. 1) What makes the children happy in school? Is the curriculum making students feel unhappy? Is it developmentally appropriate? 2) When you walk down my school will you feel happy? When you enter the classroom would you feel happy? To sum up: 1) inter-connectivity with people: friendships, relationships in the school 2) Positive teachers’ attitude 3) Happy teachers make happy classrooms and happy classrooms make happy students. If you are happy you spread happiness. Mr. K. V. Brahmam and Dr. Farooq Ahmad Wasil have felicitated Ms. Aparna Shankar and the panelists.
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EVENT REPORT
INDO-UAE
SCHOOL EDUCATION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE - 2016
MENTOR TALKS Ms Swati Popat Vats shared her views on: “Active Brain Development in the Early Years”
with the child because the stimulation that the child has or has not received is going to impact this child’s performance both in learning and behaviour. The most important parts of the brain engaged in learning: • The OCCIPITAL LOBE is in charge of visual. • The PARIETAL LOBE is in charge of language, sense and spatial. • The AUDITORY LOBE is in charge of the listening skills.
“As teachers The brain is and school shaped by its leaders we interactions should know with the about brain environment. development. Each child We teach to when born, inculcate and have the same attract the number of brain of a child neurons but because logic, why do some controlling, become happy, reasoning, some unhappy, memory are some smart all controlled and some by the average? brain. We as educators know little about brain. When the child is born, the brain is the only organ in the body which is not fully developed,” she explained. It is not the child who was born average, it was the environment the child received after birth that makes the child average and that’s exactly where our responsibility lies. 90% of a child’s brain is developed by age 3 and 98% by age 6. By the time the child comes to primary level he has a fully developed brain, his personality is in place, his learning style is in place and the teacher struggles
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• The PREFRONTAL LOBE is in charge for the thinking brain, the most important for learning. The acronym for ACTIVE is elaborated.
A
– ATTENTION
If a teacher has the children’s attention they will concentrate and focus. If a teacher loses the children’s attention however much a lesson is planned or prepared, the teacher is lost forever. It is very important to get children’s attention.
C
- CURIOSITY
Children’s attention span is increased due to ability to ask questions. Good teachers allow the students to ask questions. The more the child questions, the more he is using his brain. Children know that the ‘why’ questions hold the teachers captive as well as the parents captive.
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– THINKING
There is a simple process called RAD learning to involve prefrontal cortex in your learning. Reticular Activating System – How often a person blinks the eyelid? Amygdalas Filter – Looks for stress in the environment,
stress in the teacher’s words and stress in the teacher’s expressions. Dopamine - The brain produces it when it is happy.
I
– INTEGRATION
If we should call ourselves leaders, the schools should have brands. Each school should have brands like Froebel, Montessori, Lev Vygotsky, Rudolf Stiener, Erik Erikson and so on.
V
– VIOLENCE, FEAR AND THE AMYGDELLA
The behaviour can be categorized as the four F’s. FIGHT
Stand up and physically or verbally resist.
FLIGHT Run away from the stimulus, or divert attention away from the risk. FLOCK Stick together as a herd-safety in numbers. FREEZE Like a rabbit in the headlights, cease to function.
E
– EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
EQ is more important for children than IQ. The emotional development starts with the stories and the songs we tell our children. She quoted Maria Montessori‘s words, “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.” “Let us invest in brain development in the early years because when enough schools do that, we will have a world with smarter adults,” she concluded.
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Mr. Biju Ravindran, Mr. Joseph Chacko, and Mr. K. Mohammed Khader of Alpha 2 Omega were felicitated by Mr. K. V. Brahmam.
EXPERT TALKS Mr. Biju Ravindran, Head, Marketing, Institute of Scientific Research & Training delivered his speech on: “Math Learning Made Easy by Experiments” Mr. Ravindran informed how math used to be a dreaded subject and children found learning math the subject to be boring and emphasized how math teaching could be made more interesting for children by making learning through activities and games and practical examples. MENTOR TALKS Mr. Willibrord George, CoFounder, Great Schools Network delivered his speech on: “Importance of Data-Driven Decision Making in Schools” Most of the decision making has been based on the regulatory framework of the Government and Mr. Wiilibrord was felicitated by Mr. K. K. Ashraf.
the demands of the parents. The seminars, training programmes and conferences are attended by the leaders of the schools who do not get the training transferred to the teachers who in turn could transfer to students. Unless this happens, no change in the system can take place. He said that teachers always wanted the training programmes to be relevant, interactive and given by somebody who understood them and their needs. Only such training would sustain. In the process teachers should be treated like professionals and their mentors need not be sage like but be like a guide. The teacher-training should be more demonstrative and models so as to enable teachers follow it. Mr. Willibrord spoke at length about the importance of classroom observation of teaching. He emphasized that the classroom
observation could be used as a training ground for an enterprising teacher. Teacher as a researcher could use his/her classroom observations as a project research for checking teaching and modifying classroom approach accordingly.
MENTOR TALKS Dr. Farooq Ahmad Wasil delivered a lecture on“Re-Designing Education in the Indian Context”. Dr Farooq Ahmad Wasil spoke at length analyzing critically about Indian system of education. He pointed about the anomalies that exist in system of and education and spelt out emphatically about the need for a change in teaching, classroom setting and the role of teachers. Dr. Wasil said that he could find marked changes happening in the present scenario of education and pointed about various factors that brought about change. Dr. Farooq Ahmad Wasil was felicitated by Mr. K. V. Brahmam and Dr. Swaroop Sampat.
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INDO-UAE
EVENT REPORT
SCHOOL EDUCATION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE - 2016
EXPERT TALKS
MENTOR TALKS
Ms. Deepika Goyal, Director, Popcorn Furniture gave a power-point presentation on “Making Learning Fun with the Right Classroom Setting”.
Mr K K Ashraf, MD, Creative Education Services, Abu Dhabi, UAE, gave a power-point presentation on “Investing in School Education”.
Pioneers in school furniture from play school to senior secondary school, Popcorn Furniture has over 5,000 schools in India on their clientele. The furniture is exclusively manufactured to suit the level of
“Everyone invests in education but only a few invest in educational institutions. Middle East offers rewarding opportunities for investors in the education sector. He informed that the creation of ADEC has revolutionised educational culture of Abhu Dhabi. World Class education is given top priority with special emphasis on STEM education and technologysmart schools would create scope for innovation and happiness.
Ms Deepika was felicitated by Mr. K. V. Brahmam.
children and the available space in the school. The furniture is scientifically designed following European standard and Green Guard Certified. The furniture range from kindergarten classes, play equipment, library seating, book shelves, cupboards, trolleys, display boards, science laboratory tables, storage, math lab models, computer lab furniture, safe, non-toxic toys for children – all with height adjustability option bearing in mind safety, durability and functionality. Customized furniture can be made as per the requirement of the schools.
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In Saudi Arabia along with the formal K-12 education, demand for English language courses has increased and there is a great opportunity for private education market and 23% of funds is allocated for education. “Investments are welcome, however, one has to face the challenges of Government regulations, of obtaining approvals for finance and construction besides recruiting Indian and British teachers,” he opined. Mr. Rajan Job, Founder, Blue Bells Nursery felicitated Mr. K. K. Ashraf.
Mr. Willibrord George emphasised the fact that International Conferences such as Indo-UAE School Education Leadership Conference 2016 would act as a bridge for connecting schools.
