56. From Equality to Quality

Hello All,

Most of the topics  on which  I have written  in this Blog are the direct outcome of  encounters with  unique thoughts either  triggered or suggested  through encounters with individuals, incidents  or  by watching TV or while reading. For the last couple of days I was busy getting  write-ups ready  for  posting in  a Blog  created exclusively for an International Conference  on Standards and Benchmarks for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Research.

Please view     http://aiaerconference2015.blogspot.in/

One of the  invited  Plenary Speakers  for  the Conference, was      Dr. Achuth Sankar S. Nair, Professor and Head (in charge), Department of Bioinformatics, University of Kerala. The talk mode in which Dr.Sankar delivered his lecture  prompted me to post the notes  which I prepared while listening,  in this Blog…

Incidentally, I have had the opportunity of listening  to this  erudite but thoroughly unassuming gentleman-scholar, Dr. Achuth Sankar,  speak on several occasions. His unique ability to put across ideas which make us ponder on them,   I must admit, is simply superb! 

Dr. Sankar began his theme talk  lamenting our urge for ‘casual judgment’  when it comes to  assessing  Quality…. For instance,  there is great window dressing when the NAAC Peer Team visits  educational institutions  for  assessment.  It can  sometimes  reduce itself  to  our competing   with  a  neighbouring  institution. This was illustrated with a fine  local metaphor:

Sometimes  the coconut tree in your backyard may be  yielding  a crop of  five coconuts once in two months, while your  neighbour’s may be yielding only  three coconuts. You may be feeling elated at the fact  that  yours is a superior coconut tree compared to your neighbours… But throughout your life you would be oblivious of the fact that hardly 25 Kilometres away  from the place you live,  coconut trees  are yielding  25 coconuts  every two months!

Once Dr.Sankar had  asked the Principal of  the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, how good is the college? Well … the Principal stated…Its doing quite well….Last year the placement was 90% and this year it is 95%....  But Dr.Sankar knew for certain  that numbers do not reflect  Quality….because almost one  hundred percent of the Civil Engineering graduates of the college were recruited by  the IT industry where  the knowledge and expertise  they gained in the course about construction  of bridges and  skyscrapers  are never ever utilized!

Yet another  conveniently  ignored  aspect relates  to  campus   politics… Neither the University nor our  highly politically conscious student population have ever noticed the  following statistics of the University of Kerala :

85% of the  students studying  for different courses are women.

52% of the PhD’s   produced by the University are by women.

45% of the faculty of the University are women.

A vast majority of the staff of the Office of the University are women.

And 100% of the librarians  are women…

Yet for both College Union and University Union elections the Vice Chairperson seat is reserved exclusively for women!!

Dr.Sankar also pointed out the rather  primitive approach to treating cases of malpractice  in examinations…An erring student is  always perceived as a criminal while  proper counseling  would have been a more meaningful   option…

Spiced with humour, the  great Indian tradition  and the ‘Gurukula system’ came up  for scrutiny too,   during the talk:

*’Professor Sandipini’ used to take a noon nap,  resting his head on the thighs of his endearing student, Krishna while yet another amiable  student,  Kuchela would  be pressing the feet of the guru.

*’Professor Parusurama’  is reported to have  dismissed his exemplary  student  Karna for producing a false ‘upper caste’ certificate.

*’Professor Dronacharya’ had demanded the thumb of his brightest pupil, Ekalavya, because he had already decided  to award the first rank to his favourite   upper caste  student, Arjuna.

Imagine a modern day teacher emulating the great gurus of ancient times!...We  have to draw the best from our great tradition and adapt it to suit the present age…

In Kerala,  caste-based schools were started  decades ago, such that every community now  has  a school.  And today we have  58 lakh seats  for  a student population of 38 lakh…Yet the policy of  reservation of seats  continue….

It took  over three hundred years for a Black man to become the president of the United States….but in Kerala University,  it took only 40 years to give an opportunity  for representatives from different communities to hold several high level posts in the University. It is indeed admirable,  opined  Dr.Sankar…so shall we not  focus on Quality henceforth , instead of Equality!

