Mentor Magazine April 2016 Vol. 9 Issue 11

BIDDING FAREWELL TO BIAS Presently working as PGT Psychology in Shanti Asiatic School, Ahmedabad, Mr Satya Ramesh has been in the teaching profession for the past fifteen years. With a qualification in both Psychology and Counselling and keen interest in the field, Mr Ramesh, shares with MENTOR, an interesting fact about perception and bias, while schools start afresh with a new session.

Keeping in mind areas such as teacher recruitment and performance appraisal which are continuous processes in all educational institutions, it is of utmost importance that the management is immune to bias.

Jones (1979) has described correspondence bias as– the tendency to explain others’ action as stemming from (corresponding to) dispositions even in the presence of clear situational causes (e.g., Gilbert & Malone, 1995). This bias seems to be so general in scope that many social psychologists refer to it as the fundamental attribution error. In other words, we tend to perceive others as acting in a particular way, since they are of a ‘certain kind’, rather than because of the many external factors that may influence their behaviour.

None is an exception to this tendency and knowingly or unknowingly, this phenomenon plays a significant role in the decision one takes. To understand the phenomenon better, let us ask ourselves a few questions.

• Have we acquired the ability to see people as they are instead of as we are?

• Do we possess the courage to take the right decisions without succumbing to pressure from authorities?

• To what extent is our assessment process during recruitment or appraisal scientific and holistic?

• How often do we involve a third party in our recruitment or appraisal process?

As educators we need to work towards overcoming this, thereby promoting an environment which is free from bias. Here are a few ways to achieve this goal.

• At times during recruitment, we tend to

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get carried away with the brand value of the institution the applicants were earlier associated with. So let us be cautious and set well defined objective standards to be met before due consideration.

• During times of conflict, where decisions are distorted, due to pressure from immediate authorities to accommodate a member in the team – as educators let us give due weighting to what our conscience says.

• Appraisal is a scientific process which should always be supported by data both qualitative and quantitative obtained through multiple sources. A team of educators are always involved in this process, but due importance should always be given to the reliability of the data by the appraiser with no room for subjectivity in reporting.

• In order to counteract our decision either during recruitment or appraisal, it is always advisable to have a third party involvement so that members can assess the situation from a perspective which is free from bias and prevents us from taking decisions which are extreme.

The list is not exhaustive and I wish that every educator should strive in right earnest to promote an environment which is free from bias. This noble endeavour by every educator in every institution will have its cascading effect in bringing about similar change in the minds of all its stake holders.

What better achievement can help an individual realize these lines written by Tagore “Where the mind is without fear…….”.

References: Social Psychology (Thirteenth Edition) by Robert A Baron & Nyla R Branscombe

ramesh.satya77@gmail.com

CONTENT

Mentor, April 2016 Volume 9, Issue 11

Mentor Thoughts

Pedagogy

School Leadership

Innovation

School Governance

06 02 Student-centered Bidding Farewell to

19 Gearing Towards

24 Future of Online

29 On the Wings of the

05 Sultan Speaks

The 21st century policy has to attract the best minds towards teaching and education...

One of the biggest shifts of recent times is the availability of online courses...

The alumni body today, is a strong one that looks back at the school with a sense of deep pride and commitment...

BIAS

A time to relook...

13 Cover Story

We are ourselves the architects of our future...

34 Post Scriptum

instruction

Learners are treated as co-creators…

10 The power of sports

The goal of any research-based physical education program is to develop physically literate individuals…

Curriculum Innovation…

Advantage India

Education

22 26 Personal Planning for Life-Long Learning Success

Planning does not give any direct results, however, planning does have its share of benefits...

Emerging Megatrends in the fourth Industrial Revolution and how to benefit from them...

35 Integration of Cultural

Kingfisher

31 Emerging Issues in School Safety

One would have seldom given a thought to school safety with respect to bomb threats or terrorist activities...

Publisher and Owner Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed

Studies into Regular Programme of Study

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vidya Shetty

Meenakshi Uberoi

EDUCATORS

Content Team Ms. Kalpa Kartik Ms. Yashika Begwani

Saurabh Saxena

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Designed by Mr. Harpreet Singh Hema Badhwar Mehra

Dr. Anita Verma

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DID YOU KNOW? Education was listed as one of the ‘9 Pillars’ for development in the Union Budget of 2016-17. A few highlights for reforms to be brought under education are listed below: • Scheme to get Rs.500 cr for promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST • 10 public and 10 private educational institutions to be made world-class.

• Digital repository for all school leaving certificates and diplomas. Rs. 1,000 crore for higher education financing.

• Rs. 1,700 crore for 1500 multi-skill development centres.

• 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas to provide quality education • Digital literacy scheme to be launched to cover 6 crore additional rural households • Entrepreneurship training and massive online courses to be provided across schools and colleges.

• National Skill Development Mission has imparted training to 76 lakh youth. 1,500 multi-skill training institutes to be set up.

Mr Ratnesh Kumar Jha, MD, Cambridge University Press - South Asia, shared his views on the budget with MENTOR, “The budget has laid out a good roadmap for improving education systems at school and higher education levels with a focus towards job creation and skilling. The emphasis on higher education and setting up of a higher education financing agency with a fund of Rs 1,000 crore is a step forward towards enhancing the quality of education and talent of workforce in the country. Finance Minister’s proposal to spread digital literacy in rural India and digitization at various levels in school and high quality world class education finds resonance with Cambridge University Press’s objective to make learners future ready and globally competitive. With education and job creation as some of the key pillars to transform India and the continued focus on ‘Make in India’, the budget augurs well for the sector.”

References: Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17 - The Hindu. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// www.thehindu.com/business/budget/highlights-of-union-budget-201617/ article8295451.ece

ries or to us sto d Do write could ad tes that ll our a anecdo to t h g d thou il us at value an can ma lives. You azine. g a rm nto info@me in your letters nd net or se ENTOR ditor”, M E e Th “ to d Cross, n 2 , 5 e,#17 hards, Magazin rc lace O Lower Pa luru - 03.

Benga 899 37 937 8 Ph: +91 9 Source Internet

April 2016

SULTAN SPEAKS

A TIME TO RELOOK “I don’t want to be a teacher anymore, I have quit and I need a job,” this is what a friend told me almost 10 years ago when I met her in Mumbai. She was a teacher in a high school, I always knew her as a passionate teacher who loved her job and the time she spent with her students.

Something went wrong. The school she worked in, was one of the reputed schools and had a very distinguished educator as their Principal. The Principal was a disciplinarian and she expected the best from all her teachers.

The school decided to introduce technology and the first thing that was brought on, were the CC cameras. The management was so fascinated by the new gadget that they decided to introduce it everywhere including the staff room. The Principal now had a view of what was going on in the staff room and she could not appreciate the fact that the teachers were having fun and fooling around in the staff room as it was their domain. Every now and then, teachers were called to the Principal’s office to be reprimanded for their behaviour in the staff room. Within a month or so, the Principal sent out a circular that outlined the desired behaviour of teachers in the staff room. My friend decided to quit the day she read this circular.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have heard some horror stories of companies that sold digital learning content and interactive smart boards to schools. These companies with all their entrepreneurial ambitions, wanted to change the way the children were educated and how technology was introduced in classrooms. The management was convinced, the parents were excited and the children loved the concept. The end result though, is that technology in classrooms across most parts of India is a relative failure and has not brought about the change that it was supposed to, initially.

What is the reason? The biggest reason is,

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“The Teacher killed the smart class,” this is what a friend of mine had exclaimed. The teachers did not want to change, did not want to learn or keep learning and they themselves, were the biggest reason why most schools resorted to watching videos and films on their smartboards!

If we analyze these incidents closely, several important lessons emerge.

Many newage startups are coming up with fancy products and services that seem relevant and exciting. Managements and Principals with all good intentions introduce them, however, their effectiveness lies in how well we bring all stake holders into confidence, especially teachers and parents. Children adapt to changes very easily as they are constantly changing themselves.

Systems and processes that are set up in schools should have one focus: To make the lives of stakeholders better/simpler. Rules must be introduced as a pilot to test them before making them mandatory. As we approach another academic year end it may be a good time to relook and evolve the systems and processes in schools and the effectiveness of technology.

The Teacher killed the smart class”, this is what a friend of mine had exclaimed

Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed, MD, EduMedia India Pvt. Ltd. sultan@edumedia.in

PEDAGOGY

STUDENT-CENTERED INSTRUCTION

Education evangelist Ms. Meenakshi Uberoi, Founding Director, De Pedagogics, Haryana, is passionate about coaching, teaching and learning. She designs curriculum and trains educators to equip and assist them in creating innovative, challenging and enriching classroom environments that are conducive to students becoming life-long learners.

She believes that innovation and the ability to collaborate is an investment in the future, where technology provides the tools for us to meet the 21st century goals. In this piece to MENTOR, Ms Meenakshi, talks about how the mode of instruction for learning has evolved with changing times and how the roles of teachers and students must be redefined to induce life-long learning.

A paradigm shift In the changing times of today, education is evolving each day, with the way we teach and the way students learn and we as teachers need to adapt to this changing scenario. With the new-age learner at the heart of the program, teachers across the world, design their lessons to facilitate learning in their classrooms. No teacher has ever resisted changing the way she teaches, rather teachers have always been learners themselves and have updated themselves to keep pace with the changing needs. Student-centered instruction, is transforming learning in our classrooms by allowing students to lead and define their learning path. This approach demands a shift in the way we teach, placing the onus of learning on the student and redefining the role of the teacher to being a facilitator and a guide. Based on research, it is evident that this method of learning has enabled the students to become more responsible towards learning and that learning occurs at a deeper level, as the students get a chance to explore the concepts beyond facts and are not limited by the content given in their textbooks, thus enabling them to become life-long learners.

