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Monday, March 20, 2017

61.A State of Equilibrium

Equilibrium:  the state   of a chemical reaction in which its forward and reverse reactions occur at equal rates so that the concentration of the reactants and products does not change with time.
                                                                  -www.dictionary.com


Atrocities against women is  increasingly becoming a regular news item  in  local Malayalam dailies…



What we need   is  a   healthy dialogue  between the sexes… Outright  denunciation of  one  sex  for  crimes  against the weaker sex  does  not  get us anywhere…”  said           Dr. Divya S.Iyer  IAS, Deputy Collector, Thiruvananthapuram, inaugurating ‘Chaya-2017’, the  Women’s  Day  programme of the Govt. College of Teacher Education, Thiruvananthapuram. Ms. Divya  went  to  add : “ when there is  a   sharing   of ideas  on  an equal   level…similar to the one  seen in  a  state of equilibrium of  a chemical reaction … there is  greater  harmony….”

To  a query posed by a student  on why with a  MBBS degree  she opted for joining  the Civil Services,  Ms.Divya  said she “likes to face challenges…”








Saturday, February 04, 2017

60. Seminar excerpts –Education at the Crossroads

As a member of the Executive Committee of  the Council for Teacher Education, Kerala State Centre, I was assigned the task of documenting the proceedings of the International Seminar on Education at the Crossroads: Tilting Social Equations (edu@tse-17) and XV annual convention of  CTE, Kerala Centre  organized by St. Thomas Training College, Thiruvananthapuram  held from 02 to 04 February 2017.

Here are a few excerpts from the  speeches made by invited guests and Resource Persons:


In Dr.C.P.Sreekantan Nair, President of CTE, State Centre, in his presidential address of the inaugural function, lamented the current social scenario in India and opined that teachers have failed in their duty to instil proper values in students. It is a pity he said that we are being led by ‘intellectual dwarfs’ and ‘academic pygmies’ leading to the fall in educational standards. Dr.Nair expressed his hope that seminars of the kind organized  by CTE would  help improve teacher education in the State.


Mr. TP. Sreenivasan, former ambassador of India commenced his inaugural address with a note of caution...   “Education, today is the most dangerous thing to talk about”.  He pointed out that  during his tenure as Vice Chairman of the Higher Education Council of Kerala State, he had an opportunity to study the  educational  system in the country and  realized that several Commissions of Education and great  men from Swami Vivekananda to Sam Pitroda have spoken about strategies and solutions for addressing the educational  problems, but pitifully enough failed to pursue the ideas suggested.  It is as if we have diagnosed the patient, prescribed the medicine but failed to administer the medicine.



Mr. Sreenivasan pointed out that autonomous educational institutions  though few in number is needed  to improve  the standard of education but  in Kerala State it is  perceived as unsuitable. The use of technology for educational purposes, the change of the University Grants Commission from a  funding agency to a real Education Commission,  the pursuit of educational research,  the equipping of  children to meet the demands of the 21st century are things that should happen if educational standards are to improve in the country.   Sri Sreenivasan was  rather  saddened by the fact that Higher  education in the state is politicized.  He said that a new mind set is essential without which seminars of this kind  cannot make real change.



Dr. Sukumaran Nair, the former Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, in his key note address recalled the long educational tradition in India with world class universities  centuries ago. He said that we have had great teachers like Dr. Radhakrishnan and several Commissions  of Education have advocated the changes to be implemented in India. But unfortunately,  education has failed to progress along proper channels resulting in our Universities maintaining a low level in world ranking.  It is a pity that though new ideas have been suggested in education, what we see is the strengthening of outmoded educational practices.    Dr. Sukumaran Nair concluded his speech by  pointing out  that we should  move  from peripheral levels to deeper levels and  force quality into  educational practices whereby knowledge will be created. Such meaningful implementation, Dr. Sukumaran Nair opined  has to be  followed up by social auditing. 



Dr. A. Abraham, Director, Neurolinguistic Programming and Life Coach, delivered a talk on Neurolinguistic  Programming.  In his talk, Dr.Abraham sensitized teachers to the need for familiarizing themselves with learning styles, learning preferences, learner attitude and the necessity of adjusting and adapting ones own teaching to suit  individual learner need.  The importance of  providing activities for brain gymnastics and states of mind that  affect learning was also referred to in his talk.



Dr.D.Babu Paul IAS (Rtd)  a former Additional Secretary of the Govt. of Kerala delivered a talk on the theme ‘Teacher as Mentor’. Dr. Paul began his talk recalling the special role once  teachers  had namely that of a worker of God, but, today  this has been replaced by  the birth of teachers who  like industrial workers  fight for their rights. Teachers  rarely become an experienced and trusted advisor and guide. 



Dr. Paul pointed out that as a mentor, the teacher has several roles to play: Identify special skill of each child, help them choose an appropriate career, help children find a worthy  purpose in life  and  also help  them  acquire the skills necessary to achieve that purpose.  More importantly teachers have to help learners imbibe  an appropriate value system. Given the fact that we live in a knowledge society,  the changed role of a teacher as mentor would be: Guiding children how to learn, how to unlearn and how to re-learn and for this,  in the modern age technological resources can come to the aid. It is only when a teacher becomes a mentor  he will  be performing his real role and will be remembered with gratitude by  ones own students.






Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair,  Professor and Head of Bioinformatics, University of Kerala,  delivered a talk on Teaching in the Google Age. He began  by pointing out that  teaching and learning  has become very exciting with the growth of technology. This is particularly evident in the teaching of Mathematics which students in schools usually approach  with a sense of fear. The multitasking habit of children today and the reduced attention span Dr. Achuthsankar  said can to a large extent be addressed through  modern learning gadgets including the smart phone. He concluded by affirming  the use of technology which has become the prime parameter for teaching in the Google Age.



During the  Valedictory address of the seminar the chief guest, Dr.Kuncheria P. Isaac, Vice Chancellor, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam  Technological University referred to the ability of great teachers who could  teach complex topics in an easy manner. He stated that his philosophy of teaching is : “Teach very little, stop teaching and learn a lot”. He also pointed out that  creativity is not  fostered in our schools  and went on to ask a thought provoking question: “Why don’t we teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in a creative way... perhaps using drama or theatre?” Before concluding he hoped that teachers will try to properly prepare school children before they  enter  Higher Education institutions. He reiterated the need to foster among  school children Critical thinking skills and Problem solving skills.


Over sixty papers were presented  by teacher educators, research scholars and students of Education.  Here is a   PPT slide shot of a paper entitled Morality at the Crossroads: The necessity of addressing changing cultural equations  through teacher education: