Wanted: Newer pedagogy for 21st century students

Talking about the educational reform and not mentioning the role of our great teachers will be a big blunder.

Much has been written,discussed and debated about the recent initiatives by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to reform the old-established education system of India. This is good indication for our education system that at least something is being done now to make the system better. But talking about the educational reforms and not mentioning the role of our great teachers will be a blunder.

It is the students who decide the future of any country or we can say their future is the nations future. Who shapes a students future? It is his/her teacher. Few days back there were lots of writings in newspapers regarding the assessment of teachers by the students. It continued for some days and unfortunately topic closed. Why dont we have any such provision of assessing teachers by students whom they teach? After all who can know a teacher better than the students?

Are we so confident about the ability of our teachers that we dont need to evaluate their performance? Their duty must not be confined to going to school,taking classes and go back to home. There is hardly any feedback taken from the students. Blaming teachers for not having good education for a student will not be fair always. But sometimes their contribution is there that decides the future of the child taught by them. This makes their responsibility greater and they must understand this.

What per cent of teachers in our country understand their responsibilities? What is the level of the teachers we are having in our schools? Should their level be defined merely by the good educational qualifications they have? Are they professionally skilled? These are some major points on which we must start focusing now.

A teacher must be professionally strong in such a way that he/she has the ability to teach the students in the simplest way. He/she must have the art of presenting even a difficult topic in an easier and more interactive manner,something that helps them to relate to the students. This will make studies fun and help the students get rid of the fear factor. Is the government doing its bit to help standard of teaching evolve?

The District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Lucknow has decided to train Primary school teachers in spoken English. This initiative by local bodies should be lauded. This is the first time when teachers from rural and semi-urban areas will be trained by DIET.

Instead of making the education system easy and interesting with the help of teachers,exams are being made optional (students of course love this bit!). And why shouldnt they. The pressure to perform is such on students that its commonplace to hear about teens contemplating/committing suicide one month before the results are declared. Now when there is an option for no exams then definitely stress will much less.

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But in such a scenario,teachers’ role becomes very important. They must change the old continuing teaching pattern and evolve newer pedagogies that can relate to students better.

A favourable assessment system should be evolved that can help the students to broaden their horizon.

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Kapil Sibal