Please feel free to offer your comments…

55.Time to Invigorate

During the  Pooja  holidays (22 to 24 October  2015),  I attended a Film Appreciation Workshop jointly organized by the Chalachitra Academy, Kerala and the CineMass Film Society. The  slightly high registration fee, and the restricted seats ensured that only  those seriously interested in films  could attend. The invited Resource Persons for handling the sessions included
 Mr.KB Venu (Film Director),
 Mr. Vijayakrishnan (Director and Film critic), 
Mr. Louis Mathew  (faculty, Prasad Film Academy) 
and 
 Mr. I.Shanmughadas (Film critic). 
  Film screening  and discussions  were  also part of the Workshop.

At the time of  self-introduction of participants,  I noticed that  a majority  comprised college students, and   those pursuing research in films.  Some had ambitions of producing  short films  while  a couple of them were keen on animation and direction.    When one of the Resource Persons  asked  the participants  to choose one film which  they would prefer to take with them if they are  incarcerated, many choose  the Malayalam  films  of  Priyadarsan.  True, those films are  visually pleasing and  of course humourous… But can serious film buffs  choose such films?

A day after the Workshop,  the  reputed Polish film director, Krzysztof  Zansussi   addressed  film lovers in Trivandrum city.  And  the  next day  the following  news  item appeared in the Mathrubhoomi Daily  dated 26  October 2015. 

The director  observed that  the standard of film criticism has come down!

This observation did not come as a surprise to me because during the Workshop, when one of the  Resource Persons  posed the question  “What is the climax of  the  Malayalam film ‘Kireedom’”,...

...the majority comprising college students reeled off: … the  scene in which,  Sethumadhavan (Mohanlal), squashes to pulp  the goon, Keerikadan!

Almost 95% of the participants  held this view. So it took the Resource Person,  Mr. Louis, quite some time to convince the  participants that the  real climax is the  scene in which   Achuthan Nair (Thilakan) asks his son  Sethu (Mohanlal) to drop the knife!

Perhaps  you all are  aware that the  count down has  begun for the 20^th International Film festival of Kerala, IFFK.

 

I hope  college going students in Kerala  who are  lovers of  good films will make a  diligent effort to invigorate their skill of  appreciation  by watching  acclaimed films during IFFK!

Please feel free to offer your comments…

CP

54.Onam thoughts

Its festive season in Kerala… and the  cover page of  a magazine which the women folk in my house reads  captures it well!

In July 2015, I was directed to teach in the PG department of Govt.  College of Teacher Education, Thiruvananthapuram. And the advantage… I could join my  family  in  preparations for Onam.

This year the Onam celebration in the college was special in every way.. For the first time in  its 103 year history,  two regular batches  each of BEd and MEd is studying in the college at the same time owing to the government decision to commence a two year BEd and MEd course  from 2015 onwards.

Its customary to celebrate Onam in the college prior to the ten-day Onam vacation. Speakers  during  the  function this year,  recalled   “…a time of prosperity…days in which people were treated as equals… when there was joy everywhere….” BUT...   “times  are changing… Onam these days in Kerala has reduced itself to adorning of new dress… the traditional Kerala  saree by women and dhoti and jubba by men…”

Incidentally unlike in previous years the date of celebration of Onam in the college  did not slip my mind,  and so I   arrived in college,  donning the  Kerala attire for the celebration held on  Tuesday, 18 August 2015 in  the auditorium shared by the Govt. Model Boys HSS and our college. In fact one of the speakers, did notice this and even  appreciated my gesture of donning the Kerala  dress,  particularly because  all the other male teachers of the college had worn the usual pants and shirt.  I was naturally beginning to feel elated when the speaker continued…   “These days during Onam, flaunting  the traditional attire, gulping down the  Onam meal, polishing off the banana leaf on which the meal is served and not forgetting to emanate a gust of air in satisfaction, one usually  struts  home, oblivious of the fact that millions  in India, go hungry without  a square  meal even on Thiruvonam day!”…The speaker even exhorted that something needs  to be done for the marginalized sections!

For a  couple of minutes,  the  cheerful mood in the auditorium appeared to disappear…but when the cultural programmes commenced…things were back to normal.But by then… I had  lost my appetite and  sat cringing on the front row.

