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RNI No: APENG/2013/49994

Postal Regd. No: HD/1180/2016-2018

Posted at PC Secunderabad on August 7-8, 2017 Date of Publication: August 6, 2017

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August 2017 Volume V Issue 5

A M o n t h l y ed u ca t i o na l ini t ia t i v e

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make inroads into

Schools Parenthood Don’t lose kids to cyberspace

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Special Report Creating learning spaces for 21st century

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Change Maker Educating Africa via Skype

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Career Geriatrics the future career

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co nt e nt s

August 2017 volume V issue 5

Cover Story

04 ����������� Readers’ Forum 05 ������������ Editorial

Dr. T. Sudha

06 ������������ News 11 ������������ Parenthood - Shayama Chona

Dr. J. K. Gulati

12 ������������ Event Review - SPAES 36 ������������ Special

Report - Learning Spaces

42 ������������ Learning - Kamlesh Chandra

Bijal Mehta

45 ������������ Demystifying Math - Steve Sherman 46 ������������ Change

Maker - Koen Timmers

Sunita Singh

50 ������������ Parenting - Satwant Palekar

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54 ������������ Pedagogy - Peeyush Khare 55 ����������� British Council 56 ������������ Development

Zaara Zia

make inroads into schools

58 ����������� Mind Mine

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40

What Indian teachers gained from Finland!

Ananya Sharma

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Give me Colour

Empower Women Teachers

Meet the Experts

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28

32

52

Educational Innovation

Mentoring

INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE

Career

Prof. (Dr.) M. M. Pant Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey Principal, Ahlcon Intl.School, Delhi

Kavita Sanghvi Principal, MET Rishikul Vidyalaya, Mumbai

Anupama Gangavati MD, Senior Geriatric Consultant at Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru

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Readers’ Forum

Watch videos of your interest from the list of videos given in the magazine.

Watch

Population alert Good efforts Brainfeed! The issue and subjects covered in Brainfeed are very important for academic excellence of students as well as teachers. It is noteworthy that the educational efforts taken by Brainfeed help in uniform global educational practices and methodologies. Brainfeed is making a commendable effort in helping to integrate educational practices around the world. I heartily congratulate Brainfeed for bringing out this useful magazine. Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder – Manager, City Montessori School, Lucknow

Math Phobia There are many students who are away from Math. The worst part is they get butterflies in stomach during Math exam. This phobia creates lack of interest in the subject among the students. Maarit is giving good ideas and suggestions to overcome this problem but it would be more appropriate if she can work out on the Indian students and give suggestions based on it.

The writer has clearly mentioned about the population growth and the issues to be faced in the future. I felt surprised to know the increase and decrease (birth and death rates for each day) of global population. It is high time to think about this issue as India has taken the credit to be ranked at the 2nd place next to China with highest number of population. We need to educate the people about its adverse effects. Let us together pledge to achieve a sustainable human civilisation. Manisha Pillai, Kochi

Impossible to I’m possible The video featuring the TedTalks of Sparsh Shah is worth watching. His inspiring speech and his confidence as a spark in his eyes will really help a person to be motivated. Kudos to Sparsh, who even after undergoing 130 surgeries at such a young age is having a strong will power to survive and has a zeal to achieve something in his life. This is a perfect example for ‘never say die attitude’. Joy John, Mumbai

One nation one curriculum The recent measure by HRD on one nation, one curriculum is a good move. As a parent, I feel this move will really benefit the students of all the regions. It is also a great advantage for the children, whose parents have to move to different parts of the country on a job basis. They can find the same syllabus all over and can find it easy to cope up with their studies if this system is implemented very soon. Geeta Anand, Chennai

Check out our website & E-mag brainfeedmagazine.com

(Readers can send in their suggestions/feedback to [email protected] by 10th of every month) Scan for more Info

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The counselor has mentioned clearly about shyness and social anxiety disorder and how to overcome the anxiety attacks. It would have been better if she would have mentioned it according to the age group. More focus should be on teens as this is the age where everyone - be a parent, teacher or counselor need to handle them carefully. It would be more appropriate if the problems and solutions can be made through flow chart method, which will be more understandable to the readers. Sarita Krishnan, Bengaluru

Vidyasagar Sharma, Chandigarh

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Anxiety Attacks

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Letter from the Editor august 2017

volume V

issue 5

Chief Editor Brahmam K V Editor Venkat Pulapaka Executive Editor Bhageeradha G +91 91775 13996 Sub Editor Vanalatha Reddy T Karuna Raj

Art & Design Lakshmi D

Circulation Hemachandra Rao S +91 91777 74851 +91 85018 26317

Printed, Published and Owned by Kakani Veera Brahmam Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd. 1-1-60/5, RTC X Roads Hyderabad-500 020, Telangana, India

Published from 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad-500 038 Telangana, India Contact Nos. : 040 - 6551 5151 040 - 4262 2024 Email: [email protected] [email protected]

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he month of July has not been good for schools in Hyderabad. Just as school managements were going about their routine came a rude shock in the form of a crackdown by the Prohibition and Excise department on drug peddlers, which revealed that more than 100 school students were involved neck deep in drugs. Headquartered in Hyderabad, we at Brainfeed changed the cover story as we could ill afford to let go reporting on a menace that was taking place under our nose. Read the cover story for a comprehensive view on the issue. In the West, there is a debate on whether drug tests should be allowed in schools. In India, we have not reached to the level of thinking of conducting drug tests and one hopes we would never have to go that far. It is a testing time for schools but with will and determination the muck can be fought. Nothing can be more disturbing but the rut can be arrested. A zero tolerance policy is the only way out. Period.