PANEL DISCUSSION 2: “Changing Trends In Early Childhood Education: Helpful or Harmful? Ms. Swati Popat Vats was the Moderator. Panelist Mr. Adil C.T, Academic Director, Habitat Group of Schools, Director, Dayapuram Educational and Cultural Centre and Trustee, Al Islam Charitable Trust Every child deserves the best start in his life and growth to the full potential. The initial early years of a child has a major impact in a child’s future. It is important to understand that every child is born with a capacity to learn and every child is an active thinker. We need to think about to make them flourish, to explore their potential and to create their right conditions in place. Learning institutions should create sustainable and favourable conditions for the children. The use of technology isn’t appropriate to use at early years. So it has a mixed review. Adil said, “The emphasis should not be in using technology but giving an exposure of technology. Teachers cannot be replaced by technology and the importance given to technology at early years limits other cognitive growth of a child where there are lots of things to be learnt by a child from society, from peer group, their emotional growth and social growth. It limits
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we have qualitative parent partnership programmes. Ruhie – Before we initiate a school system, there need to be a lot of research. As the school progresses, let parents know what you are going to do but at the same time as things go on, it is very important to take the feedback from the parents and the child. (From L to R): Ms. Swati Popat Vats, Mr. Adil C.T, Ms. Ruhie Jamshaid, Ms. Pooja Jain
those areas. Over all they are both harmful and helpful.” Ms. Ruhie Jamshaid, a Singaporean educationist and writer, Founder and Director of Center for Writing, speaking on the topic said that trends are probably good as they have obviously come from some research or thought but what is frightening is that lot of times these trends are translated for commercial benefits. “As an early year educator, I feel two things, is the child happy and is the child learning?” Research has clearly showed that it is not good for 0-3 years old to get exposure with technology. Ms. Pooja Jain, Proprietrix, Podar Jumbo Kids, Pune The moderator Ms. Swati Popat Vats asked Pooja that EYFS curriculum has included
media and technology as far as expressive arts and design even for young children. How do you at your schools handle these kinds of changing trends? Pooja said in her school, they first see how it benefits the children before just letting it come in because it is a new trend. They see the cost effectiveness of the particular trend. If it is beneficial for the children and if the school bears the cost to give the quality to the children at the end of the day, they go for it. Pooja said, “We should be receptive to newer technology and newer apps.”
Adil – Before we introduce any new trend, we do a lot of research and take feedback from stake holders and we have a team who work on such feed backs and the output is given to the class rooms. Again the feedback is taken from all the stake holders involved in that. This is a continuous process as learning is a never ending process. The moderator concluded that ‘we select changing trends because we feel that we are preparing the children for future’. The Moderator and the Panelists were felicitated by Mr. K. V. Brahmam, Chief Editor, Brainfeed Group.
Swati – How much do you involve parents in decision making when you are including a new trend in your school or is it just a decision taken by the management? Pooja – At Podar, we are receptive and we involve with our parents,
Mr. Mallikarjuna Rao, Director, National Handwriting Academy, Hyderabad, spoke on different characteristic features of handwriting. He explained how the handwriting can reflect the personality of a person. The Conference ended on a positive note that the objective of the meeting would be fulfilled. june 16
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EVENT REPORT Delegates at the Conference were awarded with certiďŹ cates
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EVENT REPORT Delegates at the Conference were awarded with certiďŹ cates
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MENTORING
P. V. Seshubabu
PRINCIPAL
AS
LEADER 1 In today’s climate of heightened expectations, Principal is in the hot seat to improve teaching and learning. He or she needs to be a visionary, instructional and curriculum leader, assessment expert, disciplinarian, community builder, public relations expert, budget analyst, facility manager and administrator. He is expected to broker the conflicting interests of parents, teachers and students.
possess. Besides the obvious professional requirements needed to become a Principal, there are several traits that good Principals possess allowing them to do their job successfully. Each of these characteristics manifests themselves in the daily duties of a Principal. A highly effective Principal will possess each of the following qualities:
Being a School Principal is balanced between rewarding and being challenging. It is a difficult job and like any job there are people that are just not cut out to handle it. There are characteristics of a highly effective Principal that some people do not
• He is adept at building relationships
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• A Principal exhibits leadership
• He is fair and consistent • He is organized and prepared • He is an excellent listener • He is a visionary
Mr. K. Srikanth Director, NextGen International School, Ongole
Mr. A. K. Mishra KC Public School, Brahmapur, Odisha
2 What is more important, leadership style or leadership alignment to the organizational objectives? Organizational objectives are very important. Alignment of all stakeholders to these objectives is critical to success. While it is important to understand the leadership styles, it is equally important to check our style against the stated outcomes. In the case of school leadership, learning outcomes of the students, their preparation for life, development of value system are some of the goals each leadership must strive to achieve.
Where do the core values come from? What do they signify? In our journey to reach the destination (vision) we face several hurdles. How do we respond to those? Do we get tossed up? Do we make compromises? Do we take short cuts? All these are determined by a set of values we adhere to. There are the core values of the organizations which are non-negotiable come what may! It is important to ensure that purity of means is not compromised in order to achieve even the loftiest ends. There lies the importance of ‘Core values’.
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BRAINFEED is privileged to present the responses of the eminent educationist Dr Ashok Kumar Pandey, Principal, Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi to the queries of SIX Principals about effective qualities of ‘Principal as Leader’.
Mr. K. Santosh Kumar Director, Navya Bharati Global School, Nizamabad
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Ms. Preeti Bararia Principal, MES Kishore Kendra Public School, Bengaluru
4 How does one define vision? How is it different from a mission? Vision is ‘where’ an organization wishes to reach in a given period of time. Mission defines the means and ways to reach that destination. ‘How’ to reach there (Vision) is the key. In a school ecosystem fulfillment of the aspirations of the stakeholders is the obvious vision. Differences come in clearly articulating that aspiration and a well defined pathway to achieve that. Many a times organizations combine the vision and mission and loosely call it a mission statement. But the sharp distinction between the two cannot be ignored.
Mr. Willibrord George Director, St. Willibrord International School, Maharashtra
5 What are the objectives that school leadership should aim to achieve? Students’ learning outcomes are most important. Their preparation for college, life, work places is another objective of schools. Life skills and value development are critical to success in life. Lastly their contribution to the society and application of their learning to real life situations is what schools should look at. The leadership therefore should aim at creating conditions to realize these objectives.
Mr. Manmeet Behel M N R School of Excellence, Mumbai
6 What is the benchmark one’s leadership should be aligned to? No leadership can ever be emulative unless it is premised on sound moral principles. Transparency, accountability and adherence to core organizational values are other check points for any leadership. Each leader must cast a bright shadow for others to follow. That comes from ability to set examples or what we call leading from the front.
What are the absolute essentials for the educational institutes for them to be able to impart the goals they set out for? Well role of a sound financial and physical infrastructure is well established. But that’s not sufficient. What we really need is intellectual, moral and social capital that gives the necessary energy to the organizations. Capacity building and ethical managerial practices are the key imperatives.
‘Principal as Leader’ will be a regular feature published every month. Principals may send their queries and Dr. Ashok Pandey will answer. The queries may be sent to editor@brainfeedmagazine.com on or before 15th of every month.
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EDUCATION
eeking admission in a reputed university is one of the toughest decisions students make, but which board of exams should our students opt for initially? Universities, across the globe accept both IB Diploma and A Levels for admission. There are some myths about the two programs, and I believe parents need to be aware with the pros and cons of the two before making the final decision between the two. Choosing the best qualification is a daunting task, one that needs to be done after a careful consideration. Each program has its, merits and demerits. Both are popular university precursor programs. In this article, we will discuss the comparative strengths of each board, examine how they are different, and look at how they are recognized internationally.
S
Dr. Manisha Mehta
A LEVEL OR IB DP
Principal, Excelsior American School, Gurgaon
WHAT IS RIGHT
FOR
MY CHILD UNIVERSITY ADMISSION?
A-levels:
What is it? Advanced Levels (A-Levels), is an educational qualification, which is given by Cambridge University. An Advanced Level General Certificate of Education is a two-year course of study in a given subject that is offered in schools around the world. The syllabi develop a deep understanding of subjects, and hone independent thinking skills. A Level syllabus has more depth and breadth, whereas AS Level curriculum content is almost half of that of A level. In certain schools, AS subjects are completed in one year. Advanced level courses usually last for a period of 2 years, with students having an option of attaining the AS level in the 1st year.
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What is an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP)? The IB was founded in 1968, and is seventeen years younger than the A Level (started in 1951). However, both have evolved over the years; thus age is not a determiner when comparing the two.
The IB Diploma is a two-year university entry programme comparable to A Levels. Each subject can be opted at a Higher Level (HL) or Standard Level (SL). HL and SL vary substantially in material covered and degree of difficulty. HL is more rigorous and challenging than SL.
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The following is an in depth comparison of the two programs
1
Subject Selection and Curriculum
An A levels student may attempt 4 to 5 subjects. The choice of subjects is purely dictated by the students’ interest, ability and future career choices. For an example: A student keen on perusing in the field of medicine in India needs to opt for Physics, Chemistry and Biology at A levels and AS English. This allows the student to have hundred percent focus on the subjects that s/he has to pursue later. Since the subjects are studied in depth, the preparation for entrance tests also happens simultaneously, this according to many students makes their first year of undergraduate studies easier. Indian and International students can easily consider A-level courses, as it allows them to focus only on those subjects that they are expert at studying.
There are three further components of the IB Diploma: • Students are asked to write an extended essay for one of their subjects, to encourage active research • Theory of Knowledge is a special course that explores different ways of knowing (perception, emotion, language and reason), as well as different kinds of knowledge (scientific, artistic, mathematical and historical) • Creativity-Activity-Service (CAS) requires that students participate in tasks outside the classroom The curriculum of IB lays more emphasis on academic breadth than over specialization. It requires the compulsory study of a second language which could be blessing or a curse. On the positive side, a second language is likely to make students more competitive
in global job markets and the emphasis on breadth will keep their post-school options open by ensuring they remain academic all-rounder’s. The Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge are both highly academic courses and students who have studied these will definitely have an edge over others during university study. These requirements might be appealing to parents. A comparative analysis was done by University of Delhi (DU) of the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) , the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) and IB DP. The DU concluded that IB DP courses were often more comprehensive and exhaustive than other courses; that they encouraged multiple perspectives; and that they developed analytical, critical and evaluative abilities.
In comparison to Cambridge, IB Diploma students study six subjects at higher level or standard level, choosing from five distinct subject groups – • Languages • Social studies • The experimental sciences and • Mathematics The sixth subject may be from Group 6 – the Arts – or the student may choose another from Groups 1 to 5.
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EDUCATION
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University Recognition and acceptance
Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has accorded equivalence to IB as well as A levels hold IB diploma, meaning, it is a valid international recognition among most of the world’s top universities programme for degree studies in India. The IB certificates (study In India, a student requires a of few IB subjects and not the minimum of two A level subjects complete diploma) however are and an AS English as a mandatory requirement as per the Association yet to gain acceptance by the AIU. The IB diploma students of Indian Universities (AIU) are also at a disadvantage due to guidelines. late results as they may struggle to get admission into Indian Earlier, admissions for A levels Universities. IB results are candidates writing exams in May / announced in July, but by then June had issues since the Indian college admissions are closed, colleges admissions generally this is the same case as with A closed in July whereas, the A level results were out and available only level students writing exams in May. One advantage with the IB in the first week of August. Since the last year, CIE introduced a new DP is that Universities like the skills that IBDP develops. The DP March exam series especially for nurtures a range of interlinked India to accommodate the results to be released by 20th May. This has skills like Research skills, Critical helped students to get placements skills, Creative skills, Social in Indian colleges without waste of awareness and Responsibility. It provides a Holistic education that an academic year. asks students to be open-minded, For seeking admission in India, one socially responsible, willing to needs a complete IB diploma. The take risk and be critical thinkers.
Cost A level and IB curriculums are exclusive for children belonging to upper middle class. Their fee structure is higher than the ICSE and CBSE schools, but not very different from each other. The exam fee for IB DP is however more than that of the A levels. Conclusion
A levels
IB DP Mandatory to study six subjects from all major disciplines giving wide base knowledge.
Subject Choices
Students take only four to five subjects. Those in which s/he is interested.
Curriculum
Deep Knowledge - ideal for those Broad Knowledge - students who have early specialization pick subjects from five and clear goals for their future different course groups profession.
Assessment
Mainly exam based and no emphasis on participating in sport, extra-curricular activities or gaining important work experience.
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Provides a holistic education where students use research, critical thinking and social skills to complete assignments.
We cannot say either of these qualifications is ‘better’ since both are equally good as far as university admissions are concerned. In general, however, the IB could be considered a good grounding for multidisciplinary studies. On the other hand, students who wish to specialize in a particular subject stream may find that the A Level provides them the focus necessary for an intense subject-specific degree. The table below gives a summary of the key points found in the two programs. Further Reading and References: www. ibo.org. www.cie.org.uk, “IB vs A-levels”; cambridge-news.co.uk, brilliantmont Alevels ibebook
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ACHIEVEMENT
Vanalatha
The topper from the two Telugu states, Kirthi responded to the questionnaire sent by Brainfeed.
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You are the topper from the 2 Telugu states. How do you feel about it? To be honest, the feeling of being the topper from 2 States still hasn’t sink in.
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You were pursuing your engineering degree at IITMadras. What influenced you to take the Civil Services?
It’s at one of the awareness sessions held in college that I was influenced by the talk of the IAS officers. The human element in the service, the variety it offers and personal satisfaction the service offers are the main reasons behind being attracted to the IAS.
Q
How did you prepare for Civil Services? To whom do you credit for this great success?
I shall delineate a detailed strategy on how I prepared for the civil services on the website insightsonindia.com I wouldn’t have been here without the constant support I derived from my family and friends. Credit goes to my mom for supporting me throughout the process; it goes to my brother for completely believing in me and encouraging me. Credit goes to my dad for instilling the courage in me for facing the challenges head on. And credit goes to many friends who guided me throughout the process.
The topper in UPSC 2015, from the two Telugu states Chekuri Kirthi, secured the 14th rank in her third attempt at the Civil Services. Kirthi didn’t know much about IAS. She got influenced by her batch mates and faculty at IIT Madras, who always spoke glowingly about the Civil Services. She started preparing for the IAS in 2013. Kirthi said that after her first attempt, she contacted the top rankers in the exam to learn how to fare better. The Vizag girl feels that the Civil Services is an opportunity to serve the people.
HARD WORK ALWAYS PAYS: SUCCESS OF CHEKURI KIRTHI is one of the many platforms that can help better the situation in country. I would like to utilise the opportunity provided by the service and give it to the best of my abilities. What advice would you give to the Brainfeed readers?
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1. For prelims, the cutoff increased to around 110’s (net 55 questions should be correct). It requires us to mark very high number of questions in prelims which requires taking reasonable risk in guessing those questions in which you can eliminate 2 choices.
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What are your future plans? What changes would you like to bring in our country?
2. Choose optional wisely based on your aptitude/interest in it which can be assessed based on previous year question papers.
The country is facing with many issues and I believe Civil Services
3. For Mains, focus must be on optional and essay. One must
brainstorm on many essay topics before Mains. 4. While filling Detailed Application Form (DAF), please consult experienced persons in the field while filling up hobbies, service preferences and state preferences etc. 5. One must practice answer writing: Try to enrich the answer with diagrams, flow charts, schematics, maps and side headings. 6. Interview preparation: Read well about topics mentioned in DAF and go through the previous year’s interview questions available online. june 16
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SPECIAL FEATURE
T.R. Gupta Patron & Founder President, Action Committee of Public Schools (Unaided Recognised Private Schools of Delhi)
rivate Schools in Delhi have been pace-setters for quality education in the whole country. Many of them are comparable to the best schools by international standards. They don’t get even a penny’s worth of aid from the government and yet they have made splendid contributions to the educational field. They have produced a large number of first-class bureaucrats and top professionals in various fields – management experts, capable administrators, and those who have distinguished themselves in the fields of culture, science, commerce, art, etc. They save crores of rupees for the government every year because it is the statutory binding for the government to educate all children free of cost.