There is a significant shift in the way our students learn today and thus, the need for a new educational model to accommodate

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the need of the hour. Student-centered instruction is a learning model where students are in-charge of their learning. This learning model places the student in the forefront of the learning process and provides each one with an opportunity to carve out their own learning path intended towards a common goal. Instead of teachers giving lectures, students engage in active learning experiences. I have experienced my classroom transform from the traditional way of teaching, where there was a one-way flow of information to the student-centered learning where students interacted with each other and worked collaboratively to gain conceptual understanding. This led to increased motivation towards learning, resulting in greater retention of knowledge, facilitated deeper understanding and

April 2016

helped develop positive attitudes towards the subject being taught.

Getting Learner-Centric The term student-centered does not refer to any single instructional method. Rather, it consists of an array of complementary approaches to teaching and learning that draws from multiple theories, disciplines, and trends in the field of education. There is a broad spectrum of student-centered learning models that are in practice which include, project-based leaning model, problem-based learning model, inquiryled learning model and question-directed learning model, to name a few. It is for an individual teacher to decide which model to adapt, to make learning meaningful in their class and to best suit the needs of the learning environment. In my class, for instance, I drew inspiration from Kath Murdoch’s inquiry cycle for the learning process and the learning environment was a reflection of Reggio’s philosophy that nurtured curiosity and creativity. This journey of transformation from a traditional classroom learning to student-centered learning is a slow and reflective one, rather than impulsive unstructured change of course. This way of learning entails a blend of knowledge and skills, associated with traditional content areas (e.g., Mathematics, Science, English, and History) coupled with 21st century skills (problem solving, critical thinking, and communication). The teachers model and teach students, all the learning skills essential to master material -how to think, solve problems, evaluate evidence, analyze arguments and generate hypotheses. The conventional perception has been that students learn when taught well and delivered insightful, challenging yet enjoyable lectures but learnercentered pedagogy questions this assumption and encourages students’ reflection, dialogue, and engagement and requires a reliable assessment to check content mastery. In this, the

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teacher shares the control of the classroom and the students are allowed to explore, experiment and discover on their own but under close supervision of the teacher who steers learning. Thus, students are not just memorizing information, but they question facts, manipulate information, seek further knowledge on the subject and verify data before developing understanding. They become active participants in their learning process and they are more engaged and motivated because they have a stake in defining and planning their own learning path. Learners are treated as co-creators, as individuals with ideas and teachers serve as partners in their learning journey.

This approach demands a shift in the way we teach, placing the onus of learning on the student and redefining the role of the teacher to being a facilitator and a guide In a student-centered learning model, students need to become active consumers and producers of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information. The teacher believes that the learner’s prior knowledge powerfully influences future learning and thus, attempts to build on the same, by setting the stage for learning.

The students are challenged to build on

and synthesize what they have learned. This way the teacher can implement activities that engage students in reasoning about a concept, promote thinking and persevere in problem solving.

The Constructivist Approach

this known information and associate their personal experiences to arrive at a new understanding. The teacher often provides stimulating and thought-provoking learning environment to initiate thinking. A slight difference in the task or the way questions are posed provides opportunities for students to engage meaningfully. Questioning is used to invite students to communicate their thinking and contribute to the development of the new understanding of a concept. Initially, the teacher uses simple ways of questioning like the 5 W and 1 H model to promote thinking. Here, the teacher presents thinking stems using who, what, when, where, why and how to initiate conversations. The students then ponder over the presented problem and seek answers using a variety of resources, thus gathering information beyond what can be found in textbooks or shared by the teacher alone. The teacher provides simulations and assigns a variety of unconventional writing exercises, and using self-paced and/or cooperative (teambased) learning and then observes, follows and monitors the entire learning process very closely. At times, when students are not able to reach the desired outcome, new stimuli, clues or avenues of learning need to be presented to push student thinking and allow them to explore new ways of arriving at the intended understanding.

The teacher in such situations facilitates a discussion by asking a series of open-ended questions and challenging the responses and the students are expected to justify their thinking which forces learners to reflect ..it is the responsibility of the teacher to keep away from pressing students for time and allow them ample space and time to work on their own

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It has been observed that when students engage in their preferred way of learning, commitment towards learning heightens, as they willingly spend time thinking, dialoguing and creating ideas in meaningful ways. This constructivist approach engaged my students to do more complex work and spend time wisely on the task than they normally would. In such settings, it is the responsibility of the teacher to keep away from pressing students for time and allow them ample space and time to work on their own. Shifting gears and losing control over how students learn can be terrifying for some teachers, but it requires patience and perseverance on the part of the teacher to accommodate this change in her class and still ensure that learning occurs in a meaningful manner. In fact, the role of the teacher does not diminish but evolves from delivering of instructions to facilitating learning and the teacher becomes a catalyst to initiate thinking. They need to make significant instructional shifts to help students reach levels that emphasize not only application of concepts but also facilitate deep understanding, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication. The instructional shifts associated with creating these types of learning environments for students, reflect many of the principles of student-centered instruction. This way of learning aids understanding the “why” as well as the “how” of the concept being learnt. It engages and perseveres students in solving complex problems in their own way and extends beyond the rote application of procedures. For instance, the students need to learn a new concept that has a standard definition as described in the textbook. In the traditional method of learning the students have to mug up the definition without really understanding the concept behind the same. But in this method of learning, the teacher provides students some key words and asks them

April 2016

to brainstorm within their groups to arrive at a definition of their own. What has been observed, is that the definition formed by the student, in essence, will be very close to the one written in the book. So why not give the students a chance to develop an understanding on their own, rather than delivering or transferring knowledge!

Authentic implementation of studentcentered instruction can lead to increased motivation to learn, greater retention of knowledge, deeper understanding, and more positive attitudes towards the subject being taught. Decision-making, organization and content are largely determined by the student’s needs and perceptions.

Even assessment may be influenced or determined by the student.

Learner-centered classrooms focus primarily on individual students’ learning and learning is goal-based. Their learning is evaluated based on predetermined, developmentallyappropriate objectives and is reflected through growth charts as opposed to grades or marks. Assessment is a self-reflective process that involves active engagement of students in setting goals for their learning and growth, monitoring of their progress toward those goals, and determining how to modify the learning path to address the gaps. This approach places emphasis on

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the learner and pays close attention to learning processes and outcomes, whereas subject-centered education emphasizes on the mastery of the content, of disciplinary teaching and is a measure of one’s ability to retain and recall facts. A variety of tools are used to assess and evaluate different aspects of student-centered teaching and learning, like feedback from a variety of activities, which included in-class pair discussion, cooperative learning, computerassisted instruction, guided inquiry and projects.

Their learning is evaluated based on predetermined, developmentally-appropriate objectives and is reflected through growth charts as opposed to grades or marks Today, teaching needs to become less about delivering subject-area knowledge and more about designing instructions around authentic tasks that allow students to work on developing understanding about new content in ways that challenge their thinking and help them develop 21st century skills of self-direction, critical thinking and collaboration. We as teachers need to morph as guides on the sides and allow students to learn the way they like to learn the best!

thepedagogics@outlook.com

THE POWER OF SPORTS Dhruv Nagarkatti is the CEO of LeapStart, part of The FitKids Education and Training Private Limited, a Sports and Physical Education programme based in Bengaluru.

Dhruv has always been passionate about sports; and this prompted him to exit his promising career as an Investment Banker to pursue a career in professional tennis coaching at the David Lloyd Tennis Academy in UK. He later completed his Masters in Sports Administration from AISTS, Switzerland and thereafter worked briefly with the International Tennis Federation in Valencia, Spain before returning to India.

Dhruv strongly believes in the power of sports and the need for good quality physical education in India. His long-term goal is to make a difference to the sporting culture in India.

In this interesting piece to MENTOR, Mr. Dhruv, Nagarkatti, CEO, LeapStart, Bengaluru furthers the importance of sports education and shares excerpts from his bagful of experiences for the designing and development of a structured sports curriculum.

One question I am often asked is “given that, we are a country of a billion people, except for cricket, how is it that we struggle to produce world champions and Olympic medallists, when it comes to any other sport?” Some go on to probe further, asking whether there is a rise of a sporting culture in India, now with so many sports events and general awareness of sports and benefits of being fit.

For a very long time, the culture of sports in India has been, one of using sports for other means to come up in life - a failsafe

mechanism for college admission, for a job, for a plot of land. There has seldom been in existence, a practice of spotting talent early enough to nurture that talent, so that it grows from strength to strength and delivers when it counts. Here, we are not even talking of modern approaches to coaching, physical training, sports medicine. Some of these issues are being addressed at various levels – but perhaps the momentum of these changes could be a lot faster and more effective. Another issue is that usually the rewards that come within the sports framework, are after the athlete’s achievements and not at the opportune time when the athlete requires the funding for training requirements.

The central idea is, for the child to participate in an activity where he/she learns a skill, something that will stand them in good stead as they grow.

To develop the culture of sports in India, we have to go back to our grassroots, to our schools, where our children are exposed to the concept of being physically active.

Today, amongst adults beyond the age of 26, only 3% of people use sports or team sports to remain physically active! This is usually because many adults do not know how to play sports or were not taught the

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April 2016

right skills to pick up sports. Nurturing a sporting culture requires us, as educationists, as teachers and as parents to understand the benefits of being active, what being active actually means and encouraging the thought of being active as a natural extension of our lives. If we get this right, we can then be on a path of creating the next world champion.

By mapping a curriculum to standards, you essentially test the efficacy of the outcomes of the programmes‌. One such standard is National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) standards How is your physical education class structured?

So, what is taught during PE? Is it one ball for 30 children with limited guidance? Do the children know what is being taught and why it is being taught? Too often, a physical education class is unstructured, disorganized and lacks the understanding of the learning outcomes, necessary for the development of the child. In a research paper published in 2011, Dowda and Sallis have shown that with the right intervention and physical education specialist, the amount of movement and physical activity

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in a PE class can increase by 18%, without increasing the frequency or the duration of the lesson. That begs the question – how much does your child move in the 30/40min PE class?

A recent study found that the number and quality of physical education specialists, budget limitations and the unwillingness to allocate time for physical education, hinders the adoption of evidence-based physical education programming (Lounsbery, McKenzie, Trost, & Smith, 2011). This study was conducted in the United States; however, the realities are not very far in the Indian education context. Barriers such as these directly hinder PE from playing a major role in contributing to educational goals, providing physical activity, and making a public health contribution. (McKenzie & Lounsbery, 2009).

To approach this correctly, requires both recognition and belief that good physical education has not only health benefits but academic benefits as well. It requires an understanding that there is a whole body of research behind how to design and deliver a quality PE class. How can a simple activity like throwing and catching be broken down into small fragments so that a child learns this basic skill in an age-appropriate manner

without being overwhelmed? How do you use balls of different sizes (e.g. size 2,3,4) to allow a natural progression in learning dribbling skills in basketball?

The public health goal of physical education is to prepare children for a lifetime of regular physical activity Designing a curriculum and why it is important to map to standards The goal of any research-based physical education program is to develop physically literate individuals.

The curriculum has to be designed in such a way, so as to ensure every child is taught skills in an ageappropriate manner to enable physical literacy. Questions one must ask are: Has the child learned the skills necessary to participate in a variety of physical activities?

Does the child know the implications and the benefits of involvement in various types of physical activities? Does the child participate regularly in physical activity?

By mapping a curriculum to standards, you essentially test the efficacy of the outcomes of the programmes. There are many standards that curricula can be mapped to.

One such standard is National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) standards which ensures all the designed sports related activities and class tests have the following characteristics: • Demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns • Applies knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and tactics related to movement and performance • Demonstrates the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-

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enhancing level of physical activity and fitness • Exhibits responsible personal and social behaviour that respects self and others • Recognizes the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, selfexpression and/or social interaction To integrate the above outcomes, the curriculum needs to understand and breakdown each of the activities into learning outcomes.

Choosing the right intervention program Essentially, the focus of any good physical education programme should be on developing skills, as opposed to drills in children, beginning with the pre-school years all the way through to the 12th standard. For a sporting culture to develop in the country, sports and physical fitness have to be part of the overall curriculum followed in school from the youngest possible age.

What is needed, is an intervention programme that is research-driven to develop, instil and inculcate essential sporting activities needed for the holistic development of the child. The central idea is, for the child to participate in an activity where he/she learns a skill, something that will stand them in good stead as they grow.

We understand that innovative pedagogy combined with excellence in delivery will result in children excelling not just in academics but also in sports and together this will prepare them in facing life’s challenges. Because ultimately in sports, as in other facets of life, it is all about a test of character!

dhruv.nagarkatti@fitkids.co.in

April 2016

COVER STORY

ONE WORLD, ONE FAMILY With over 40 years of teaching experience and having served as Principal for about 23 years, Ms. Maya Mohan, has been the proud recipient of the National Award for Best Teacher in 2005 and the Best Principal Award at the 7th National Science Olympiad. A series of achievements that further adorn her existence are the positions of a consultant editor at Orient Black Swan English text books and her being a member of the Andhra Pradesh Government Education Review Committee, which has now been named, ‘Maya Mohan Committee’. She has a creative edge as well and has been a classical dancer in Bharat Natyam, Odissi and Manipuri. Ms. Mohan, presently the Principal at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala, Cochin, shares with MENTOR, her experiences in the field and the sector that happened to her by chance.

Serendipity is the word that comes to my mind when I think of how I wandered into the world of education. It has journeyed through the years, from being a ‘temporary profession’ to being the core of my life.

But every year has been an annular ring of growth with the challenges and opportunities the school brought, that helped to shape my existence.

We are exploring the possibility of using Gaggle to create a safe digital learning environment The school was started by two dynamic farsighted women. One, a visionary, Ms. Janaki Menon who wanted to propagate

the values of Swami Chinmayananda and impart it to the youth. The other, an architect, Ms. Kamakshi Balakrishna who translated this vision into reality. Chinmaya Vidyalaya was the first private CBSE school in Kochi and was started in a small palace with a pool, surrounded by trees, with wooden ceilings and cracked floors. The classrooms were divided with wooden panels. This has grown into a beautiful school with graceful buildings, landscaped gardens and infrastructure to support more than two thousand students. It has all the state-of-the-art technology that a student would need: a herbal garden, well equipped labs, a cafeteria, a biogas plant, an organic vegetable patch, a huge library with a vast collection of books and colourful welcoming kindergarten.

The curriculum is based on the Chinmaya Vision Programme conceived by the founder more than two decades ago.

“There is no destiny beyond and above us. We are ourselves the architects of our future.” Thus spoke one of the greatest gurus of all time, Swami Chninmayanandaji, our Pujya Gurudev. Children are the architects of the future. Teachers are the engineers who build the bridges that span the distance between their dreams and reality.

Chinmaya Vidyalayas are ‘schools with a difference’ that offer children a value based and holistic education which paves the way for the integrated development of the child with a universal outlook.

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Yoga at Chinmaya Vidyalaya

Bibox, an interactive platform for students.

Mind, Body and Spirit

by the school, where doctors from reputed hospitals visit and run a battery of tests to identify problems early.

At Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala, our efforts to offer holistic education begin with Physical Development. A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Keeping this in mind, we give great importance to sports. The children undergo rigorous and specialised training early in the morning in athletics and team sports. While the mind and body are intimately connected, the students of middle and senior classes are trained in the ancient art of yoga.

Not to be left behind the tiny tots are allowed to indulge in spontaneous and unsupervised play, sometimes. Such play teaches them the importance of team work, following rules, honesty and the sportsman spirit.

What we have realised in Chinmaya is that despite all odds it is possible through education to change children, society and the world Highlighting the role of nutrition in physical health eventually affecting thoughts, emotions and behaviour, students are exposed to the importance of eating nutritious food by the class teacher each morning for fifteen minutes.

Good health doesn’t stop with good food alone. Hygiene plays an equally important role and hence, students are encouraged to keep their surroundings clean and to take part in programmes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

To ensure the good health of the students, periodic health check-ups are organised

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“Where the Mind is without fear” As trailblazer Maria Montessori says, “Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.” Children are given a free rein to use their imagination without fear of being chastised. This encourages them to express themselves uninhibitedly.

To encourage such out of the box thinking, the school has a programme called Bibox which is an interactive platform for students.

Here, they use scientific knowledge and creativity to make interesting working models. The students recently constructed a musical fountain which sparkled and danced to the music programmed by students. We also have an innovative forum called Igniting Minds where students can listen to and exchange ideas with wellknown scientists.

Debates help students to look at a problem from different angles, to respect others’ point of view and defend their own intellectual convictions. Literary activities that include public speaking, creative writing, and theatre begin from primary classes. MUN (Mock United Nations) starts as early as Grade VI and is a good way to introduce young people to the world around them solving global problems, through discussions and rational thought.

Event management teaches children, a wide spectrum of organising skills. We

April 2016

job entails so that they may choose it wisely.

Mock United Nations – world-class diplomats in the making

For the present generation of students, reading is sadly a lost art. Reading sharpens our ability to understand others emotions and is a crucial skill in understanding social relationships. The school organises a weeklong celebration of books and reading called the Book Week celebrations. During the Book Week, competitions are organised to encourage the children to read more and write stories on their own. Children read out extracts from their favourite books and poems so that they are introduced to various authors.

conduct inter-school competitions that give the children an opportunity to showcase the talents.

Chaithanya is a mega event which includes music, dance, drama, fashion designing and many other interesting items. The students are in charge of the entire event from the time the theme is conceived to the time when it culminates.

Avishkar is a unique competition for those with a scientific temper. Each year it deals with a different branch of science.

Meet the Experts programme

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Career

guidance

Sankalp is a competition devoted entirely to literary events. The students are taught to budget resources and also allocate them from the money partially collected by them.

A ’Meet the Experts’ programme is conducted every year when students get to interact with experts in the field of their interest. This helps them have a fair idea about their career options and what each

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Children interacting with a famous author Ken Spillman One of the most interesting inter school competition conducted as a part of our attempt to encourage reading is Novice Novella, where young writers in tandem with illustrators are invited to collaborate in story writing. The books so written are published and sent to school libraries. The school also has a documentary film making competition to enable students to see the world through the eye of the camera. We have eminent people from the film industry, to talk to and interact with the students.

Children are the architects of the future.

Teachers are the engineers who build the bridges that span the distance between their dreams and reality.

Traditions and customs need not always be restricting or serene. They can be joyous and full of fervour like the celebration of festivals.

Such celebrations allow children the

Independence Day and other national festivals are celebrated with fervour to instil in the students, a sense of patriotism. At assembly, students are encouraged to talk about the armed forces and the service they render to the nation, not only during the times of war but also whenever calamities strike the nation.

Every child is a born artist latitude to express their personalities within the framework of the traditions observed.