It is a testing time for schools but with will and determination the muck can be fought.

Schools architecture is similar in almost all parts of the country but times are changing and school authorities are giving a serious thought on how to design buildings and learning spaces. It requires a paradigm shift and architects, school leaders and policy makers need to collaborate in designing schools for this century.

The world is changing at a fast pace and even the educational firmament is. The future belongs to ‘teacherpreneurs’ says Prof Madan Mohan Pant, former pro-vice chancellor, IGNOU in his thought provoking article. He argues that teachers could reach out to the world with technology and impart knowledge. All is not drab and boring. Even as the news of drug menace was being debated across the nation, the Indian women’s cricket team scripted history by entering the finals of the Cricket World Cup. The girls lost to England but won the hearts of the nation. Women teachers too are like women cricketers who toil as much as the men but rarely get their due. Another highlight of this issue is an article on empowering women teachers. They are the backbone of the system but are never given their due. It took decades for women cricketers to get a place under the sun. If the system is to be protected, women teachers need to be given their due in every which way.

www.brainfeedmagazine.com facebook.com/brainfeededumag RNI No. APENG/2013/49994

Brahmam K V Chief Editor august 17

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NEWS Solar power to light up Delhi govt schools

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s part of the Delhi government’s flagship programme to convert the national capital as a solar city, government schools in the city are likely to

soon light up with solar power. The government is likely to establish photovoltaic panels on rooftops of all the government school buildings. Delhi government’s Solar Policy aims to

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generate 2,000 MW electricity through solar power by 2025. The plan to light up Delhi schools with solar energy is ready and will be implemented soon, said

a government official. Delhi is blessed with almost 300 sunny days and the rooftop space available for solar panels is estimated to be 31 sq km, giving the city a solar energy potential of 2,500 MW.

A K Joti is new poll panel chief

he Union Law Ministry has appointed former Gujarat chief secretary Achal Kumar Joti (A K Joti) as the Chief Election Commissioner. A K Joti succeeds incumbent Nasim Zaidi.

office. A K Joti is a 1975 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. His last assignment before superannuating in January 2013 was as chief secretary of the state of Gujarat.

A K Joti assumed his office on July 6, the day the incumbent Nasim Zaidi demits

It is not surprising that 30 IAS and IPS officers of Gujarat cadre are part of Team Modi.

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One nation, one education board: Javadekar

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nion Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar revealed the central government has decided to merge all the education boards in India into one board. He said the central government is taking a number of measures to streamline and strengthen the school education as well as the higher education system in the country. He said Central Board of School Education, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination, national boards and all other boards including the state boards are proposed to be brought

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under one head. At present there are over 50 recognised educational boards in the country including CBSE, ICSE, state-level boards, IB, IGCSE and NIOS. Each board has its own schedules, pedagogy and curriculum. He added that the new single board is mandated to focus only on board examinations.

Edu channels launched for engg, medical aspirants

undreds of thousands of medical and engineering students can now study for their entrance examinations from home thanks to the four new satellite television channels that offer tutorials by subject experts in biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. Former President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the four satellite television channels. The President also aired an additional 28

direct-to-home (DTH) satellite channels for the benefit of students of school and higher educational institutions. He also operationalised the country’s own massive open online courses (MOOCs) platform ‘Swayam’ that caters to the educational needs of the masses. All the 32 educational channels are to be aired 24x7 on Dish TV under the brand name of ‘Swayam Prabha’.

Kakodkar likely to head IIT-Roorkee’s board

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uclear scientist Anil Kakodkar, 73, who was earlier the chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) of IIT-Bombay, is expected to succeed Professor Ashok Mishra as head of the BoG at IIT-Roorkee. The HRD Ministry, headed by Prakash Javadekar, is believed to have forwarded Kakodkar’s name for the post to former President last month itself. President’s stamp of approval is awaited.

There were reports that IIT-Roorkee had suggested a second term for Mishra, but the HRD ministry is said to have forwarded Kakodkar’s name for the job. The term of IIT BoG chairman is of three years.

Google thinks robos can write news

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ith the speed at which technology is evolving, there is a good chance of artificial intelligence replacing the conventional journalist with that of a robojournalist. There are reports that Google is paying £622,000 (approx. Rs 51665135.62) to the Press Association (PA) news agency to spend on its Reporters and Data and Robots (Radar) project. Google’s goal is to generate at least 30,000 artificial intelligence-written local stories per month. The Radar project is scheduled for a 2018 launch. It is expected to be beneficial to ‘established media outlets’ in addition to independent publishers and local bloggers.

NEWS Kovind takes over as 14th President of India

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he President-elect Ram Nath Kovind, 71, was sworn in as the 14th President of India on July 25, 2017. Winning with an overwhelming majority of over 65% votes in the Electoral College, Kovind defeated his opponent Meira Kumar. Chief Justice J.S. Khehar administered the oath of office to Kovind in the presence of outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in

areas and helped in the construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand.

