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:
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