The school believes in celebrating festivals that have a social significance like Bhishma Pithamaha Day (Grand Parents Day) and Mathrupooja (where children offer salutations at the feet of their mothers).

“If music be the food of love: play on.” Thus spoke the great Bard. From the prayer in the morning to the anthem that closes the school day, music plays an integral part in a student’s life. Children are offered classes not just in vocal music but also in instruments of their choice, both Indian and Western.

They are also encouraged to write lyrics and compose music during festivals.

Painting is an expression of one’s inner landscape. Every child is a born artist. We strive to bring out their creativity and let their imagination run wild. The children are taught pencil sketching, watercolours, oil painting etc. Mural painting introduced recently have students decorating wall spaces with their art work.

Spic Macay is a forum that was conceived as a platform for exposing the Indian youth to the wealth of art forms of India. The school has a wing of Spic Macay called Panchajanyam, which brings artistes from all over the country to perform in front of the students. Kerala folk art is also encouraged by bringing artist from this field to the students.

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Children are like clay in the hands of an experienced potter. They can be moulded into nondescript clay pots or earthen lamps that spread light. We strive to make the children better citizens by kindling the child’s pride in his country and inculcating civic consciousness in the child.

Project Citizen inspires students to go out into the community and interact with their fellow human beings and gain first-hand experience in understanding their problems and attempting to solve them. The students conduct surveys and mock elections.

Global Citizenship “Wars, terrorism and other forms of violence will no longer be glorified as ‘heroic’ in epics and myths but condemned...”

In the workplace of today, we find people from America to Zambia. It is important that the child learns to appreciate the commonalities and differences between world cultures. To foster the feelings of fraternity and the ‘one world one family’ spirit we have a student exchange programme.

Every year a delegation from Elon University, USA, visits our school and spends a couple of days interacting with the students. Our students too, visit Elon and spend a month learning with American students during the academic year.

Such exchange programmes do not just have a cultural give and take but students also get a different perspective to world issues and ways to resolve them.

To teach the children accountability and responsibility, the ‘i-share’ programme reaches out to the less privileged among society to provide health and reassurance to the needy. As a part of this programme, children spare a rupee a day for their less fortunate brethren. The Interact club has

April 2016

The world is a village – Elon University delegates at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala a list of service activities to its credit that includes collecting rice every week for distribution to any needy families nearby.

Visits to orphanages and old age homes are part of the school’s outreach programme.

Teachers are constantly evolving Education can never be complete if the learning process involves only students.

Teachers too are constantly learning and evolving to meet the challenges of an increasingly demanding profession. As part of the teacher empowerment programme, we have talks and demonstrations by experts in the field of nutrition, child psychology, learning disabilities, first aid, grooming etc. Teachers have panel discussions, discuss classroom problems and teaching strategies and every staff room conducts a staff meeting once a term. Teachers are sensitized about the difference they make in a child’s life through panel discussion, quality management circles and TED Talks.

These are a part of the in-house training programme. Leadership has always been participatory and decisions are taken after a discussion and there is total transparency in procedure.

A book I was recently reading, was ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg. Most of my staff comprises lady teachers and I spoke to them about the importance of their career and the right work-life balance to be maintained.

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What makes us the school with a difference?

We believe not just in value education, but in value-based education. We know that values cannot be taught in the conventional way. So we follow an integrated approach to value education. For example, while riding a bike values are imbibed through a combination of practice and instruction.

This equips students with invaluable social skills and emotional intelligence. Values are woven into the fabric of the subject and not only taught as a separate subject.

For example, honesty and integrity taught through Profit and Loss.

Every child is an individual and is treated as such, catering to their special needs.

Our resource room has specially trained educators and counsellors who help children to cope with their learning disabilities and overcome emotional outbursts. We also believe in inclusive education where children who are visually impaired, autistic and hearing impaired are taught along with the main stream.

A panel of students from the senior classes form the Senate. This panel discusses problems of the student community with the Principal and tries to come up with solutions.

They are also involved in organising school and interschool activities along with other badge holders.

Students’ involvement is encouraged at all levels. Each class has student council, member who interact directly with the Principal. They represent the class and put forward problems faced by the students.

Issues such as peer pressure, bullying, completion of portions, time management, innovations and remediation are brought to the fore.

Leadership programmes are conducted and the senior students listen to talks on the importance of effective communication, NLP and even power dressing and the art of fine dining. This moulds our students to fit in any milieu.

To foster the feelings of fraternity and the ‘one world one family’ spirit we have a student exchange programme. Every year a delegation from Elon University, USA, visits our school and spends a couple of days interacting with the students Future One of the biggest assignments the school under took, was the ‘ The CBSE athletic meet in 2007-2008.

It required mega planning while the logistics involved in accommodating and transporting 1750 athletes and 800 coaches from across 6 countries outside India and all the states of India, was tremendous. We were asked to conduct this by the Chairman of the CBSE, Mr. Ashok Ganguly. The event turned out to be a great success and was significant in our learning curve.

We introduced Total Quality Management(TQM) and Quality Circles after following the guidelines given by the experts at the Netritva camp, conducted

by CCMT Education Cell. The teaching and non-teaching staff were involved in the activities associated with this. At a staff meeting all the teachers were given briefing on the concept of TQM. We decided on the areas that needed immediate attention and based on that, teams were formed.

Each team had a leader and they had regular meetings to decide their action plan. A display board was dedicated to these team. Their names were put up and

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each month and the team that did excellent work, was awarded a star by our Principal.

This brought in an element of competition.

The teams were the following: 1. School Discipline/ punctuality 2. Classroom management, behaviour and uniform 3. Aesthetics of the school/ cleanliness of the school and washrooms 4. Infrastructure and traffic management 5. Canteen food and discipline 6. Proper use of staircase / student movement in the school In the future, the school intends to use technology more frequently. PowerPoint presentations, paperless evaluations and innovative use of content prepared by the teachers are a part of our attempt to harness technology for education. We are exploring the possibility of using Gaggle to create a safe digital learning environment.

Integrated teaching in the middle school is also being researched.

Challenges One of the major challenges we have faced, is how changing societal morals are impacting the student body. A generation which has to be entertained all the time and has a very low attention span, is being groomed to be global citizens with values they do not always believe in. Though parents have become very supportive of their children, they raise them to be selfcentred and self-absorbed. They do not teach them to respect old age or others less fortunate than them. It is all about I, me and mine. At Chinmaya despite all odds, we try and sensitise students through various programs and would like to introduce more such initiatives.

What we are proud of We are proud of being a school that believes in excellence, innovation and integrity. No one is afraid of failure so experimentation is encouraged. Utopia? Not yet! But we are striving towards it and the journey is exciting!

As the poet says “What’s a heaven for if a man’s reach does not exceed his grasp”.

mayamohan712@gmail.com

April 2016

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

GEARING TOWARDS ADVANTAGE INDIA Equipped with a Master’s degree in Child Development and Family Relations and a Post Graduate Diploma in Guidance and Counseling, Dr. Anita Verma has a natural inclination towards human psychology with a deep urge to be with children. With more than 35 years of experience in teaching different disciplines and Education Management, she is currently Head, Academics of Shanti Education Initiatives Limited (SEIL), Ahmedabad. In this piece to MENTOR, Dr. Anita Verma, shares her take on India transitioning to a knowledge-based economy with its competitive edge decided by its ability to create, share and use knowledge effectively and by producing employable youth having marketable skills.

Advantage India While India is gearing towards an advantage era, the need of the hour is to provide a strategy of three E’s-education, employability and employment. And we have to focus, first on education for this will lead to employability.

The 21st century policy requires strong, educational reforms and focus on our schools to bring about a vibrant curriculum and creative assessment to prepare students for global citizenship. The chief role of the school head would be to create a culture of inquiry where the teachers can take part in decision making, show leadership and engage the students in learning. Sufficient autonomy given to schools will ensure stronger school accountability and progress.

Can we do this? It depends entirely on us!

India is at a unique cusp of demographic transition and is set at a potentially significant strategic advantage. Whilst the whole world is aging, India is getting younger. The proportion of its working age population (age group 15-59 years) versus the total population is significantly high, indicating higher per capita contribution towards the economic output. This phenomenon is termed as the “demographic dividend” and has naturally heightened the prospects of India assuming the status of being a developed nation. However, there are no guarantees that this dividend will automatically translate to economic

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growth. Much will also depend upon how we leverage this potential positive dividend.

The gigantic latent energy present in our youth can become an asset only if it is harnessed and channelized in the right direction.

Alternately, this youth asset in India could just as easily turn into a big liability and if not channelized adequately, there would be an abundance of youth who would be either under employed or unemployed. Education directly impacts the socio-economic status of the population. Hence, substantial reforms and innovative solutions have to be brought across the education value chain.

The entry of large business groups in the education sector has not only pumped in a lot of funds but also increased the efficiency and accountability quotient of schools The larger question to be asked: Will we be able to garner our resources and reap our demographic potential?

India is presently besought with many problems. It has been handicapped by lack of priority in investment in the education and lack of skill development. Our education system has not benefitted the masses because it is not yet available to everyone.

The deteriorating quality and abysmal

learning outcomes in the primary, secondary and higher education are reflected in ASER 2014 findings, according to which in Standard III, only one-fourth of the total population can read a Standard II text book fluently whilst only 25.3% of Standard III could do two-digit subtraction .The pathetic performance of India’s high school students in the PISA test of developed nations in 2010 (after which Indian participation ceased) and the inability of any of India’s 800 universities to feature in the Top 200 World University rankings of the QS are grim reminders of the plight of our education system.

Schools have to prepare students for global citizenship wherein respect, empathy and sensitization for diverse groups is essential India is in a transition to a knowledge -based economy and its competitive edge will be decided by its ability to create, share and use knowledge effectively and by producing employable youth having marketable skills. It is imperative to develop more analytical, adaptable and multi skilled knowledge workers to gain that competitive edge.

Other problems that plague our system are: high teacher absenteeism rate, large scale teacher vacancies, low morale and lack

of accountability. The Indian education system has paid a heavy price when Macaulay drastically uprooted the beautiful Indian Gurukul System that produced great, creative minds and replaced it with an education for providing only conformists.

Unfortunately, even in post-independent India, education could not get the priority it deserved. Teaching and education vocation have been at the lowest rung on the professional ladder and the last resort of graduates. Pervasive teacher absence is also due to teachers being routinely engaged in other non- teaching jobs or being called for other tasks.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR What is needed is a strategy of three E’s— education, employability and employment.

And we have to focus first on education for this will lead to higher employability.

The 21st century policy has to attract the best minds towards teaching and education, for it is the backbone of the future. The time to act is now with strong, flexible, educational reforms and focus on our schools.

A clear ethos, integration of a vibrant curriculum, differentiation by varied teaching and assessment techniques, dissemination of quality content and teaching standards, optimal resource utilization by effective governance, mentoring, teamwork and a strong leadership, are all absolutely imperative for raising the quality and level of our schools.

A VIBRANT SCHOOL CURRICULUM A strong, vibrant school culture will respect and value our heritage and tradition, yet simultaneously seek innovative solutions to contemporary problems. It will stimulate curiosity by making students think beyond their exam based syllabus.

A well-balanced and broad curriculum is practical and suited to the needs of all students. The integration of curriculum by project based learning is a major paradigm shift from the conventional rote learning and assessment. It incorporates higherorder-thinking skills and multiple intelligences and provides scope for differentiation.

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April 2016

Assessment criteria should show creativity in thinking. The focus has to be on learning and construction of knowledge rather than on cramming.

the spirit of enquiry and joy of discovery happen. This means the students are given the right and freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.

A trend visible in several schools, is assigning students arbitrarily into science, commerce and humanities streams, on the basis of their marks scored in the board examination. The success of the school is benchmarked by the number of students who gain entry into medical or engineering institutes whether or not they are suited for it. The narrowing of the curricula, occurs as endless time spent in rote learning and teaching to the test is at the cost of practical and project work; other subjects like language, liberal arts and physical education-where important life skills are learnt, are given a complete miss.

Let us not expect perfection from our students. Let them handle devices and apparatus, equipment and appliances and learn from their experiments with these.

A flipped classroom where students learn on their own and use the classroom to apply the knowledge learnt and do practical work will usher radical change in our education system. This would involve more interaction and less tutoring --for the teacher will only engage the students in learning. Schools which can bring in this system will surely become the catalysts for social change.

India is in a transition to a knowledge based economy and its competitive edge will be decided by its ability to create, share and use knowledge effectively and by producing employable youth having marketable skills Schools have to prepare students for global citizenship wherein respect, empathy and sensitization for diverse groups is essential. A competitive yet compassionate community can be formed by co- curricular activities that focus on developing communication skills, leadership qualities and teamwork.

These will improve strategic planning abilities, inspire confidence and help students analyse their strengths and weaknesses.

They may be intangible and invisible but can be easily discerned and form the basis of a quality school curriculum.

COMMITTED LEADERSHIP A school is as good or dynamic as its head.

In order to prepare students for the future, school leaders should be able to see the deeper problems of mental development and be willing to innovate.

They are accountable for the educational performance of the school and have to ensure that sound policies for strategic management of the school are in place.

WISE MENTORING Teachers form the backbone of any school and the teacher motivation level impacts how much learning actually happens.

How a curriculum is delivered is always more important than which curriculum to be followed (which is often debated) and academic excellence means inculcating in students, the ability to learn, as lessons for life. The most important task for a teacher, thus lies in refraining from ‘telling’ and letting

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anita.verma@sei.edu.in

PERSONAL PLANNING FOR SUCCESS Ms Sukanya Hegde has pursued her passion for training and development since 2000, while she started her career in the education sector in 1997. She has trained more than 10,000 people, right from school children to Directors of different companies including- KPCL, BEL, DIC, HLL, Influx Software. Certified by SEBI as a Financial Education Trainer, she has also coordinated and compared the National Summit, “Shiksha 2003” and written two books on Corporate Communication and Public Relations, which are reference books for B.Com Students of Bangalore University. Currently the Director of NIMS Management Institutions affiliated to University of Mysore, Ms Sukanya Hegde, shares with MENTOR, how personal planning is important for success and reveals its importance in the academic sector.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin

every facet of life i.e. both in personal or professional lives, we must plan.

Well said! However, most of us, in spite of acknowledging it, tend to ignore the importance of planning.

Most people struggle to balance their lives and are often stressed when trying to manage all the different areas of life –career, business, finances, relationships, health, fitness, family, friends, etc and this is perhaps the reason why it is imperative to have a system that can be followed, so that one can really manage all the areas of life effectively and make continual progress towards where one wants to be.

Fig 1. The Planning Dartboard

Planning does not give any direct results, however, a plan can develop vision for the future. A plan can guide your career, help pursue opportunities, help to build a balanced life and help prepare for the future! There is a thin line between efficiency and inefficiency and that is planning. We have seen mediocre people excelling in several ways, over people with super brains.

If we look back at reasons, surprisingly it is the planning that would have created a world of difference in the success rate between best and average.

Having a life plan, is an excellent way to decide how we would like the future to look like and works as a framework to head towards the same. If we intend to grow, in

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Fig 1, reveals the planning dartboard, wherein, the focal point of our life is plan which anchors with all other connected facets of our life. The very motivation to get up in the morning is, what am I going to do today? How much that job fascinates me? How anxious am I to accomplish that job which can give me the sense of satisfaction? These are the few questions that could decide and lay foundations of your personal and professional goals. If you are happy professionally, that happiness shall soon trickle down to your personal life and vice versa. Happy professional and personal lives will positively lead to great health. Now imagine a person with a happy life in all spheres, s/he would definitely enjoy a great social life!

April 2016

Personal plan must act as an instrument to achieve our professional and personal goals. There are several theories pertaining to how we must plan, however there is no specific formula for planning.

The following are the simple steps to plan for a better life Understand who you are: Every individual must have a SWOT (Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threats) analysis for self.

This will give you a fair idea about your personality and also a glimpse into how anxious you are to achieve them.

List down the priorities: Planning and time management go hand in hand, hence it is important to list down activities to be done and thereafter prioritize them as 1,2,3..and so on. This shall help in executing the plan more effectively.

Do not get into doing too many activities: We have the capacity to multitask, with some limitations here and there. Never try to overstretch yourself doing everything, which will result in tremendous amount of stress.

You must design your plan in a meticulous way, which must cover all the activities that could be accomplished with ease.

Plan for your family: Guilt is slow poison which kills us from many angles. Most of us feel we are unable to balance family and work life while trying to do many things, only to realize at the end, that we are failing in both. This happens due to the overlapping effect which means, we are unable to compartmentalize our tasks. Do not carry the office work (even in your mind) back home and vice versa. This will ensure that you are efficient and effective in both the places.

Train your brain to plan: We have several methods to strengthen our body and keep it fit, but we fail to strengthen our brain. The question is how to do it? The need of the hour is to understand SQ(Spiritual Quotient) and develop it. The simple method is meditation.

Meditation, in my opinion is nothing but giving time to ourselves to understand our strengths and weakness and helps our minds mature. It will help the individual to

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understand the energy level which in turn, can be put into the best practice.

Finally, why planning? Because I want to make my life comfortable, I want to be happy and make my family happy. I want to be efficient at my work place and overall, I would like to feel good about myself.

Improper plan leads to lack of direction and focus that runs the risk of spending your time doing things that fail to fulfil the dreams and goals of a happy life. A planned life, gives a sense of direction and purpose.

“A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best Way to get there.” H. Stanely Judd Planning for Academicians Planning is an important function for every academician. In the academic field, everything is time bound and as teachers and management staff, we need to stick to schedules. Due to this, most of the time, we are under tremendous pressure. I directly associate stress to time management.

When we are unable to complete the task in the given time, we tend to experience hypertension.

Time management plays pivotal role in our efficiency and effectiveness, and then the question ariseswhy are we not being able to manage our time? The answer to this question, is inadequate planning. In the absence of planning, all the academic activities of the institution will lose direction. As we work on calendar basis, we must follow planning on a daily weekly, monthly and quarterly basis.

As academicians, we need to strike a balance between our work and personal life. This balancing act certainly calls for meticulous planning. As a teacher, one needs to spend maximum time for planning in the following areas: • lesson plans • creative teaching methods • developing the recourses for innovative teaching practices and • finally updating oneself with current affairs.

Let us spread the wings of Knowledge, We are the proud academicians, Let us plan well and succeed with great prospects!

sukanyahegde@yahoo.com

INNOVATION

FUTURE OF ONLINE EDUCATION Saurabh Saxena is Co-founder and Head of Academics at Vedantu Innovations Private Limited, an Education-Technology startup into LIVE online tutoring in Bengaluru. Saurabh has co-founded Vedantu along with three other friends, Anand Prakash, Pulkit Jain and Vamsi Krishna. Vedantu is their second venture together in the education space, which they are most passionate about.

Saurabh is an alumnus of IIT-Roorkee and has been a teacher for more than five years now.