Parliament’s Central Hall. As a lawyer Kovind practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for 16 years. He first stepped into politics in 1994 as

a Rajya Sabha member from UP. During his parliamentary tenure, Kovind emphasised on development of basic infrastructure for education in rural

Man behind Aryabhata passes away

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Prof U R Rao headed ISRO between 1984 and 1994. He was the brain behind the science used for Chandrayaan -1 and Mangalyaan. Under his leadership, India successfully launched the ASLV rocket and the operational PSLV launch into polar orbit. In 2013, he became the first Indian scientist to be introduced into the prestigious ‘Satellite Hall of Fame’ in Washington DC. He was also the first Indian to be

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Prof Yash Pal passes away

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rofessor Udupi Ramachandra Rao, 85, the person responsible for the launch of India’s first satellite Aryabhata, died in Bengaluru on July 24, due to age related ailments.

enowned scientist and academician Prof Yash Pal, 90, died on July 24 in Noida.

inducted into ‘IAF Hall of Fame’ in Guadalajara, Mexico. Until his death, he was serving as the chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and the chancellor of IIST, Thiruvananthapuram. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1976 and Padma Vibhushan this year.

Speaking on the occasion he said, “I bow to the 125 crore citizens of this great nation and promise to stay true to the trust they have bestowed on me. The India of the 21st century will be one that is in conformity with our ancient values as well as compliant with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Best remembered for ‘Turning Point’, a popular TV programme he hosted on science in Doordarshan, Yash Pal was among the first generation of visionary scientists who shaped India’s science and

He had deep interest in making science education meaningful and gained recognition because of his contribution in the study of cosmic rays. education policies. He began his scientific career at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He was also the first Director of Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1976 and Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

NEWS Improving sleep habits may help kids with ADHD

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leep could be a key player in reducing the impact of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a study published has found. The research, compiled by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), found that the symptoms of ADHD were exacerbated in 70 per cent of children who have the disorder and struggle to sleep. Making simple adjustments to the

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bedtime routines of children with ADHD could make a significant difference, said lead researcher Melisssa Mulraney. She said the research indicated that children with ADHD who had consistent routines were less anxious at bedtime

against Australia, who beat India at Bristol. Close on Mithali’s feet is the 34-year-old former England captain Charlotte Edwards’ tally of 5,992. Mithali is said to have read a book before her

Project fixing makes CBSE abandon CCE

he CBSE has done an about-turn. The Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) that it had introduced two years back has now been taken off. Board exams have become mandatory. The CCE’s Formative Assessments’ (FA-1 to 4) and Summative Assessments (SA-1 and 2) will now be replaced by unit tests, quarterly, half-yearly, pre final and finals. The portion to be studied by the students for the annual exam would be different. Instead of the last four months’ of study propagated by CCE, the annual exam would cover all the lessons taught during the year. The CCE system was conceived when there were widespread cases of student depression because of their failure to do well in exams. A holistic approach was factored in the syllabus and assessed mainly by the school with partial assessment by the board 70-30 to be precise.

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The children that had the good habits were less likely to argue around bedtime, they slept for longer overall, and they were more alert and less sleepy during the day, the report quoted Mulraney as saying. Even if you are not sleeping well, even without ADHD you are not concentrating and paying attention, she added.

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to watch

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august17-01

A summer school kids actually want to attend - Karim Abouelnaga – Ted Talks

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august17-02

Mithali Raj’s cricket record delights Indians

ndian women’s cricket teams captain Mithali Raj became the leading run-scorer in women’s one-day international cricket. Mithali reached the 6,028 runs milestone by scoring 69 in India’s World Cup group-game

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and found it easier to sleep.

Videos

The world’s first streets named after street kids

batting achievement. Mithali’s achievement has taken women’s cricket to new heights in India. She, who made her debut in 1999, was playing her 183rd ODI and averages 51.52. She has also played 10 Tests and 63 Twenty20s. Mithali is not new to breaking records. She became the first woman to score seven consecutive halfcenturies in one-day international cricket and making 71 against England in the same tournament. Analysts say that players like Mithali may well be on course to change the game in India.

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august17-03 Save our Spines Megha Joshi – Ted Talks

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august17-04 Increase confidence & skills of staff teaching PE

PARENTHOOD

Dr. Shayama Chona President, Tamana

Don’t lose kids to

cyberspace C

hildren today are living in cyber age and no one wants to be left behind. The challenge is to strike a balance between old and new thinking. It is also true that neither the parent nor the child can be replaced by computers. Infants do invite our attention and curiosity when they are able to operate the PCs, tablets and mobiles. While it is amazing to see tiny tots operate gadgets with ease, one has to bear in mind the repercussions.

Hoping to give their kids a leg up, some parents are teaching their babies to click before they can even crawl by this mode of entertainment. Similarly, parents are eager to give the computer a catre blanche. Educational software for young ones is a booming business. Just five years ago, such products were designed for school-aged children, now companies are peddling software targeted at infants.

There is nothing wrong with teaching very young children how to click. Get educated about children’s software and you Your children are If you are can build a good library of now spending a relying on games that both entertain significant part of computers and edify. The best of these their waking hours to teach your engage kids in problem-solving with the computers. children adventures rather than dishing Hoping to give their ABC, just out the staple memory games. kids a leg up, some remember, Kids seem to have a natural parents are teaching computers affinity for computers, these their babies to click cannot machines can be a great before they can replace learning aid. But the emphasis even crawl. Right teachers. should be on aid. If you are now our culture is relying on computers to teach so intoxicated by the promise your children ABC, just remember, of cyberspace that we tend to computers cannot replace exaggerate its benefits and teachers. overlook its downside. The present day situation is similar to the emergence of television in India in the 70s. Parents were thrilled