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It is a thousand pities that instead of appreciating these contributions and expressing gratitude, difficulties are being created to complicate the functioning of the private schools. There appears to be a deep prejudice against private schools, I may be forgiven to say (perhaps sometimes amounting to animosity). A popular misconception has been created that they exploit parents, fleece them, indulge in various malpractices, and have commercialized education for the sake of profit. There may be some black sheep guilty of the abovementioned misdemeanours (in which field there are not?), but a cool-headed analysis will remove
Private School Government School
School Education At
CROSSROADS this impression, which has been created by the powers that be. Lakhs of students get themselves registered and apply for admission in private schools, but only a small percentage can be accommodated on account of the paucity of seats. Those who don’t get in naturally feel disgruntled and dissatisfied. The admission process is as transparent as possible. The list of
Lakhs of students get themselves registered and apply for admission in private schools, but only a small percentage can be accommodated on account of the paucity of seats. 38
successful candidates is prepared on the basis of very objective criteria which is posted on the website as well as submitted to the directorate of education. In spite of this, those who don’t get admission blame the schools, level accusations that the selection process has been influenced by monetary pressure. It is painful to note that sometimes these accusations are being expressed with anger and intemperate language. Is it the responsibility of the private schools to provide admissions to all? We always hoped that government schools
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would come up to a good standard. Is it not desirable that the reasons why the government and corporation schools are not in the zone of preference for parents be investigated? Why is there a tremendous rush for private schools? Not only do the moneyed and higher classes patronize the schools, but they are also the first choice of persons belonging to the middle and lower-middle classes. Lack of performance in governmentrun schools (some of which do maintain high standards) has resulted in this mad rush for private schools. To provide free education is the constitutional obligation of the state government. Education always means quality education and there is no need for the word quality to be added to it. Is it not a great violation of the spirit of the constitution when a child is not provided with the required standard of education? It is the imperative need of the hour that state-run schools grow to be one of the preferences of the parents. Free education which doesn’t nurture the body, enrich the mind, and sharpen the intellect is not serving the purpose for which it is devised. Free food that is unhealthy is a bad charity because it will injure a person’s health and hinder his growth.
The government has full authority to audit accounts, inspect schools and give necessary directions. If some schools have been found guilty of malpractices, then the action should have been taken against them under the relevant sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), rather than generalize the offences committed by a few schools and thus project the entire public school system in a bad light. the private schools and may also empathize with the difficulties faced by them. The fees have to correspond to the facilities and infrastructure provided by the school. Can’t some clear criteria be evolved for categorizing our schools on these lines? Each school has its own individuality and personality and should be allowed to grow at its own pace, according to the strength of its human and financial resources. Studies have shown that the fees charged by these schools are far less than the percapita expenditure in government schools whereas their main expenditure is on establishment and small amount is spent for coscholastic activities. We don’t mind when a parent sends his ward abroad, involving heavy financial commitment, so we should not choke our own schools which can provide them a fine alternative.
It has been reported in the press that foreign schools and universities wish to create institutions in India. When multi-national corporations and businesses were allowed entry to India, the Indian businessmen and industrialists found it hard to compete as they were used to the regime of Permit Quota License, and they were unable to compete on an unequal playing field. Indian Private Schools should be braced up and should be saved from the same embarrassment and humiliation. Every year, foreign embassies hold education fairs to allure our youth with a display of curricular richness and pedagogical niceties. Is it not possible to reverse this trend? There is a dire need for us to evolve a model curriculum that enriches science and technology-based curriculum with a component of spirituality. The world is looking up to this land of saints and sages which has a
Those who are in authority should be prepared to think out of the box and get constitutional sanction for a new approach. Why cannot state-run schools charge modest fees from parents for creating a desirable infrastructure for providing proper education and nurturing all-round growth of every child? They could then provide proper competition to june 16
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SPECIAL FEATURE
rich spiritual heritage to evolve a new man by blending the material and the spiritual and to meet the ever-emerging global challenges. The western model of education has been able to give material prosperity but in spite of that there is widespread discontent in society, so the Indian input can give both peace and prosperity. In the present-day knowledge society there is a paradigm shift and knowledge has become a substitute for capital investment in industry and business. There is a great stress on experimentation, innovation, and research in every part of the world. It passes comprehension why creative potential in some deserving schools is not utilized and they are not considered for granting autonomy to vitalize the present educational system and to make it relevant to national as well as international needs. There are some societies and trusts of various denominations which are more than a century old and have been serving the cause of education both in pre and postIndependence era. The trust deficit should not stand in the way of selecting some of the institutions from these organizations. The world is rapidly becoming globalized, and the educational systems in various countries are becoming highly competitive, attaining higher levels of excellence. If state schools continue to be as they are and don’t meet the aspirations of the people, and private schools are not allowed to grow, it doesn’t forebode well for our future, and I am afraid that coming generations may be driven to mediocrity. The Right to Education Act made education compulsory for every
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child. Consequently, the numbers in our schools are bound to rise considerably. The schools must equip themselves with the required infrastructure and rich human resource needed to harness the youthful energies into creative, constructive, and productive channels. If we fail in this endeavour, God forbid, the youth may take to undesirable paths. Misdirected energies are the main cause of unrest, disorder, and criminality in society. We need to address this situation much more seriously. We take pride in the fact that we are a young nation where 65% of the people are below the age of 35. I am afraid that this demographic asset may turn into a demographic liability if our educational system doesn’t meet the emerging challenges. It was clearly established in the case T.M.A. Pai Foundation vs. State of Karnataka (2002) 8 CC 481, an 11 judge bench presided by the Chief Justice deciding the issue held that private unaided non-minority educational institutions had the right to admit students, to set up a reasonable fee structure, to constitute a governing body, to appoint staff (teaching and non-teaching), and to take action if there is dereliction of duty on the part of any employees. Of course, there is
a direction against profiteering but there is no bar to generate funds to be utilized for the betterment and growth of the educational institution. The Delhi School Education Act & Rules of 1973 authorized the head of the school to make admissions and allowed the managements to plough back the surplus, if any, on the development of the school and even to start a new school. How irrational it is to hold schools guilty and level the charge of commercialization when they make genuine surplus. The Delhi government has made amendments to the Act and Rules, 1973 depriving private schools from whatever autonomy they had and instituted draconian measures. Violation of the Act can result in even de-recognition of the school, a fine of up to 5 lakhs, and imprisonment for 3-5 years. Fear can check a person from doing evil, but it cannot cultivate goodness. Most of the private managements have built up the institutions by investing money, hard labour, their sweat and blood in the spirit of service to society. Is it fair to take hard regulatory measures which virtually mean dispossessing them of their institutions? It should be possible to check malpractices (if any) of public schools and yet create an environment of harmony and good will so that the potential of private managements can be put to the maximum use. School education is an instrument of transforming society for the better and developing young boys and girls into responsible, value-oriented, dynamic, patriotic citizens. Can the environment of hate and distrust enable us to achieve the true aim of education?
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PARENTING
Dr. Shayama Chona President, Tamana LISTEN
oung children don’t spend a lot of time pondering the deep mysteries like “Who am I?” or “What is the meaning of my life?” Yet in their own way, they are trying to understand who they are. The road to self-knowledge is to understand your emotions, knowing that you are feeling angry, sad, happy or a mix of all these, is the way to come to know yourself-what you deeply care about, what frightens or delights you. The better you know yourself, the more rewarding and profound relationship you will be able to build with others.
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People who have never been taught to understand their emotions may go through life without a clue as to what they really are feeling. The way to prevent your children from growing up to be out of touch with themselves is to help them to come to grips with what they are feeling from the time they are small. Although children are very emotional, being in tune with their feelings doesn’t necessarily come naturally to them. Most cannot verbally express the feeling behind the outburst or the sudden impulse to throw a punch unless someone offers guidance. They need a calm, understanding adult to label the emotion for them. So when your child hits you, it is best to say “I can see you’re angry.” When he cries, you say emphatically, “oh, you’re feeling sad.’ Helping your child put words to his feelings in this way won’t just help him understand his emotions, but eventually to control them when necessary. A child who is awash in an emotion may mistakenly experience the feeling
Teach Children To Talk About Their Feelings this emotional carte blanche from an understanding parent, a child comes to see himself as acceptable. This makes positive growth and change easier. The more, the children learn to talk about their anger, the less need they will have to act it out. They come to understand that there is a difference between feeling something- which is always okay- and doing something, which may not be. It takes a long time, and increased maturity, before children learn to always talk instead of act. But the job of parents is to continually guide them along in the process. as an extension of himself- as his identity. In other words, your child when he is in rage because he can’t have another Coke is not necessarily aware that he is experiencing anger. Instead, he becomes angry. Simply by giving him a word to explain what he is experiencing you make anger something that is separate from him. Something he can begin to control. Your goal isn’t just to help your child identify his feelings, but to guide him towards accepting them. One of the most important lessons you can teach a child is that having feelings-even nasty ones- doesn’t make you “bad”. When you let a child know that his negative or uncomfortable feelings are acceptable, what you are really saying is that he is acceptable to you even when he is feeling furious, scared or sad. By getting
There are also some parents who tend to deny or dismiss a child’s negative emotions because they so desperately want to eradicate all painful experiences from their child’s life. So, when your child says, “I am scared,” you say, “No, you are not - there is nothing to be scared of.” Or when he says, “I am sad “, you say, “Oh no, no, it is a happy day!” Though well intentioned, it amounts to emotional brainwashing. It can leave a young child with the sense that what he thinks and feels is not what he’s feeling. This hampers his self-understanding. He might have come to believe that what he is feeling is not okay with his parents. He may think as if nobody in the world understands him. A childhood full of this approach will rob children of the opportunity to really understand them. june 16
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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE
P. V. Seshubabu
Personality Development Through All-Round Growth...
The School leadership established improvement agenda for school. . . Vidyasagar School, Indore, established in 1991 by the great luminary of MP, Shri Rameshwar Patel, is a CBSE affiliated co-educational daycum- boarding from kindergarten to Senior Secondary spread over sprawling lush green eco-friendly atmosphere wherein children grow and bloom in safe, secure and conducive environment. Dr. Dinesh C Sharma, Principal, shares with Brainfeed what makes the school different and unique. 42
chool focuses on the complete personality development of each child emphasizing on individual’s intellectual, social, physical, moral and emotional growth. Keeping high academic achievement as priority, the school strives to create well rounded personalities, where a spirit of team work and mutual respect exists among learners and teachers.
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The School has sequential plan for curriculum delivery ensuring consistent teaching. The explicit agenda for the optimal and innovative use of varied teaching methodologies are proposed to enhance the learning experience. The school has envisaged skillbased co-curricular and extracurricular activities useful for students for life time. . .
To translate the school motive into desired mode Vidyasagar has superlative resources and facilities like Smart classrooms, Science Labs, Computer Lab, Language Lab and Unique Science Park. Students are given best opportunities to explore their latent talents through activities like Music, Dance, Drama, Debate, Art and Craft, Yoga etc. Public Speaking, Performing Arts and Music form a significant part of the school’s curriculum. School boasts of top class Sports facilities for Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Lawn Tennis, Table –Tennis, Aerobics, Swimming etc. for creating outstanding players. The lesson plans adhere to the highest levels of academic enterprise and standard assessment system and the teachers are trained continually to
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‘A space to build strong foundation of child’s future’ The impressive school building standing amidst lush green gardens reflects our determination to create the best space for forming a firm foundation of child’s future thus lead them to a world of success.
enhance and update their knowhow in the teaching-learning process to identify the learning needs of students. . . Students’ scholastic and coscholastic assessment is done on the guidelines given by the CBSE and transparency is maintained in all the assessment areas. A number of students and teachers
of the school have been given merit awards after the class 10 and 12 CBSE Examination. Merit awards are given to students who are placed in the top 0.1 % of candidates who appeared in the examination nationwide. Students have also received the National Talent Search Scholarships sponsored by the Government of India and Scholarships by Olympiad foundations as well. The school has also received CBSE Sports Promotion Award by MHRD, Government. of India. The school offers excellent infrastructure and other facilities
for students. Apart from excellent Kindergarten, Junior and Senior Buildings the school has separate Boys and Girls Boarding Houses accommodating 400 boarders. Hygienic and nutritious food is served in the spacious dining hall. Its big fleet of buses plies over the entire city. Education for life. . . At Vidyasagar students are prepared for lifelong learning, earning and yearning by equipping them with the trinity of Character energy and Knowledge energy. june 16
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ENTERPRISE
A Successful Journey of Team Iris ris Florets is a BITS Pilani alumni initiative and is envisioned by renowned Telugu literary genius, chartered accountant and personality development motivator, Dr. Yandamoori Veerendranath.
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Children are missing out on the most valuable ingredient of childhood - happiness. The school creates an atmosphere of happiness and security - a place where every child learns, grows, contributes and above all, feels valued. It provides high-quality, age-appropriate education, aesthetic, unique and customized infrastructure, innovative learning centres and usage of technology like Talking Pen, 3D AV theatre etc. Team Iris is ably supported by eminent advisory board members. Dr. Boora Narsaiah Goud, MS (Gen. Surgery), FIAS, FICS, Hon’ble Member of Parliament; Dr. C N Gopinatha Reddy IPS, MA (Psychology), LLB, Ph.D, Former Director General of Prisons & Correctional Services; Dr. B V Pattabhiram, MA (Psychology, Philosophy, Guidance Counseling and Hypnotherapy USA), Ph.D
Iris Florets’ future plans include 1000 pre-schools across India in the next 7 years and to enter K12 School Segment by 2018. 44
Iris is now one of the fastest growing pre-school chains in India. It has already established 50+ franchises across Telangana, AP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala in just 16 months. It is all set to expand in Karnataka, Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Goa etc. The successful journey of iris is a benchmark in the ECE industry. Recently, Iris inked an MoU with Srinergy Educare LLC, USA to share the best practices of ECE and technologies from the West. Iris Florets’ future plans include
1000 pre-schools across India in the next 7 years and to enter K12 School Segment by 2018. Iris also wants to enter the Middle East and East Asian Market. “Franchise friendly investment options, proven business model, one of it’s kind infrastructure & curriculum, strong support system, unique diminishing royalty method and transparency & trust are key to our success” – says Sirish Turlapati, CMD of iris Educare Limited, parent company of iris florets.
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
P. V. Seshubabu
arnataka State Social Welfare Minister, Mr H Anjaneya’s ‘objectionable’ statement about private schools has landed him in trouble. The Minister vented his ire against the donation menace in private schools and reportedly made ‘objectionable’ statement accusing private schools ‘extorting’ money from children of lower economic background. The Minister purportedly remarked that the private schools in
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the State are collecting huge donations and selling Saraswathi, the deity of knowledge, and said, “private schools are worse than brothels” and running a business like prostitution. The Private Schools Association in a general body meeting decided to file a defamation case against the Minister. Mr D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary, Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools, Karnataka
Defamation Case
Against Minister
State, said that it was very unbecoming of a Minister to make irresponsible comment. Mr Sudi Suresh, Secretary, Karnataka State Private School Managements’ Federation, demanded for the immediate resignation of the Minister and reiterated that the Chief Minister, Mr Siddaramaiah should seek an explanation from the Minister. Mr Mansoor Ali Khan, General Secretary, Management of Independent CBSE Schools Association, Karnataka, was also considering filing a defamation case. “This is unfortunate and the comments should not have been made by a public representative. A lot of our member schools have decided to register their protest. This would send a wrong message to children as well as to schools. The Minister needs to apologize,” he reiterated. Mr Anjaneya, clarified that he did not refer to all private schools but only to a section of schools who are exploiting children from lower economic background. “What I have said is right. But I did not refer to all private schools. There are many good private schools. But there are a few who are running the schools in an inhuman manner. I made the comment keeping in mind such schools. Many private schools are reluctant to admit students under the RTE Act. I was speaking against such schools, ” Mr Anjaneya clarified. june 16
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INITIATIVE
Vanalatha
Helping Street Children
Lead a Life Ashraya Initiative for Children lizabeth Sholtys, a resident of the United States has been working for Indian children for the past 10 years and has earned the love of 200 slum kids.
activities conducted by Elizabeth and her friends in the US. The entire team is currently 40-member strong, all of whom are highly dedicated to their roles.
Elizabeth finished high school from the United World College in Pune and was deeply involved in many social activities.
In 2014, two of Ashraya’s first residential programme girls, Geeta and Jyoti, received full scholarships to study at United World Colleges in Germany and India.
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During her first year in college in 2005, she made up her mind, called some of her friends who had worked with her in Pune, and together they started the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC). The organization obtains funds with the help of fund-raising
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Two other children, Sanjay and Akash, graduated from secondary school and were enrolled in Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce for diploma courses in Travel and Tourism, respectively.