As Head of Academics at Vedantu, Saurabh oversees the teacher on-boarding process, teacher-training, development of quality content, pedagogy to maintain the highest degree of academic rigour. The interview below captures the latest trends in the online space, opportunities and he shares with MENTOR how the online medium can be used effectively for maximum benefits of students.

Online education is a fast evolving space. It seems to have opened up new opportunities for teachers and students which can be leveraged to improve learning outcomes, engagement and most importantly, to provide equitable access to quality education, anytime and anywhere. Below are a few excerpts from MENTOR’s tete-atete with Mr. Saurabh Saxena.

What has changed in terms of teaching? A decade ago and now?

Teachers today have adopted the role of mentors, advisors and facilitators—the highly formal hierarchical structure between teachers and students has evolved into a more close-knit relationship where a teacher assumes trusteeship for a student’s well-rounded progress.

There is no doubt that teaching has become much more outcome driven.

And that is primarily because teachers, students and parents have all become very particular about the learning outcomes.

Today, students and parents have clearly defined goals, with respect to how they want to move forward in terms of academic achievements and milestones. Parents are in constant touch with teachers to discuss their child’s progress. Teachers, on the other hand are very well aligned to this focused mind-set. They are constantly striving to

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understand requirements of each of their students and trying to tweak their teaching styles to help students fulfil their academic aspirations and dreams.

Secondly, teachers have become significantly tech-savvy and are very keen to learn and use new technologies which will help in teaching and connecting with students. They are using online tools and content to make teaching more effective and interesting. They also use LMS [Learning Management Systems] and applications to accomplish several tasks efficiently, for example, distributing reading material and assignments, keeping attendance records, using assessment tools and sharing grades and feedback.

While online content has certainly improved access to education, we are yet to witness a disruption that will bring about an order of magnitude change in the education system to create equitable access to quality education Some facts and figures on the online education space- the number of students who use the online space for tutorials etc.

According to statistical reports, India’s online education market size is set to grow to $40 billion by 2017. Reports suggest there are 250+ million students in the K-12 segment

April 2016

and around 80 million go to private schools and are likely availing some kind of private coaching. The opportunity in the online sector is massive, especially in a country like India where access to quality teachers in remote parts of the country is a serious challenge.

How can the online space be used by teachers/educators to their advantage in day to day classroom learning?

Several teachers use online content to make classroom sessions interesting, for example, use of online audio-video resources to explain difficult concepts in Mathematics and Science. A lot of extra information is available online, on any given topic and teachers can guide students to these supplementary materials for in-class discussions and debates or, for after-class reading and assignments. Today, children respond better to audio-video stimuli than just textual and linear teaching methods.

Using online resources can help make classrooms more interactive and shared learning spaces.

Some challenges that are being faced by the online space There are two key challenges. The digital infrastructure in India needs to be enhanced for seamless online instruction. However, the government is already working to address this challenge and we are hoping that in the next few years – with the government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, network and bandwidth issues would be resolved. Rapidly growing smart phone penetration will further boost adoption of online education.

Second and deeper challenge is lack of innovation in the online space. No innovation that has completely transformed the education system has taken place in the online space so far. While online content has certainly improved access to education – we are yet to witness a disruption that will bring about an order of magnitude change in the education system to create equitable access to quality education. Also the notion of ‘online’ space has been predominantly defined around bigger screens such as desktops, laptops and to an extent tablets, which might be a constraint in its mass adoption. Mobile-centric innovation

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in education appears to be limited and at an early stage in India. When mobile-centric education takes root, reach, adoption and impact of online education in a country like ours will be far more pervasive.

What does the future of online education look like?

In our country there is huge disparity between the quality of education accessible in metros and tier I cities to those in smaller cities and towns. Quality and availability of teachers in remote parts of the country, is a chronic challenge. Online education presents a real opportunity to create a level-playing field for our students from the remotest parts of the country. As far as adoption of technology is concerned Indians are known to leapfrog the curve. Once quality education becomes accessible through the mobile phones, its adoption will really take off. Should students use online platforms to learn beyond school curriculum. If yes, how can the online curriculum be designed differently to add on to the existing teaching material.

In a classroom set-up where a single teacher caters to 30 students, it is really impossible for him/her to teach according to the need, pace and level of an individual student fully.

Therefore, students should certainly take advantage of vast knowledge available online to completely master any topic.

Online, students have the opportunity to learn until they are hundred percent satisfied and revise as many times as they want until they are conceptually thorough.

They do not have to ignore the subjects they are weak in, leave any doubts unresolved or become anxious before exams anymore, as help is available right at the click of the mouse button. Unlike a classroom setting where teaching and learning happens at a generic level, online curriculum needs to be designed differently to address specific needs of each student. In addition to traditional assessment techniques, with the help of analytics and big data tools, today, it is possible for teachers to understand strengths and weaknesses of each of the students and tailor-made online curriculum with these insights in mind, for better learning outcomes.

saurabh.saxena@vedantu.com

LIFE-LONG LEARNING Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU and faculty at IIT Kanpur and University of Western Ontario, Canada, Professor M.M. Pant is the founder of the LMP Education Trust, an organization that promotes new age learning and supports underprivileged learners. Prof. Pant has keen interest in encouraging self-learning and leveraging social media and bringing tablets, mobile and the latest technology into the classroom. While firmly believing in technology tools and educating for the future, Prof.

Pant, shares with MENTOR, the challenges and opportunities in the education sector that the fourth industrial revolution brings with it, and how they must be used best.

We are at the threshold of the fourth Industrial Revolution according to world thought leaders and this presents new challenges and unprecedented opportunities.

This article describes the ‘megatrends’ that we can expect during the period and shares the implications for education for flourishing and prospering in the future.

In preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a greater democratization of opportunities, and almost anyone can hope to benefit from the new opportunities that are arising, by making the right choices for learning. An active co-operation between the school and parents can go a long way in supplementing and reinforcing any Government initiatives in the direction.

Good School education with curiosity, skills to learn and to be able to think are critical for the 4th Industrial Revolution. This can be followed up with ‘life-long learning’.

The theme of the 46th edition of World Economic Forum(WEF) annual meeting at Davos (January 20th to 23rd 2016) was ‘Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution’.

Before what we call the Industrial revolution(s), the primary source of energy was physical movement of the muscles, and therefore dependent on and proportional to the number of domesticated animals, slaves and servants.

When humans mastered simple machines such as the lever, wheel and the inclined plane we were able to amplify the manual force, and then build wonders, magnificent

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palaces, castles, temples and churches.

When humans mastered ‘steam’ as a force, it resulted in the first Industrial revolution around 1784, driven by steam and mechanical devices.

This had a run of about 100 years before ‘electricity’ became the next energy source and thereafter had a profound effect on society, economics, politics and even literature. The 3rd Industrial revolution is attributed from 1970 driven by electronics, IT and automation. This is often also called the computer or digital revolution because it was catalysed by the development of semiconductors, mainframe computing (1960s), personal computing (1970s and 80s) and the internet (1990s).

This is an age of rapid knowledge obsolescence: the half-life of all new knowledge is rapidly decreasing The immortal opening lines of Charles Dickens ‘ A Tale of two cities’ were set against the background of the French Revolution. “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were

April 2016

all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period…”

These immortal lines will continue to haunt us during the period of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, since, even today, a study by Oxfam shows that the wealthiest 62 persons of the world possess as much wealth as the poorest half of the world. Collectively, this ultra-wealthy group controls $1.76 trillion, which is about the cumulative worth of the poorer half of the world’s population, or around 3.5 billion people.

Klaus Schwab, Founder WEF, believes that we are now at the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which began at the turn of this century and builds on the digital revolution. It is characterized by ubiquitous mobile internet, by smaller and more powerful sensors that have become cheaper and by Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, creating the Internet of things, autonomous vehicles and 3-D printing.

Megatrends are large, transformative global forces that impact everyone on the planet Occurring simultaneously, are waves of further breakthroughs in areas ranging from gene sequencing to nanotechnology, from renewables to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.

It is not easy to forecast what technologies, products and services will be available at any specific point of time, but there is a general agreement on broad directions, sometimes referred to as Megatrends.

Megatrends are large, transformative global forces that impact everyone on the planet.

Several International Organisations ( UNESCO, OECD, CoL), think tanks (Gates Foundation, Brookings Institute, Hughes Foundation) and corporates ( McKinsey, EY, Deloitte) keep a watch on these.

We have identified a few megatrends about

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the future of computer technology that will affect almost all of us in the next few years.

These are as follows: • Big Data • Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality • The Internet of things • Digital Manufacturing or 3D printing • Robots • Drones • Mobile Computing • Computational Thinking and • Machine Intelligence The impact of quantum computing, however, is still, several decades away.

To adequately respond to these trends, a report from the WEF has identified 10 skills that will be highly valued in 2020 and beyond. These are as follows : • Complex Problem Solving • Critical Thinking • Creativity • People Management • Co-ordinating with others • Emotional Intelligence • Judgement and Decision Making • Service Orientation • Negotiation • Cognitive Flexibility Progressive future ready schools and concerned and enlightened parents can organise their own initiatives so that their children may succeed in the coming decades instead of solely relying on the government alone. A set of programs

labelled as the ‘Rainbow Club’ has been described at some length in an earlier issue of this magazine. Fostering these ten skills can be done by ‘social learning’ programs run with WhatsApp, supplemented by Mentoring Programs, for developing each of the above mentioned skills.

Parents and schools, need to first and foremost, continue supporting their children’s academic learning. Foundation skills such as vocabulary, reading comprehension, math rubrics, and factual knowledge in history, science and social studies are the essential building blocks for complex problem solving and critical thinking. If students do not have the automatic recall of core information, they cannot possibly draw the necessary connections for the top three skills on the WEF’s list.

Parents and schools have an enormous opportunity to build on students’ academic learning and foster their essential skills These skills develop over time, so be patient.

Fortunately, these suggestions can be easily integrated into your everyday parenting routines.

Of all the topics listed above, the impact of ‘machine learning’ will be most widespread and profound. It already affects us when we Google, or buy from Amazon or choose movies from Netflix. So, I will dwell on this topic a little more.

Machine Learning is getting computers to program themselves. If programming is automation, then machine learning is automating the process of automation.

Computational thinking is the automation of abstraction. Writing software is the bottleneck, since, we do not have enough developers, who are good with their work.

Let the data do the work instead of people.

Machine learning is the way to make programming scalable.

In traditional programming, data and program are run on the computer to produce the output.In machine learning, input data and output is run on the computer to create a program. This program can be used in traditional programming.

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The diagram below illustrates the essence of ‘ Machine Learning’:

The applications of machine learning, span all areas where massive data (big data) gets generated ranging from health-care and medical diagnostics, investments in securities, games such as chess, Rubik’s cube, Jeopardy, automated grading of essay type questions and assignments, automated legal research and other complex problem solving. Some contexts in which it is already deployed are: Web search: ranking page based on what you are most likely to click on; Computational biology: rational design drugs in the computer based on past experiments; Finance: decide who to send what credit card offers to.

Concluding thoughts To succeed in the future, it is more about your attitude than about factual or simple procedural knowledge as certified by Higher Education Institutions.

One must strive towards becoming a self-directed life-long learner, intrinsically motivated as different from externally motivated. This is an age of rapid knowledge obsolescence: the half-life of all new knowledge is rapidly decreasing.

Creating your unique personal learning strategy: creating a ‘to learn’ list or getting a ‘ learning prescription’ from a learning adviser, and finally getting guidance and support from a good Mentor would be most important.

mmpant@gmail.com

April 2016

SCHOOL GOVERNANCE

ON THE WINGS OF THE KINGFISHER

An alumna of Welham Girl’s School, Dehradun, an active member of the Welham Girls Alumni Association, and having served as its President for four years (2011 – 2015), Ms. Hema Badhwar Mehra’s life, is a reflection of the multi –dimensional education that the school offers. A mother of three ex- Welhamites, her career spans various fields from designer, writer & filmmaker and education counsellor, to marketing communications, and social welfare work, among the many other responsibilities she holds. In this piece to MENTOR, Ms. Hema Badhwar Mehra, alumnus Welham Girl’s School, Dehradun, shares her experiences on being a Welhamite and how being an active alumni member can contribute to their institute. The piece gives us an insight to how an institute could build its alumnus, so that it may enhance and contribute to the existing structure of the institution and help it grow further.

A few years ago, at a party where I did not know many people, this woman came up to me from across the room, “Are you a Welhamite?”. I was trying to recollect, as I looked into those warm, friendly eyes thinking that perhaps this was the typical moment where one Welhamite recognizes another in the company of strangers and the evening melts away as conversations just flow. However, I could not stop myself to confirm and so I asked her, “Are you…?”

She shook her head “No, I’m not, but I have a few friends who are and their characteristics are so distinctive that I have come to recognize it! Even in a room full of people one kind of gravitates to a Welhamite!”

It was a heartfelt compliment and it charmed and delighted me. As a passionate Welhamite, who has firmly believed in this ephemeral Welham quality of an enduring sense of self which comes from an innate quality acquired through the years at school – the ability to discover oneself in seriously self-rewarding ways through excelling at what one enjoys most.

I belong to the generation that was ‘grown’ into adulthood by the no-nonsense care of our founder Principal, Miss Grace Mary Linnell, who encouraged us to make every attempt to find out what we enjoyed

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doing most, and in that introspection, also understand how we could make a difference to our lives and to the world around us. The world around us, always being the more important factor.

Welham was a home away from home; a place of laughter and warmth; a place where you could shine. The Kingfisher, the Welham mascot and its identifiable entity, embodied and continues to embody, the very spirit of a Welhamite; diving deeper, soaring higher and shining brighter. The school’s aim was to send out into the world, young individuals who were strong yet gentle, bright yet wise and capable of taking on their world. The alumni body today, is a strong one that looks back at the school with a sense of deep pride and commitment to its cause, taking their strength from the story of its founders and their intrepid spirit, and are today a living testimonial for a school that sends out into the world, those girls in whose faces the history of the school can be read.

This, perhaps sums up why our alumni body remains passionately rooted to the cause of Welham, committed to its continuity and is constantly striving to retain its unique selling point in the face of an ever-changing world.

The Welham Girls Alumni Association therefore, aspires to be the voice of the

alumni and serve the school by supporting its mission, tradition, and goals. It hopes to help the institution, develop additional resources and to enable the school to keep abreast with the times. Furthermore, like any other alumni association, one MUST keep alive the essential spirit of its alma mater both inside and outside the school. It must stand true to the ideals that help create empowered, aware, trustworthy, sincere, confident and articulate citizens who are committed to creating a positive impact.

Syeda Imam, a well-known advertising guru, who served on the Welham Board for several years, understood that very essence and articulated it in her typical style when she spoke of the Welham Girl and what she stood for: “Many may know her well but no one will know this answer as really and truly as she herself: what truly thrills her, quickens her, fulfils her as much as excites her. And what she would happily give her time and life to doing. Importantly, this she is bound to do well.

How many people enjoy their potential for excellence, before it becomes excellence?

Being deeper, brighter, higher like the kingfisher you epitomise, be ahead of the rest in this too. It is this very spirit that guides most of what we do. We truly understand that we are the co-makers of our world and it is this that we, as the alumni need to constantly help preserve.”

Any alumni body is the visible face of an Institution and its live advertising campaign in many ways.

A responsible alumnus will therefore, automatically want to give back to their alma mater in several ways: • Keeping the connect alive between all generations of alumni by having regular meets, events and fund raisers.

• Ensuring that the ethos of the school is maintained.

• By actively participating in the school’s annual events and important ceremonies.

• By creating a corpus to ably assist retired staff members on an ongoing basis as well as be able to raise funds efficiently in

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emergencies.

• By keeping alive the connect between the school’s governing body and alumni associations.

• With consistent and constant interface with the school Principal and administration staff.

• By an enthusiastic and proactive approach to ensuring that the school’s original mission and vision are adhered to.

• By creating chapters across the country and internationally to ensure that the school alumni members have someone to connect with, no matter where they are.

• By assisting the alumni with job searches, job opportunities and internships and ensuring that professional networking is in place.

• Last but not least, being able to assist the school with funds raised in an innovative and enterprising manner to help with new projects, improved infrastructure and better educational facilities.

It is the commitment that takes Welhamites back to school, year after year and it is this, that makes us recommit ourselves to the cause of a school that has its beginnings in basics of life’s principles and a tradition of good, strong values.

And perhaps more than anything else, it is a commitment to the words of our founder and a prayer that every Welhamite holds dear in her heart and one that we constantly recommit to: “Teach me to love and not count the cost, to fight and not heed the wounds, to toil and not seek for rest, to labour and not seek for any reward…”

hemabadhwar.mehra@gmail.com

April 2016

EMERGING ISSUES IN SCHOOL SAFETY Amanda Klinger, Esq. has past experience both as an attorney and an educator and brings a practitioner’s perspective to the critical legal issues involved in school crisis response. After earning a degree from Denison University, she worked as an elementary and secondary teacher before graduating from the University of Akron, School of Law. Ms Klinger is a certified ALICE trainer.

Ms. Klinger is an Adjunct Professor at Ashland University and is the Director of Operations for The Educator’s School Safety Network along with Dr Amy Klinger, who has over 28 years of experience as an educator and administrator with expertise in active shooter response, crisis planning and preparedness, vulnerability assessment and mitigation and bomb threat management. In this interesting piece to MENTOR, Ms. Amanda Klinger shares a unique take at looking for safety and precautionary measures in schools by training and empowering students and staff.

The Educator’s School Safety Network, headquartered in Ohio, the United States of America, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, with the simple mission of providing evidencebased school safety training, resources and technical assistance to teachers, administrators, students and parents. Since 2010, Dr Klinger and Amanda Klinger have presented papers at 33 conferences to more than 4,000 educators and trained more than 11,000 school staff members, students, parents and emergency responders in 39 different school districts.

make our schools safe and supportive for all learners. Little progress is evident on the worldwide education scene, either with most schools significantly under-prepared for the bomb threat incidents, intruder threats and terrorist activities that have increased in frequency and scope during this same three-year period. Looking at this, from an Indian perspective and with the current trends in life threats and terrorist attacks, one would have seldom given a thought to school safety with respect to bomb threats or terrorist activities.

December of 2015 marked the three-year anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the United States of America in which 20 children and 6 adults were killed by an outside attacker. Given the scope of this event and the national and worldwide attention focused on school safety, one would assume that the three years that followed, have afforded schools the opportunity to solve the school safety crises facing our most precious citizens. The disappointing truth is that in this time, many American schools have not made much substantive change toward a comprehensive, all-hazards approach to school safety that is based in evidence, best practices and a truly pro-active commitment to prevent violence and

While most schools would boast of security measures such as door locking mechanisms and surveillance cameras, the real million-dollar question is whether even a dime has been spent on training school stakeholders on how to effectively use the hardware that is purchased

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It is true that such an expansive and wideranging notion of school safety is a big “ask” of educators and school leaders who are inundated with significant concerns about improving student performance, upgrading curriculum, evaluating teacher effectiveness, operating with minimal financial support - the list goes on and on. The failure point for school safety is not always a lack of time, priority, money or commitment

bombing or violent intruder, however, lessdangerous but much more likely events like severe weather events, threats, or assaults may be totally ignored. The perfect blend would be a safeguard for both cases.