Little kids should spend, at the most, about thirty minutes a day at the computer. Any more than that can back fire in the long run. The

first problem with computer overexposure is that it requires kids to sit for too long. There’s not even a commercial break – a pause that refreshes, that would allow children to disconnect from the world on the screen. The result is that, left alone with a computer, a young child is likely to strain the back, eyes and hands. The other big problem with the computer is that sitting in front of the screen is a solitary activity. This may not be true initially, when you’re teaching your child the rudiments. He or she sits enveloped in your lap while your hand guides those pudgy little fingers in the art of double clicks. But this stage will be shockingly short. The youngest generation is learning to read `start’ and `exit’ even before mastering `hat’ or `cat’. By the tender age of four, and even three, many kids are ready to fly solo. Unfortunately, this deprives children of the time they might otherwise spend with parents and socializing with other kids – the activities that offer the biggest development gains of early childhood. august 17

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Event Review

SPAES

Conducts workshop on school leadership, teacher training

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r. Chukka Ramaiah, an educator, activist and a former legislator, urged the governments of the two Telugu states to ensure that quality education is provided to students and advised the teaching community to initiate the process of enhancing the knowledge and skill sets of pupils to suit tomorrow’s society. He was speaking at a two-day orientation programme for teachers held at Sri Prakash Vidya Niketan, Rajamahendravaram under the auspices of the Society for Promotion of Academic Excellence in Schools (SPAES). Dr. Ramaiah is the president of SPAES. Stating that the orientation programme was purely to discuss the development of

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a kind and a knowledge and He said the skills of the considerate aim of the students, Dr. heart to build society is to Ramaiah said, “A a bondage spread the student should with his/her message learn the skills student, the of the 3Ts to raise the living senior educator (Together standards of the appealed to the – Towards – society and a government and Tomorrow). teacher should managements always be the backbone of of private and corporate a developed nation.” schools to recruit Appreciating the schools teachers who are and their managements compassionate with their for taking a step forward students. under SPAES, and urging the teachers and school managements not to run behind the syllabus, Dr. Ramaiah said they should impart the importance of knowledge in the minds of students and urged them to make education more simplified for the benefit of the students. Speaking on the Explaining that a teacher should possess

occasion, Ms. Seetha Murthy, Director Education at Silver Oaks International Schools, said there is a need to inculcate the message of Mahatma Gandhi’s pancha dharma principles to the future generations. The five dharmas are swaraj, sathyagraha,

swadharma, swadeshi and sarvodaya. Stating that the students and their parents can be educated to follow these dharmas on a day to day basis, Ms. Seetha Murthy urged school leaders to introduce these pancha dharmas in their schools. She then spoke of transforming an educator into an effective and enigmatic leader by following certain steps

taken from motivational books like “7 habits of highly effective people”. Others who spoke at the event include G.V.S. Prasad, Director, CFBT, Secretary, SPAES K V Brahamam (Chief Editor for Brainfeed) and C. Vijaya Prakash (Jt. Secretary of SPAES and Director, Sri C Vijay Prakash Group of Institutions).

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Prof. (Dr.) Madan Mohan Pant Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Educational Innovation

Teacherpreneurs Putting India at the centre of educational innovation

Stating that the current state of teaching is experiencing darkness and is in despair, the writer tells us that there is a need for a bold new brand of teacher leadership that will create opportunities for teachers to practice, share, and grow their knowledge and expertise. 14

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n the year 1859 Charles Dickens began his famous novel A Tale of Two Cities with the following immortal lines “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 all going direct the other way. . .”

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Today, those words are squarely applicable to the state of teaching that we see around us. The best of teachers in schools, colleges and universities are world class as is evidenced by the numerous successful high achieving Indians who are influencers all over the world. Not only the Harvard Business School, but many other leading business schools in the world have deans of Indian origin and distinguished doctors, scientists and other professionals.

The vast majority, however, are disconnected from the present and emerging world. Our Bharat Ratna, Professor CNR Rao, said just about a year ago that 90% of our university curricula are out of date. It is my view that a new class of educators, teachers who transcend traditional teaching will lead us to a new world where we could lead. As Sir Ken Robinson said, schools should not be seen as a place of preparation for the world, but as a place for participation in it. In the future, the place for learning and the space for earning will not be so distinct in geography and time, but will start forming a continuum after the very basic school education. If this were to be so, then it is life-long learning that has to be embraced. It then follows that the categorisation of teachers as NTT, TGT, PGT and college and university professors must give way to a new label for a person who is an awakener, a motivator, a designer of learning experience

Why this is the best time to become a Teacherpreneur?

Professor CNR Rao

and a friend, philosopher and guide throughout life. I propose to call such a person, a Teacherpreneur.

The word ‘Teacherpreneur’ is a portmanteau created from the words ‘teacher’ and ‘entrepreneur’. It is often said that Ignorantia juris non excusat (Latin for “ignorance of the law excuses no one”). But in real life “ignorance is no excuse”. So learn, all that you can learn. You never know when not knowing something can be a problem.