Elizabeth Sholtys Cofounder of Ashraya Initiative for Children, Pune shared her responses to Brainfeed. Ashraya is like a 2nd home to over 200 children from slums in Pune. How does this centre help these students develop their educational needs? Many people think that education is just a matter of attending school, studying, and taking exams. However, there are so many more factors that influence a child’s ability to succeed, and what we do at AIC is designed to examine and address all of those underlying components. Almost all the children, that AIC works with, come from Denotified Tribe communities who were separated from society and excluded from all sorts of opportunities - education, jobs, etc.
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To effectively address all these types of issues, we have to provide many different types of support, as well as a safe, welcoming space for the children to feel comfortable and empowered to grow as individuals. Our Education Centre is designed to do just that - we have dozens of staff members on our team, ranging from caregivers to drivers to counsellors to teachers, whose sole job is to put their professional skills to work for the support of these children and find meaningful ways of addressing any issues the children are facing. We are also very particular about the quality of services we provide and constantly strive to improve and implement up-to-date teaching methods, incorporate new technology, and maintain small classes of fewer than 15 so that children receive adequate attention.
values after his work. We started AIC because we had been high school students together at an international school in Pune prior to university and we had done quite a bit of volunteer work with organizations in Pune. Based on those experiences, we felt that there was an unmet need for high-quality, holistic services to fully meet the needs of the most marginalized children in Pune. What are the different programmes conducted by Ashraya? AIC has 4 main programs through which we aim to improve the lives of vulnerable children in Pune. These include: • Our Education Outreach Program - we work with 200 children ranging from toddlers to university students. Fifty
For doing some noble work, a person needs inspiration. Who is your inspiration and what is the reason to start Ashraya? My co-founders and I started AIC when we were first year university students around the world. I was influenced by an anthropologist and doctor named Paul Farmer, who started a clinic and organization in Haiti when he himself was a student. There were individuals at our universities who were not supportive of our plans - mostly because they thought we were too young and inexperienced - but I was inspired by Paul Farmer’s successful endeavors and modeled some of AIC’s basic
meals, counseling support, extracurricular opportunities and daily tutoring by experienced educators. • Our Health Outreach Program - we provide full healthcare coverage to the children in our Education Outreach Program, plus other particularly vulnerable members of their community. • Our Community Outreach Program - we provide professional family and individual counseling, emergency financial and material assistance in the event of crisis situations, adult literacy classes and vocational training programs, and other forms of community-level support. • Our Residential Program – through this, a small group of orphaned or abandoned children attend Englishmedium residential schools around Pune and abroad. Please highlight about the achievements of your students in Ashraya.
children attend the AIC PrePrimary School and 150 are enrolled in local schools. We provide holistic support to ensure these students’ success including school fees, transportation, uniforms, hygiene supplies, daily
We consider every child at AIC a success story the fact that they are attending school regularly, participating in activities, learning new skills and developing their talents - means that they already have access to more opportunities than their parents did, and have promising futures.
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Vanalatha
Revathi Balakrishnan
2016 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year Revathi Balakrishnan works with gifted students at Patsy Sommer Elementary in Round Rock ISD. She was recently chosen as the 2016 Texas Teacher of the Year and represented about 330,000 teachers from Texas in the National Teacher of the Year program.
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n Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD), she is known for providing opportunities for students in math, Shakespeare, chess, robotics and coding. She is the founder of the RRISD Shakespeare Festival and her latest venture is to establish a teacher induction and mentoring program in her district, which, she hopes, will be the prototype all Texas schools.
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teaching. Recently, she was chosen to be on the Teacher Advisory Council for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and also received a scholarship to travel to Finland and the Netherlands as part of a US delegation to study education in other countries. The 2016, Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year’, Revathi Balakrishnan, responded to the questionnaire sent by Brainfeed.
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You were honoured by US President Mr Barack Obama as the ‘Texas Elmentary Teacher of the Year’ for your excellent work in the field of education. How did you feel about the honour? It was a great honour to be recognized for my work by President Obama. The whole White House ceremony was in celebration of the State Teachers of the Year. I truly felt celebrated, especially when I got to shake hands with
Revathi has presented in many conferences including Texas Association for Gifted and Talented, Texas State Writing Conference and the RRISD Google Ninja Academy. She has led many district professional development courses and is constantly looking for ways to help teachers improve their quality of
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the President, take a photo with him and be congratulated for my work. But I also know that I am representing 330,000 teachers in Texas when I shake hands with the President. It is not only my story; it is the story of all those teachers who are carrying on the amazing work of educating our children.
Q
You were working as a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual for 12 years. What prompted you to shift your profession to be a teacher?
I like change. I enjoyed being a systems analyst but I also knew that I was a good teacher, based on feedback from my days as a graduate assistant at Northeastern University. So, when it was time to change careers, I chose to go into teaching, also knowing that my experience in the corporate world will allow me to bring the real world into the classroom. I have never regretted this decision.
Q
You are going to represent Texas in the ‘National Teacher of the Year Competition’. What does the National Teacher of the Year Programme identify in a teacher?
All state teachers of the year are chosen for how well they can represent
the teaching profession. The selection committee looks at the philosophy of teaching, the extensive knowledge the teacher has about the education system and how well they can talk to the different groups on promoting education.
Q
Teaching is a noble profession. According to you what are the qualities a teacher should have? Yes, teaching is a very noble profession. Good teachers have mastery of content, they are able to present the curriculum in innovative ways and formats so as to reach all students, and they are able to build relationships with their students that is based on trust and respect. Most important of all, good teachers are lifelong learners updating themselves continuously with the latest content knowledge and researchbased pedagogy so that they can be a better teacher.
Q
Do you consider teaching as a work or a passion? How do you teach the talented and gifted programmes? What are your ways of teaching that attract the students? For me, teaching is a passion. I enjoy interacting with the students and teaching them to take control of their own learning. Gifted
students are the least understood of all student populations because everyone thinks that they don’t need to be taught. Quite the opposite. Gifted students are sometimes underachievers and struggle to develop work ethic. They are sometimes perfectionists and my job is to teach them how to face failure
and to bounce back from their mistakes. In my classroom, I practice the four Rs; teaching Rigorous and Relevant lessons, building Resilience in students and developing positive Relationships with one another. I want my students to grow up to be independent, life-long learners. In this aspect, I am an advocate for gifted students because they, too, need someone to fight for their rights to get an appropriate education.
Q
The Indian community is very proud of your achievement. What advice would you give to the teachers of the Indian society?
I am not an expert on education in India because I have never taught there, but in general, I would advise all teachers to train
students to be problemsolvers and critical thinkers. Our students should see that all their learning is to make sense of, and to navigate the world outside their classrooms. I would also advise teachers to take an active role in dialogues on educational policy at the local, state and national level. We are the experts in what we do and teacher voice is a must for any country to be successful in educating its future citizens. june 16
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SPORTS
Mr. Saumil Majmudar CEO & MD, Sportz Village
Parents:
CAUTION!
The New Sports Headlines
and What should you do about it?
g n i x i F h c Mat
CORRUPTION
Doping Some more corruption
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These are the Sports Headlines now-a-days. Clearly, things have changed now. But as a parent, why should you care? Here’s why: When your child browses through the newspapers, what is he learning about the world? Take a look at the Headlines of the Main Page. Find any news that makes you feel good? More corruption, more misuse of power, more poor performance by civic bodies – and more bad news…. There was a time – not too long ago – when Sports Headlines used to be about Victory, Sporting Spirit, Tough Luck, Good Losers…….. the Agony and the Ecstasy of the Magic of Sport! Even if the main page headlines were depressing, the Sports headlines provided a great source of positive information for our children. And many children first turn to the sports page.
When a child read those headlines, they inspired the child to try harder on the field. The images of sports heroes – the real heroes – and the story of their backgrounds made every child feel “Hey! If he can do it, so can I!”