(although that is true in many situations). The main reason that our schools generally have not made great safety progress since the Sandy-Hook incident, or in some cases, may not even be aware of the same, is because we are undertaking school safety in a way that is wholly reactionary.

Proactiveness is reactiveness in disguise School leaders pride themselves on being “proactive” when it comes to academic, financial, or community relations concerns, yet when it comes to the life and death issues of school safety, leaders find themselves immersed in what organizational leadership expert, Peter Senge calls “the illusion of taking charge” (Senge, 1994, p.

20). The emphasis on preparing a response to a violent event while virtually ignoring a variety of highly effective prevention and intervention strategies, such as threat assessment management, truly embodies what Senge defines as proactiveness being reactiveness in disguise.

While preparing for what should be done after the destruction starts and ignoring what could be done to prevent or minimize the impact of the event in the first place, we continue to react but not act. Senge maintains that “true proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems...”(Senge, 1994, p. 21) - in this case, looking critically at a school’s daily practices, procedures and training rather than buying things like surveillance cameras or door barricades that we hope will help once the violence occurs.

This reactiveness disguised as proactiveness, presents another fatal flaw: schools may yet again spend their time and resources preparing for an event that is extremely unlikely (statistically speaking) such as a

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Hey big-spender!

While most schools would boast of security measures such as door locking mechanisms and surveillance cameras, the real milliondollar question is whether even a dime has been spent on training school stakeholders on how to effectively use the hardware that is purchased.

The question that must be raised therefore, is that could the money being spent on buying “stuff” be better spent in training staff and students? Wouldn’t this serve as a preventive measure for upcoming threats and a fruitful investment to save their lives in the event of a potential crisis?

The biggest bang for the safety buck For just a fraction of the cost of any of these reactive measures, every staff member, student and parent in a school or district could be trained and empowered in proactive prevention and response measures for responding to threats ranging from an active shooter, to a severe weather event, to a medical emergency.

The main reason that our schools generally have not made great safety progress since the Sandy-Hook incident, or in some cases, may not even be aware of the same, is because we are undertaking school safety in a way that is wholly reactionary Past violent events indicate that teachers and students will be the ones who will need to know how to respond to crisis incidents.

Research shows that “civilians often [had] to make life and death decisions…” (Blair, 2014, p.8). This report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation then went on to recommend that school stakeholders “should be engaged in training and discussions on decisions they may face” (Blair, 2014, p.8). To what extent is this occurring appropriately in schools?

April 2016

While having a law enforcement or security presence in schools or adding enhancements to the facility itself is a great supplementary measure, adequate resources of time and money should be allocated first, for the training and empowerment of school stakeholders.

The central question is how do we get the biggest safety bang for our buck? What approach would keep students safest?

Here is a simple solution that answers the above- it is important to train and empower teachers, students and parents first. While safety equipment can be easily purchased, it is imperative for schools and institutions to invest in training the staff, so as to equip them to face any such potential threats, head on.

Not all trainings are created equal The type and quality of the training is also crucial. School safety training should empower, not intimidate. It should come from an educational perspective rather than law enforcement. If we are asking staff and students to make life or death decisions, it is critical that the training we give them understands and acknowledges the unique characteristics, constraints and developmental needs of an educational setting. A “one size fits all� training, focusing only on an active shooter or violent intruder response, from a purely law enforcement perspective, does not meet these needs.

world, the bitter lessons that were learnt the hard way. World-wide educational leaders must understand this and learn that the need of the hour is a comprehensive and overall all-hazards approach to school safety, which is based on evidence, best practices and a truly pro-active commitment to prevent violence. Where America is struggling to overcome and prevent tragedy, educators across the globe can take the step to provide developmentally-appropriate and effective training for teachers that fosters a safe and supportive environment for all learners.

Let us spend money on training people and equipping them with measures rather than buying equipment Reference: Blair, J. Pete and Schweit, Katherine W. (2014).

A study of active shooter incidents, 2000 - 2013.

Texas State University and Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C. 2014.

Senge, P. M. (1994). The Fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization . New York: Currency, Doubleday.

Students, staff and parents will have greater peace of mind if they have been appropriately empowered, trained and practiced in evacuation, barricade and a host of other response procedures that will assist them in saving their own lives, rather than relying on a piece of hardware sitting in a classroom or a security officer standing in the hallway. Let us spend money on training people and equipping them with measures rather than buying equipment.

What is the lesson for educators across the globe?

The United States of America has had an incredible quantity of tragic and horrific violence in their schools. We must learn from past experiences and must share with the

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amanda@eschoolsafety.org

POST SCRIPTUM

CURRICULUM INNOVATION Dr. Vidya Shetty, Editor-in-chief MENTOR Between April and June is the time when schools spend a lot of time working together on curriculum change. I consider this a very crucial time and valuable time for all schools. Gone are the days when we could sit back, relax, plan ahead for our summer break.

Our cushioned presumption that our schools see no reason to make significant changes has gone by.

The curriculum needs a review every year and a review that must look into what is the most suitable for our learners of tomorrow.

We need to shirk away from the confidence that as educators we are already serving the needs of our learners well.

Some of the broader areas where curriculum shift and innovation is needed could range from: • Reorganizing the curriculum around themes if our curriculum is based on themes…adding on new subjects of study • Review the time allocation and bifurcation of periods done for each of the subjects allocated from KG to X…do we need to give more time for activities?

• Do we need to allocate longer blocks of time for some subjects?

• Do we need to readjust the school timings to accommodate exploration and innovation?

• Have we provisioned enough in the curriculum to meet the needs of learners of all abilities and interests?

• Is the stress in our curriculum design on developing pupils’ learning skills We need to carefully research and learn from the strengths of our previous practice and not hesitate to make necessary revision.

Gone are the days when School leaders often had to overcome deeply embedded resistance to change. Our apprehensions can no longer revolve around getting the highest score or 100% first divisions in the

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board exams. The effort has to begin from the KG or Cycle I or Foundation.

Successful schools must and do go through a systematic process of investigation, consultation, planning and evaluation of the school curriculum. Complementing this effort of the school leader should be a strong team of heads of departments, subject matter experts, well trained and seasoned teachers who can bring to the table years of learning and experience.

This involvement of key stakeholders would also ensure that everyone involved in innovation of the curriculum would have a clear understanding of the rationale behind innovation and the roles and responsibilities of individuals.

Factors that impact such an ambitious move are: • Lack of research in specific areas • Lack of minute planning by the team member spearheading the change • Failure to adhere to timelines • Evaluation and criteria for evaluation of learning at varying stages • Teacher support and training and lack of a rigorous professional development programme for teachers Most of all this needs positive thought, courage and conviction from the school leader to ensure that learning at school in the new academic year through curriculum changes would make learning enjoyable for learners apart from achieving more.

vidya@edumedia.in

April 2016

INTEGRATION OF CULTURAL STUDIES INTO REGULAR PROGRAMME OF STUDY Co-ordinator for the Aradhana PU College, Bangalore, Mrs Sujatha Rao, has pursued her passion for teaching for over two decades. Her travel and interactions with various leaders, have had cross cultural influences on her and in this article to MENTOR, Ms Rao shares the importance of imbibing cultural values in school children.

Narendra Modi, our dynamic Prime Minister, is very confident and positive about the strength and power of the Indian youth to take India into that land of Utopia, where only peace and prosperity reigns.

In this context and scenario, it becomes imperative that our pedagogy should groom our youth to handle the changes not only in the Indian context, rather on a global level.

Our educational system should emphasize on student empowerment, nurturing of critical democratically minded subjects and most importantly students who can translate knowledge into action. Education should become a game-changer.

In this context enters the topic of Cultural Studies in school tutoring and the methods by which it can be integrated with academics. Cultural Studies is an inter -disciplinary and complex subject which brings in sociology, anthropology, political science, history and a host of other subjects.

Hence, it’s major requirement in the field of school curriculum. The role of schooling in society and nation is of prime importance and its value is fathomless.

We have to realize that there is a complex relationship between pedagogy and a host of pressing political, social, economic and cultural issues. It is our duty to ingrain in students, the fact that the perspectives of caste, race, gender bias, hegemony, are all man-made, in order to organize societies.

School education, should include contents of family structures, community settings, importance of racial, ethnic, gender and

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sexual orientation. We should plan diversity in our educational field and make the role of schooling in society, the game-changer.

The gigantic problem faced by India and its youth population, is the cultural forms created and disseminated by the MEDIA, and the way they influence us, at all levels ie. individual, national and global level.

Media propaganda has influenced all angles of culture, be it music, food, fashions, movies, sports, you name it! This seems to be drastically changing the shape of international discipline and to a very large extent the Indian scenario.

It is in this context, that cultural studies need to be integrated in our regular programme of study. We as educationists have the mammoth responsibility of drawing a line between what is a positive power of influence and what is negative. It is at the school level that a change can be brought about. It is an immediate necessity as today’s youth are being lured by drugs, terrorism, wars and above all a feeling of selfishness. The idea of sharing, loyalty, patriotism, belongingness to family and society and working for the common good is the need of the hour.

Cultural Studies, as a specialised study is available at higher strata of study like college and research institutes. Our concern is to build up the values of our ancient culture and golden heritage to our children in their formative years, which is best done in schools.

sjthrao@gmail.com