To an observer whose sights are on the developing technological horizon of big data, the internet of things, robotics, drones and enhanced machine intelligence competing with humans, it is clear that as we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st Century, the next 5 to 10 years are likely to emerge as a new renaissance in education. We now realise that the teacher is far more important than the expert practitioner because an expert can demonstrate his or her skill in context, but it is the teacher that creates an expert practitioner out of an initially ignorant or incompetent person. Education has to be learnercentric and knowledge is mutually constructed by the teacher and learner. In fact, science, the most glorious of human endeavours, flourishes because it is a community of scientists that drives it, and not a hierarchy of bureaucrats and politicians. We must prepare to move from the ‘art of teaching’ to ‘the

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Future Ready science of learning’, and just as the microscope, telescope and other instruments aided scientific progress by providing data to be put into contexts, patterns and insights, it is the computer, internet and allied technologies that will drive this transition from a qualitative uncertain authority based model to a data driven one that allows every learner to learn. The potential of mobile and handheld learning in education is now accepted by the UNESCO, which is organising annual Mobile Learning weeks.

The main point is that education as a cure or remedy for ignorance is the new reality, and is equally applicable to health, justice, relationships and nation and world building.

Educators who shape minds (not only young minds, but throughout the life-span as well) are therefore very important now, and it is indeed the best time to be an educator.

With millions on screens on which educators can be viewed both synchronously and asynchronously, we should not be surprised if a decade from now ‘educators’ will become the new celebrities. Who can believe today that great actors at one time worked as salaried employees in theatre companies and film studios.

Attributes of a teacherpreneur:

The role of the educator The best of is to remove ignorance. teachers In a decade or so, Sometimes the learner in schools, salaried teachers at colleges and may know what he school or college will universities are be a thing of the past needs to learn. But more often in the mode world class as and celebrity teachers of Socratic questioning, is evidenced by and professors will the numerous have millions of the educator takes the successful learner through the learners from all over high achieving the world following 4 stages of unknown Indians who are them on YouTube, incompetence, known influencers all Facebook or Twitter. incompetence, known competence and finally over the world. A precursor to that is unknown competence. for example the Korean English Learning happens in several ways Teacher Kim Ki-Hoon, who earns from multiple sources. There is around US$ 4 million a year, or a Buddhist saying that ‘when the Cha Kil-yong the Maths teacher, learner is ready, the teacher will who earns US$ 8 million a year. appear’.

“Millennials will have over 13 jobs in their lifetime and the median­time they will spend in a job will be three years ... when they switch from one job to the next, the skills they will need in that next job will usually be something they not only don’t know but in many cases didn’t even exist when they went to school,” – Professor Koller co-founder, Coursera

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A teacherpreneur may be a practitioner in a field other than traditional teaching who wants to participate in the new knowledge economy by sharing their knowledge, experience and expertise in innovative nontraditional ways. Of course, traditional teachers could also go through this metamorphosis, especially teachers (whether at school or higher education) who are RBNT (Retired But Not Tired). A prospective teacherpreneur must be a lifelong learner. Before trying to teach a teacherpreneur will awaken an interest in learning. As Robert Frost said “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” A teacherpreneur is well-versed in the current pedagogical Principles of Heutagogy and the practice of ‘Flipped teaching’. The pedagogy of mobile education and adoption of Heutagogy, managing the learning of selfdirected lifelong learners will become one of the important competencies of the new age teacher. How can teacherpreneurs be institutionalised? Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in the year 2009 for establishing that many resources are better managed by the holding community rather than either the government or the private sector. In this, she challenged the

accepted maxim of ‘the tragedy of the commons’ proposed by Garret Hardin. In fact, she enunciated a set of eight rules for the effective management of a commons. And, these are best applicable to a community of teachers, because knowledge is the resource held in ‘commons’. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants or architects can all practice their expertise within government, a corporate or independently. Qualified educationists could also work independently . . . as teachers, diagnosticians, mentors, quality assessors, curriculum designers and content creators. Teacherpreneurs could form a Professional Network of Independent Educators (PNIE) with regulation and assurance of professional standards following the eight principles enunciated by economics Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom.

Use of learning analytics will enhance the learning experience. • A teacherpreneur makes extensive use of blogging to reach out to learners. • A teacherpreneur can run a YouTube channel with free as well as paid content. • A teacherpreneur can write short books, almost one for each lecture and can place it on the Kindle store for distribution. • A teacherpreneur can deliver courses through mobile and Whatsapp. A segmentation of learner groups for such a teacherpreneur is illustrated below: 1: Pre-school: supporting parents of pre-school children 2: The early years ~ grades 1 to 5: supporting teachers, parents and learners 3: The middle school ~ grades (6 to 8) supporting teachers, parents and learners 4: The secondary stage ~ grades (9 & 10) supporting teachers, parents and learners 5: The senior secondary stage ~ grades 11 & 12: supporting learners 6: Life-long learning from ages ~ 18 to 81: supporting learners There are thus numerous opportunities.

What can a teacherpreneur do as an individual? Deliver a personalised learning experience “mobile first, wearable next” with wireless Internet and flipped learning to supplement and complement the ‘ritualistic’ educational structures and is entrepreneurially driven. All learners have a ‘Learner Disposition Profile’, updated with certificates of prior competence, reports of diagnostic tests and badges as evidence of learner achievement. Every learner is assigned a teacherpreneur mentor to manage the cognitive, metacognitive and affective needs.