 

The programme over, I was  leaving the auditorium when a new portrait  caught my attention. It was  that of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam with the words…  “On 28.06.2012, Dr.Kalam spoke in this auditorium”

Soon I was beckoned to the  corridor  where the traditional Onam meal was served… and as I tread slowly, I  was reminded of the   video recording of an extract of the speech made by Dr.Kalam in the European Parliament,  played  during the college assembly when the nation  mourned the death of that great soul…  Here is the text…and I think  its a  befitting message for Onam too…

…As we say in India…

Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character

When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home

When there is harmony in the home, there is an order in the nation

When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world…

It’s a speech worth listening to…Please view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e23Evyrzdic

53. A sense of sacredness

Its almost three months  since the 120 students of  Government Brennen College of Teacher Education, Thalassery  elected its College Union. Following the  two months vacation (April-May)  and the  available  dates  for  an eminent  guest,   it had  been possible to  conduct  the inauguration of the College Union  and  the  Fine Arts  Day celebration  only on  25 June 2015.

The occasion was quite special for all the  students of the  college and ofcourse  some of the teachers too… for, the main  speaker  invited, turned out to be the  highly distinguished  Malayalam novelist,  Sri. M.Mukundan who  recently served as  Chairman of the Sahitya Academy and was  honoured by the government of France with  Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres medal for  contribution to Malayalam Literature in  Kerala State, particularly Mahe which was  once a  French colony. For me it was a moment of honour too because I was directed to offer felicitation for the function.  Incidentally,  in my entire teaching career, I had never ever shared the stage with a distinguished author!

The College Union inaugurations  which I have hitherto attended after becoming a teacher educator  had  guests– some of them  writers,  whose  choice  of  theme  during  the  delivery of their address  leaves  a  deep impression  on the minds  of the listeners.   If my memory is correct, not one  speaker  ever came ill-prepared  for  addressing   students in  the teacher training colleges I have served,  simply because they know  that in the days to come, a large chunk of the audience  would be  becoming  full-fledged teachers  assigned the  job of moulding  young minds. I have also noticed that invariably  the intended message  of most speakers would dwell on the expected  role of teachers in society. 

Sri. Mukundan  began his speech  by referring  to  his habit of attending functions where he is invited to speak without  carrying a prepared speech…confessing  that  such  a   strategy   helps him choose  a topic depending on the mood, the likes and interest of the audience which he is able to see only when he mounts the stage  on the day of the function. It may be noted that on the day he  addressed the  students of the college, 80% of the packed auditorium  comprised women teacher trainees.

Sri. Mukundan  commenced by recalling a teacher of his who had deeply influenced him and with whom he used to discuss literature and philosophy. He also said that the greatest tribute which he could offer his teacher was to  create such a character in one of his own novels. But in the novel,  the  ‘teacher’ dies  and  though the  real life teacher had seen the manuscript of the novel and had appreciated Sri. Mukundan for a well written novel, the teacher expired  before the novel was published.   This  evoked a  queer feeling in the author  for having had the ability to foresee the  death of  a person  whom he revered  in one of his own novels! 

But Sri. Mukundan affirmed that the  best teacher whom he had ever come across happens to be a person who  will never  die….in fact,  that person  has lived  only   in his  novel and was his own creation. Then followed  a brief narration about the ‘teacher’ in carefully calibrated sentences…

The character is a world renowned Professor in an University. The  teacher had  huge  fans in the campus comprising  students both boys and girls  and of course the  teaching staff  too who  used to regularly spend  hours  engaging in  discussions.  The Professor, a bachelor who had  devoted his entire life to acquisition of knowledge was  completely  unaware  of  the way  society  perceived  him though he knew for certain that many admired him for his abilities. 

During one  regular interaction,  he evoked a profound interest in   a girl student who soon became turbo-charged  with admiration for the Professor and gets a bit too close with the Professor. On one such meeting, the Professor, oversteps his boundaries and   has  a sexual  encounter with the  student. Even as the Professor  engaged in  this  act which in the eyes of   the general public  is despicable,  he  took for granted  that  he has not committed anything wrong  simply because  the  girl in question happened to be a  willing partner and  he had never  ever  forced  the girl into have sex with him. 