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Are today’s sports headlines a reflection of the state of sport today? Maybe. Maybe not. But it really does not matter. As a parent, I am extremely concerned that nothing in today’s newspapers makes me feel good about the world around me. And now, the last source of positive information – the Sports page – has also dried up. Here is why every parent should be concerned: -With reducing opportunities to experience sport, children today are not able to experience the ups and downs that are a part of any game. If our children are not playing enough, they are therefore not experiencing “failure” enough. The ability to be a good loser only comes with the experience of playing often enough and knowing that it is a game – and someone had to win, someone had to lose. We run the risk of creating a generation of bad losers unless as parents and responsible adults, we don’t intervene and provide more opportunities to play for our children. -Since children are not playing enough, they are building their versions of sport through the media they consume. After the FIFA Football World Cup 2014 in South Africa, a lot of small kids (including my 8 year old) started diving
and falling after every few minutes of running around with the ball. For them, that’s what football was about. All children knew what a Red card was – and that players tend to get very rough during the game. Yes, it is all a part of the game – but is that what you want your 5 year old to learn about football? Or would you rather help him experience the magic of teamwork, the joy of scoring a goal after combining beautifully with your team-mate, the happiness in having just a good game with his buddies? -Sports Heroes are the real heroes. They have *really* done something most of us cannot do. They have made sacrifices to reach where they are today; they work very hard on their skills every day; they focus, they practice, they learn from their mistakes, they know how to deal with failure; how to bounce back etc. This is the stuff that all parents want their child to know. If the child is reading about how the sports heroes are fixing games and doping, what will the child take away?
Help them understand that the bad news is only a small part of the overall sports world – and that there is a lot of good stuff happening! Point out the great skill, the great teamwork, the great enthusiasm that is on display. 2. Get the child to experience the positive side of sport by encouraging more play in a competitive but with fun. 3. Explain to a child how the Sports heroes became heroes. Where did they grow up? Where did they play? How did they find the money to pursue their dream? How many times did they lose out before making the cut? There is enough literature available on just about every athlete in the world. Now, that’s an interesting story to tell! Sports offers a fantastic source of positive energy and information for our children. Parents need to tap into it and present the magic of sport to the child.
So, what should a parent do? 1. Explain the context of the Headlines and in Sports.
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CAREER
Vanalatha
TEA TASTER Blend and Craft Your Favourite Cuppa Did you know that you could make a living tasting tea? Tea is one of the most refreshing and popular beverages of the world. India being the world’s largest producer, exporter and consumer of tea there is wide scope for careers in this field. The job of a tea taster is one of the most promising careers in the world today and it is gaining ground in India as well. Though not a very well known career option, jobs in Tea Management can be interesting. How to enter the field? A degree in Agricultural Science or a B.Sc. in Botany, Food Sciences, Horticulture or allied fields is preferred these days. Personality traits An aspirant requires to have sharp sense of taste, sharp
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sense of smell, decision making skills, attention to minute details, physically fit, adaptable and self-reliant, excellent ability to foresight, no addiction to smoking, drinking and spicy food and the ability to communicate well with leadership qualities. Skills required A thirst for travel, good practical and communication skills and five years of taste training are part of the craft of a cuppa. It takes five years to train a palate to identify, blindfold, the origin and blend of each sample and an expert is expected to be able to detect not only the country that produced a certain batch, but the region also.
Responsibilities Tea taster is one of the key people in the Tea Management team who will taste, as well as provide important guidelines on the branding as well as marketing of the product. He also determines the purity as well as quality of tea and ensures that the tea leaf brings the right colour as well as strength into the tea. He has to check the leaves, their size, colour, and shape, level of dryness in order to identify and determine the longevity of the product. He has to coordinate with gardeners, importers, exporters, researchers and has to stay updated about the current trends in the domestic as well as international tea market.
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Q
Tea taster is a specialized profession in the tea industry. What are the primary skills for the aspirer? What are the things one should sacrifice?
It is indeed a specialized/niche profession. It is an art form that can be developed only through hard work, passion and hours spent learning about different aromas and flavours. The aspirer needs to be drawn to the profession naturally, he/she needs to enjoy different food, beverages and appreciate aromas.
Q
The job of a tea taster is one among the most gifted careers in the world today. Please highlight about it. What are the opportunities as a tea taster?
The job opportunities lie ahead in the tea producing states such as Assam and West Bengal. Tea Tasters are hired by large tea producing companies based in Kolkata. Alternatively opportunities may lie ahead for the taster as a food critic, wine sommelier or a beverage consultant if they develop the skills.
Institutes offering diplomas/certificates in tea tasting • Depross Institute of Professional Studies, Kolkata • Darjeeling Tea Research and Management Association, Kadamtala • Assam-Darjeeling Tea Research Centre, Kurseong, Darjeeling • Chaudhary Sarban Kumar Krishi Vishwavidyalya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
Mr. Sanjay Kapur, world’s renowned Master Tea Taster, blender and owner of the famous tea brand ‘SANCHA’ responded to Brainfeed.
Q
How many years will it take for a candidate to become a perfect tea taster?
It takes years and years of training under experience professionals to learn the art of tea tasting. A good teacher is invaluable but equally important is to have a developed palate for it.
Q
How can awareness be created about this course for the students who are unaware of this career?
by tea estates. He is to identify undesirable aromas and at the same time find the outstanding ones. There are new aromas to discover every day, and new blends to curate based on market trends and demands.
Q
Please share some tips for the perfect cuppa for the Brainfeed readers.
I would say that brewing a cup of tea in the correct manner is almost as important as choosing the right quality of The role of a In Tea producing leaf. My advice to tea taster is states and cities like someone brewing Kolkata, you will find to evaluate a cup of tea is to that people are aware the quality/ always warm up of this profession. appearance of the the tea pot before Since it’s a niche putting in tea leaf, the aroma career option, maybe of the brew, body leaves. Once the the need to recruit of the liquor, the tea pot is warm, aspiring candidates you need to add 1 color of liquor from other parts of the teaspoon (2 gms) from amongst country does not arise. of black tea for thousands of The number of jobs is each cup you wish batches of teas limited as compared to brew. Once you that are offered by to other industries. put the tea leaves tea estates. into the tea pot, What are the you need to add challenges and the most water at 90oC to the tea pot and interesting work a tea taster close the lid. Cover the tea pot faces at the job? with a tea cozy to keep the tea pot warm and let the leaves brew in The role of a tea taster is to evaluate the quality/appearance the water for 5 minutes. of the leaf, the aroma of the brew, When the clock turns 5, you need body of the liquor, the color of liquor from amongst thousands to strain the tea leaves using a of batches of teas that are offered strainer and pour into a tea cup.
Q
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SPECIAL FEATURE
P. V. Seshubabu LISTEN
ducation is not mere instruction and book learning. It is an allround growth and development of physical, mental, social and spiritual abilities and should help every child. Accordingly, it must help build normal mental attitudes; know and understand environment; appreciate enquiry; acquire skills essential to the activities of home, school, community, vocation and recreation.
‘E ‘Education means an all-round drawing out of the best in child . . . d . BODY, MIND and SPIRIT’
E
– Mahatma Gandhi
nature and importance of school activities. The child is basically ‘an educational consumer ’whose needs must be carefully studied and understood, catered to and fulfilled. Therefore, let the scholastic activities be directed towards discovering the latent talent in children; towards following the principles of great personalities; towards national integration and native culture. Let the educationists respect the personality of the child in the school inasmuch as an adult is respected in society. Great thinkers like Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel and Herbart held that children are important in their own right. Let the educationists be awakened to the fact that a child is not entirely a product of heredity and that environment plays a very vital role in determining the child’s future character and attitudes.
EDUCATION and
THE CHILD
Education in the school is what ‘happens’ primarily to the child and it will not be effective unless the child takes an active part in all that takes place in the school. According to the educational survey conducted, it has been formulated that a) The centre of education is the child b) Knowledge is an integrated whole c) Children learn by doing or through self-activity when it is purposeful and productive d) The pupils and teachers work for social progress and it is effective with greater freedom in academics Therefore, the interests of the child must be borne in mind before drawing up a school programme and before determining the
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The vast body of knowledge now classified into ‘subjects’ is only the accumulated experience of the human race. Nevertheless, the classification has created a wide gap between the experience of the child and that of the race. In teaching these subjects, facts are torn away from their original place in experience and presented to the child as an end in themselves. Thus, any activity children engage in at school with reference to these isolated bits of human experience is not related to their own needs, problems and interests.
The present-day schools have no choice but to function as ‘knowledge shops’ where teachers pour out factual information into the unwilling heads of pupils and they, in turn, go on storing it by rote memory till they are called upon to pour it back on paper in an examination! Whether such knowledge helps pupils to understand the world better or equips them for better adjustment and conduct in life is no concern of the school or the society! Life and knowledge are bound up with each other and when one has to apply the knowledge in practical life seldom enquires if bits of knowledge that is used fall within physics, chemistry, politics or economics. Knowledge is used as it is needed. In pursuit of living knowledge and understanding are to be acquired in real life-situations. Such knowledge need not be earmarked in the so-called ‘subjects’ but it will have a meaning and value for the child whose personal needs, interests and purposes it is so closely related. The best education is one which helps children to see most relations between things but unless the curriculum itself as a unit showing links between the subjects and the relations of subjects with life, children will see neither the relations among things nor the relation of what they have been taught to what they do and the world will not make any sense for them. Slightly adapted from ‘What Basic Education Means’ – by Hans Raj Bhatia
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LearnEnglish
BRITISH COUNCIL Activity 1 Before you read, match the word to a definition.
1. creature
2. folklore
3. mysterious
4. shaggy
5. upright
6. wingspan
a. animal, bird or fish b. having long, rough, disordered hair c. of unknown cause or origin d. the distance between a bird’s wing tips e. the traditional beliefs of a people in stories and songs f. standing or moving vertically
© Terry de Roode - Kotterman www.terryscosycouch.com
Cryptozoology: is there anything out there? By Andy Keedwell Discovering new species Deep in the Rwandan jungle in 1902, the German explorer Von Beringe aimed and fired at what appeared to him to be a hairy man-like creature. Later, scientists examining his specimen realised it was a completely new subspecies, the mountain gorilla, of which today only a few hundred survive. Nobody outside the rainforest had ever seen a mountain gorilla before – it was completely unknown to science. Can there be more mysterious animals out there still? Scientists agree that there may be many unknown insects or bacteria but they doubt the existence of larger animals – megafauna. One group who actively disagree are the cryptozoologists, who study ‘hidden animals’ whose existence has not been proven. Cryptozoologists’ evidence So what evidence is there that these ‘cryptids’ (unknown animals) exist? Cryptozoologists take animal-based folklore and legend seriously. For centuries, tales have been told around Lake Tele, Congo, of the mokelembebe, an immense aquatic herbivore with a long neck. Could it be real? Animal tracks, too, can provide clues such as the footprints seen in the 1950s in the snows of Sikkim, in India, that may or may not belong to the upright, almost human snowman of the Himalayas, the yeti. Cryptozoologists also investigate ancient artwork such as panels from the mighty walls of Babylon that show the sirrush – a scaly, horned, lion-footed dragon. But photographs are hard to come by! Old or new? Researchers believe these cryptids may be completely new species or prehistoric survivors. Stories of giant bats called ropen in Papua New Guinea could point to the survival of Jurassic pterosaurs, with huge wingspans and mouths like crocodiles. And a weird, shaggy, dog-headed mammal called the bunyip, apparently spotted in nineteenth-century Australia and said by early Australians to be a fierce meat-eater, could be a surviving prehistoric marsupial. Do we believe them or not?
Activity 2 First, put the words of each sentence in the correct order. Then decide if they are true or false, according to the text. Can you correct the false ones? 1. a dance. / but really / Capoeira / fighting, / it is / look like / may 2. and play / dance, / musical instruments. / sing / the other / participants / two people / While 3. acrobatic / be / capoeira. / in order to / need / take part in / to / very / You 4. actually / Africa. / Although / Brazil, / capoeira / in / in / is / it / popular / started 5. around / can / capoeira / classes / countries / find / in / many / the / world. / You.
Activity 3 These animals (known and unknown) are all mentioned in the article. mountain gorilla
mokele-mbebe
yeti
sirrush
ropen
bunyip
Match each of the statements below to the animal it best describes 1. One story tells how it swooped from the air and attacked a man. 2. They could give you a nasty bite in Australia. 3. This animal is depicted on an ancient city wall. 4. Although the animal was dead, scientists confirmed that it was a primate previously unknown to science. 5. Perhaps it walks like an ape – nobody has yet been close enough to tell. 6. Some cryptozoologists believe it lives in water where it finds plants to feed on.
Activity 4 Can you substitute ‘who’ or ‘which’ for ‘that’ in these sentences?. Examples: One group who/that actively disagree are the cryptozoologists, who study ‘hidden animals’. Answer: Yes One group who actively disagree are the cryptozoologists, who study ‘hidden animals’. Answer: No 1. The woman who works in the shop is very tall. 2. That woman, who works in the shop, is very tall. 3. He lives in a house which was built in 1756. 4. There are people who never drink water. 5. He didn’t come to work this morning, which made the boss very angry.
Activity 1 1. a; 2. e; 3. c; 4. b; 5. f; 6. d Activity 2 1. folklore; 2. shaggy; 3. mysterious; 4. upright; 5. creatures; 6. wingspan
‘Real’ scientists are unconvinced by cryptozoologists’ claims, saying that they rely too much on folklore and imagination. Cryptozoology is not a recognised science and there are no specialist university departments. But could there be, deep underwater or in thick forest, wild beasts of which we know little or nothing?
Activity 3 1. ropen; 2. bunyip; 3. sirrush; 4. mountain gorilla; 5. yeti; 6. mokele-mbebe Activity 4 1. Yes; 2. No; 3. Yes; 4. Yes; 5. No
Answers To find more English language activities visit: www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2014
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LANGUAGE STUDY
LISTEN
VOCABULARY in
DEUTSCH
for BEGINNERS Here is some everyday vocabulary in DEUTSCH (German) language. Listen to the Audio for correct pronunciation.
BOOK
Review
ENGLISH
DEUTSCH
Good Morning!
Guten Morgen!
Gooten Morgen!
Good Evening!
Guten Abend!
Gooten Abend!
Good Night!
Guten Nacht!
Gooten Nakht!
Good Bye!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Ouf weederzehen!
Thank you!
Danke!
Danke!
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES A MODERN CLASSIC.” – THE WASHINGTON POST
Author: Ray Bradbury Genre: Science Fiction Publication: Doubleday Pages: 222 The Martian Chronicles is a Science Fiction short story collection that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth and the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists. The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars is filled with intense images and astonishing visions.
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PRONUNCIATION
Like Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series, ‘The Martian Chronicles’ follows a “future history” structure. The stories come together as episodes in a larger sequential narrative framework. The overall structure is in three parts, punctuated by two catastrophes: the near-extinction of the Martians and the parallel near-extinction of the human race. The First Part deals with the Earthmen to reach Mars The First Part of ‘The Martian Chronicles’ tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dwindle to the size of a fist. They felt they had never been born. In the Second Part humans colonize the red planet. Those few that survived found no welcome on Mars. The shape-changing Martians thought they were native lunatics and duly locked them up. The third part deals with the aftermath of the global nuclear war and concludes with the prospect of the few surviving humans becoming the new Martians.
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ORDER YOUR COPY
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KEN KEN SOLUTION 30 2
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MIND
MINE
CROSSWORD 36 1
Across 1.
The process of cutting down or burning a forest.
3.
In order to harness wind energy, you need to build a__
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The average weather patterns of a region.
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Black liquid. Drawn from wells. Can be refined and turned into gasoline.
6.
The release 6. of harmful substances into the air or water is called ______.
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___ gases such as methane contribute to global warming.
9.
______________ dioxide is a gas often created by combustion. It contributes to global warming.
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How to Solve Ken Ken? Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit in any row or column. Digits within each heavily outlined group of squares, called a cage, must combine to make the arithmetic result indicated.
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1.
Man made structure. Blocks a river. Used to harness hydroelectric power.
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This land is very dry. Almost no plants or animals live here. The sun dictates the weather
SUDOKU 36 1
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One way to help the environment is to ride ____ transportation, such as buses or trains, instead of driving your own car.
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