What can teacherpreneur do collectively? Teacherpreneurs can collectively support an educational apps store: Need for an educational apps store that inspires ‘trust’. Education apps can be big money makers over the next few years, but to be revenue generating they need to include in-app purchases. In future, the app can be expanded to an online store for educational products: Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, An educational observatory: An independent specialist advisory organisation whose opinions are

sought by many. For instance, Seybold reports in the field of printing. A Universal Educational HelpDesk: Anything you wanted to know about educational matters, but didn’t know whom to ask? JustDial and Askme focused on serving learners, teachers and parents. School for life-long learning: Pre-natal, neo-natal and preschool learning. Programmes for parents: School for the 2nd half of life: an idea originally suggested by Carl Jung. august 17

17

Cover Story

Venkat Pulapaka

“If current trends continue,

250 million children

alive today will be killed by tobacco or substance abuse.”

make inroads into schools J

For long there has been suspicion, but the worst fears have been confirmed when high school and college students were found to be taking drugs. But with timely intervention and sensitisation students who went astray could well be brought back to the mainstream

uly 3 this year turned out to be the D-Day for high school and college students in Hyderabad after they were found to be high on ‘ecstasy’ and ‘LSD’.

During the subsequent raids on the drug peddlers, Excise sleuths stumbled upon a high-profile list of clients using drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) - ‘ecstasy’.

Over 100 school students in Hyderabad were found to be neckdeep in drug abuse in the past few months. The situation could have been worse had the P&E sleuths not stumbled upon the drug dragnet.

It was the day on which sleuths of the Telangana Prohibition and Excise (P&E) department swooped down on key drug peddlers and busted a major drug racket in the city.

The list included students - from affluent families - of Class 8 and 9 and hundreds of college students representing 20 high profile schools and 16 colleges in the city of pearls.

It all happened by chance, when the sleuths arrested some persons for illicit liquor trade. Sensing something big, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad earlier,

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Over 100 school students in Hyderabad were found to be neckdeep in drug abuse in the past few months.

Sensitising institutions In an attempt to sensitise the school and college-going students, the managements of the educational institutions and the parents, Sabharwal wrote to the institutions in Hyderabad appealing to them to initiate measures against substance abuse in the institutions. In the letters, he said, “We request you to watch out for erratic behaviour among students and monitor shops and areas in the vicinity of the school premises. The school may take up this issue as a campaign and sensitise them.” Further, appealing to parents, he urged them “to monitor the cash and card transactions made by their children”. In his messages to the principals and managements of the schools, Sabharwal gave details of their students who had fallen prey to drugs. According to a P&E official, “The school and college managements were asked to speak to the students but, while doing so, maintain secrecy apart from taking measures to arrest the spread of the drug menace. More than accepting the truth, a few institutions were said to have skirted the responsibility arguing that they could not be blamed for what their students do outside the school premises.” The official said, “The attitude is disturbing.”

Akun Sabharwal - an Inspector General-rank officer now - tapped informants and caught some of the drug peddlers. P&E Director Akun Sabharwal, who has been receiving death threats from drug racket kingpins, was taken aback by the large number of school-going children getting drawn into the drug dragnet in addition to the celebrities.

Sadly, most of the educational institutions were in a denial mode and refused to even acknowledge that they had received information from the P&E officials. Such schools are more in the up-scale category, except for a couple of them being preferred by the middleclass segment of the society.

august 17

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Cover Story Drug menace is wide spread among the youth in Ind ia. Should we blame the child? The school? The pare nts? Or, The government? I feel all are equally respon sible for this situation. Child ren with low self-esteem, low academic performance or children from broken families and children from affule nt backgrounds are vulne rable to drugs. Acceptance by the parents, society and the school will make them realise their mistake and cons tant mentoring and coachin g will develop the self-confi dence among these children to overcome such unwante d situations. - K. Lakshm i Rao, Academic Director, JG I Schools.

A recent survey said in addition to drugs like cocaine and ecstasy yo ung adults abuse six other drugs and they are: marijua na (31.5%), Vicodin (9.7% ), Amphetamines (8.1% ), cough medicine (6.9% ), sedatives and tranquil izers (6.6% each). Some oth er major factors that infl uence youth to abuse drugs are peer pressure, we ak parental control, child abuse, emotional stres s, truancy among students , the availability of the drug s and the ineffectiveness of the laws on drug traffickin g. - Robil Khurana, GD Go enka Public School, Amritsa r, Punjab

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Behavioural changes Reacting to these developments, the Hyderabad-based Counselling Psychologist C. Veerender, says, “Teachers can notice the behavioural changes in the students addicted to drugs over a period of time. Teachers could easily identify students, who regularly bunk classes, have lost focus on studies and with errant behaviour.” He further said students initially use drugs for thrill, recognition among peers, adventure and identity. In 2014, the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had held the first nation-wide survey on drug abuse among children. The survey is believed to have revealed that of the 4,024 minors surveyed, 83.2% smoked tobacco, 67.7% drank alcohol regularly, 35.4% smoked cannabis and 34.7% sniffed glue and correction fluid. In a similar survey during 2010 in Punjab state, the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), Chandigarh revealed that of the 1,500 addicts surveyed, 3% were between 6 and 10 years old. At least 85.6% of respondents had completed matriculation. The survey has dispelled the widely accepted notion that opioid dependence is a problem of the unschooled or school drop outs. However, the scale of the drug abuse in Punjab is not any worse than it is in the other parts of the nation.