To the Professor’s utter shock and dismay, the girl in question went public about the ‘deed’  plummeting  the  Professor’s reputation to the  depths of dishonour.  When the  news rapidly spread, the  higher-ups in the  University  considered ways of  covering up the matter, lest it brings shame on the faculty as a whole.  So the Vice Chancellor of the University called the ‘erring’ Professor to his  chamber and offered his willingness to save the Professor on condition that in a Press Conference, the Professor should denounce the whole ‘episode’  stating the girl had concocted everything with the malicious intent of slandering the reputation of the Professor and the University. But neither the Vice Chancellor, nor those who are keen on positions and power in the University have any inkling  as to why the ‘erring’ Professor refused to accept their ‘offer of help’…

Well… the Professor outright refused to  lie and insisted that he doesn’t think that he has done anything wrong and  affirmed that the ‘event’ took  place  through  the complete consent of the ‘girl’. Sri Mukundan’s  novel ends by  describing  what the Professor did… Following the meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the University, the Professor walks out of the University campus never to set foot there to serve as a teacher.  Instead the Professor walks to an institution which cares for street dogs,  takes up a job as a keeper of kennels… and continued living… nursing them! 

Following the narration of the plot of his own creation, the esteemed writer, immediately reminded the audience that its only a story… a story which will never get accepted if it happens in real life in Kerala and for that matter…in  India  too  where  teachers are seen next to God… ones who can never err! 

Before winding up his speech, Sri. Mukundan  recalled an anecdote... He was once invited to address a gathering at an University in France.  While being escorted to the room where he was to deliver  his address,   he  walked past  a  corridor  where a  girl student was seated smoking  a cigarette.  Even as  he was escorted, the Professor who was escorting, borrowed the same cigarette which the student was  smoking, took   a couple of puffs and returned it to the student and  the latter resumed smoking… Next Sri. Mukundan asked  the gathering…Can this happen in India?...He reiterated… the teacher-student relationship in our country  has a sense of  sacredness…

 

52.Time to fill up a lacuna in ASAP training

It is almost  three years since the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) was launched. 

[For details please view  http://asapkerala.gov.in/index.php/about-asap]

As I teach in a teacher training college, I was particularly interested in  finding out whether skill acquisition, especially Communication Skills in English is really taking place during ASAP  training.  I have often  wondered, how it is possible for mere graduates without a thorough knowledge of the  teaching-learning process which is usually given prime focus in the course content of a BEd. Programme, serve as  effective Skill Development Executives (SDE) for the ASAP   programme…   

In regular  lecture sessions in my college, I make use of multimedia materials   which I have developed following  technological principles. During the last week of the previous academic year (2013-14)  three students  of mine, approached me and requested to share  the digital materials including PowerPoint presentations which I  make use of  in my training programme. When I inquired  the necessity, they  said that they need it for  the sessions of their ASAP programme  in which they are currently serving as  SDE!

This academic year (2014-15),  I came across a  trainee who  attends college every day, after engaging  a session  in a  local school  as part of the ASAP  programme.  Out of curiosity,  I made inquiries to find out what aspects of teaching and learning they were taught  for teaching Communication Skills in English. I was told that  no  real training in language teaching methodology was  given to  SDE’s!

So when Mr. Shihabudheen, coordinator for the ASAP programmes of Amal College of Advanced Studies, Nilambur, Kerala- a  training partner institution of ASAP, invited me  last weekend to engage a session in  language teaching methodology for a 21-day residential training programme for SDE’s I was  rather amazed.  From Mr. Shihabudheen, I gathered  that in the regular   ASAP programme, there is no insistence on  familiarizing participants with language teaching methodology. He also pointed out that this  has unfortunately resulted  in  the Communication Skills in English sessions of the ASAP programmes in colleges, reducing itself to  the conduct of  ‘management type games’! 

Field studies of the performance of SDE’s which Mr.Shihabudheen, conducted made him realize that participants  need to be given  some input on methodology of language teaching. Here,  it is worth noting that it is probably the inclusion of such innovative sessions in the training programme of  ASAP offered by Amal College of Advanced Studies,  which helped them secure a five star rating  for  the  training programmes previously offered!  Kudos to  Mr. Shihabudeen.

I found the participants of the   residential programme   for whom I engaged a session in language teaching methodology, quite   enthusiastic and active.  The feedback which they gave  also confirmed  that  training in methodology of language teaching   for SDE’s  is  essential.

Perhaps if  those  at the helm of affairs of  ASAP, taking  the cue from Amal  College,  incorporate  language teaching methodology as an essential component of the ASAP training  programmes for SDE’s, the  student population undergoing  the ASAP training would begin to find  the  Communication Skills in English sessions more meaningful and effective…

Those who have undergone the ASAP  training  please offer your  valuable comments…