Intervention Speaking on the issue of adolescents receiving treatment for substance abuse, Dr Vivek Benegal, additional professor of psychiatry at the De-Addiction Centre of Bengaluru’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), said “Intervention tends to be focused on the drug rather than vulnerabilities that make children take such substances.” Dr Benegal further said, “The tendency to view drug addiction as more a crime than a psychological problem leads to “therapeutic nihilism”, where minors and young adults flit in and out of rehab. It’s not surprising that many minors sent to juvenile detention centres

Inclusion in syllabus The founder of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan had sought the direction of the court for the setting up of de-addiction centres in every district in the country, having special wings for children. Kailash had also sought the direction of the apex court for the inclusion of the dangers of drug use in the school syllabus. A psychiatrist and former consulting counsellor at the government-run Lokmanya Tilak hospital in Mumbai Dr Alpesh Panchal feels that there is a need to counsel the school counsellors they are undecided whether

for, say, marijuana use, come out as hardened criminals or end up using harder narcotics.” According to other psychologists and medical practitioners, drug abuse among school students generally begins with ‘illicit legal substances like tobacco and alcohol’. There is generally a delay in treatment because, very few parents initially come forward to accept the fact that their children are skipping school, or are indulging in theft, or are beginning to withdraw from the society. Some parents even refuse to visit government institutions out of fear of appearing in the public records. Recently, the Supreme Court of India had directed the Delhibased Tulasi Psychiatric and Rehabilitation Centre to come up with a national action plan to tackle alcohol and drug abuse among school-going children. The apex court’s direction came while hearing a petition filed by Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in 2014.

Stopping abuse In view of the survey results, the Directorate of Education in Delhi released a circular, in which it found the survey report to be very alarming. The DoE immediately instructed the deputy directors of the department spread across the districts to take appropriate measures to counsel the offending students on a regular basis with the help of emotional vocational guidance counselors. The survey emphasised greatly on arresting the spread of substance abuse in schools across the capital city. Another survey by Dechenla Tsering, Ranabir Pal, and Aparajita Dasgupta1 (Title: Substance use among adolescent high school students in India: A survey of knowledge, attitude, and opinion, 2010) found that despite knowing of the harmful effects of substance use, young people picked up the habit.

to maintain confidentiality or to alert the school authorities or principal on the issue of drug abuse by a student. The reason for the indecision stems from the fact that institutions invariably throw out the child without extending any help. In New Delhi the situation appears to be very bad, especially in the government schools. The state’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recently conducted a sample survey between April and August this year among government schools and officials were “alarmed” at the outcome. The DGHS survey across 39 schools found that students in 16 schools abuse substances. In some schools, 1/4th of the number of students are found to be abusers; in some other schools, over 50% of the students abuse substance.

The survey suggested the following: 1. Comprehensive prevention and control programmes in the community and in schools targeting young adults and their parents and other members of the extended family members 2. Effective steps needed to encourage in shaping the attitude of school kids toward self-confidence and adequacy 3. To prevent risk behaviour among young adults The researchers of the survey found that abuse of substance including tobacco and alcohol has become a worldwide problem impacting millions of young adults and small children. In India, a survey by an NGO disclosed that 63.6 % of patients visiting hospitals for treatment were introduced to substances at an age below 15 years.

No sensitisation programmes A report by another NGO stated that about 13.1% of the people abusing drugs in India are less than 20 years in age. The report said opium, heroin, cannabis, propoxyphene and alcohol are the five most common drugs being abused by children in the country. Unfortunately, in India there are no sensitisation programmes on drug abuse in schools or for children out of school. As a matter of fact, India still does not have a policy on substance abuse. As such, there is a high incidence of charging children under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The Government of Telangana has just sounded the bugle. However, the real fight against drug abuse is yet to begin in a full-fledged manner. august 17

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Cover Story

Q&A How serious and widespread is the abuse of drugs among school students in India? Dr. Sudha: To my knowledge, there isn’t much possibility among schools in the southern states. Dr. GULATI: It’s suicidal for all, especially those who are young adults and are perceived to be future nation builders. Bijal Mehta: The number of incidents of drug abuse amongst school children is on the rise in comparison to previous years. More and more teenagers seem to be addicted to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, heroin, inhalants and injectable substances. Karnataka is on top of the charts in drug abuse amongst kids, followed by Andhra Pradesh. According to Satyarthi’s recent report, over 88% children from Karnataka consume alcohol followed by 84.7% in Andhra Pradesh. Drug addiction among children is a concern schools across the country are grappling with. The menace is rapidly snowballing into a social crisis. Ineffective policies, callousness of police,

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Dr. T. Sudha Director, Delhi Public School, Nacharam, Mahendra Hills and Nadergul, Secunderabad

Dr. J. K. Gulati

Associate Professorcum-Convener, University Business School, GNDUC, Jalandhar

lack of awareness programmes by schools or society at large and increasing presence of drug peddlers are contributing to the problem. Sunita Singh: Abuse of drugs among school students in India is a great social evil. It is a serious matter as the students of today are the future of tomorrow. Drug abuse destroys the youth thus making the nation physically, mentally and morally weak. It leads to unrest, crime, disease, tension and disturbs the peace of society. Nation cannot progress if youth is not healthy by body and mind. India has the maximum population of youth. Hence, their well being becomes all the more important. Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: What is becoming a rude awakening for Indian authorities is a known fact for the rest of the world: drug abuse among children and teenagers is more common than among the rest of the general public. It is a common perception to associate the college going population mostly with this affliction. As the statistics and recent developments have shown it is becoming rampant

Bijal Mehta

Executive Educational Development, Utpal Shanghvi Global School, Mumbai

amongst children as well. Various drug busts carried out by police departments in almost every state shed a light on the ubiquity of drugs in the country. Experimentation and a sense of curiosity among children is exploited by peddlers. Easy availability of psychotropic substances in the form of pills, cough syrups, injection doses etc. also add fuel the fire. The drug menace among the youth transcends all barriers: children from lower classes who might not have money become willing to do whatever it takes in exchange for drugs.

In what way does the abuse of illicit substances impact the school performance among school students? Dr. Sudha: Till date, I haven’t seen the impact, but did read that impact may affect the student performance and health either hyper or hypo. Health may become sluggish and deteriorate in due course. Addicted child enters into juvenile delinquency and other juvenile social deviations.

Sunita Singh

Principal, SGVP International School, Ahmedabad

Zaara Zia Amity Law School, Noida

Dr. Gulati: Poor school board results across the country speak for themselves. One of the reasons for the drug menace among youth is to the lure to earn quick money. Bijal Mehta: Drug use has become more prevalent today than at any other time. Students are using drugs that modify their mental, emotional and behavioural functioning. A combination of factors comes into play for a drug addict, such as family environment, peer circle, physiological and mental factors etcetera. Research shows that there is definite link between teen substance abuse and how well you do in school. Teens who abuse drugs have lower grades, poor concentration in class, poor discipline and interest in learning, a higher rate of absenteeism from school and other activities leading to poor academic performance, and an increased potential for dropping out of school. There is also high risk of delinquency, teenage pregnancy and depression. Sunita Singh: It is said that ‘Healthy mind resides in healthy body’. Abuse of illicit substances affects the students physically

Ananya Sharma Amity Law School, Noida

and morally. Drug abuse has negative effect on kidney, brain, nervous system. It leads to loss of appetite and memory, brings drowsiness and also affects stamina and strength of individual. Student becomes irregular in reporting to school. They fail to complete their assignment, shirk away from academic responsibility. Thus, unhealthy mind and body leads to their bad school performance and low grades.

performance in school. Not only such ill-effects cause a slip in children’s grades, they directly affect the holistic development that school life strives to provide. A sudden dip in academic performance is often the first sign that schools as well as parents notice among children affected by drug abuse. Children who become addicted to drugs lose the ability to concentrate, analyze, reason, and even communicate with peers and teachers. Drug abuse turns children into withdrawn versions of themselves who are unable to turn to their friends and teachers for help, thus forcing them to depend even more on drugs. It also propels children to turn to anti-social activity and make a complete departure from a promising future. Addiction not only ruins their childhood, it also sets fire to any prospects that these children might have relied upon had drug abuse not ruined their lives.

Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: It is imperative to mention the effects of drug abuse on children. Drug abuse not only strikes children in their most productive years, it also casts a shadow A person is not on their well-being in the long addicted to alcohol run. Drug abuse causes severely or drugs; he/she is detrimental effects on cognition, addicted to escaping memory, attention, reasoning and the reality. Indulging even control on one’s impulses; in drug abuse makes a many of these effects are person weak from within relatively permanent and and disturbed both mentally even intensive treatment and physically. A recovery is cannot help individuals, possible, but prevention is better especially children, than the cure. To stop this menace, recover. These parents should keep a check on effects directly the behaviour and activities of their influence children. - Heba Usman, Delhi Public a child’s School, Jalandhar august 17

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Q&A

Cover Story Researchers Dechenla Tsering et al found that 1. Initiation of substance use is typically associated with a poor forecast and “a lifelong pattern of deceit and irresponsible behaviour”. Substance abuse usually begins at the age of 13 or 14 years. 2. Students of these age groups are usually present in class 8, 9, and 10. 3. No evidence to suggest that simple information spread through educational programmes is sufficient to prevent drug dependence 4. Shaping the attitude of kids and “promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including constructive behaviour is vital in the formative years of life.

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Why is there a blame game between schools managements and parents on abuse of illicit substances by the students? Dr. Sudha: It’s actually not a blame game. Parents of today do not control the students at home and palm the responsibility totally to school. Student stays only 7-8 hours and the rest of the hours at home. In order to engage the child parents resolve to send child to overnight stay at buddies, parties outside and so on - issue of credit/ debit cards without which fear of child running away - are all other lures that parent offers to compensate the time lost - due to office work - in spending with child at home. Schools concentrate on completion of courses rather than child’s social deviations. Very few schools like ours can provide ample school counsellors as the salary of a counsellor is too high. The common issues we face in school are single parent, family disputes, low self-esteem, adolescent issues and hormonal disturbances. Guidance is provided in all aspects by the counsellors. On one side, schools are under scrutiny for any corporal and verbal punishments and the other side, parents insist on asking the school to remotely control on / off of TV usage by student at home surprisingly. Dr. Gulati: Blame game is part and parcel of parents-teacher relationship since beginning. Time has come for the stakeholders to revisit, review and shun their blame-game habit and take respective steps to improve fast deteriorating situation. Bijal Mehta: The parents should first accept that there is a problem. The second step should

be to work collectively to find a solution. Blame game will not help. Parents mostly wake up to the reality too late and become helpless when they find their children addicted. Many parents even refuse to acknowledge openly that their children are addicted to drugs, just to avoid any social stigma. Such attitude of parents aggravates the issue of substance use and children in turn get a tacit approval to indulge further. Sunita Singh: The blame game is because abuse of illicit substance is not accepted in the society. Management feels that such incidents will bring bad name for the institution and their admission to school would be affected. Whereas, parents are also not able to accept the fact that their child is wrong and need their help and support. They become more concerned that if their friends and relative will know they would be blamed for not taking proper care of their child and will be insulted. Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: Drug abuse in India is mostly perceived as a heinous crime; a culmination of habitual use that escalates to mammoth proportions. Perhaps the problem lies in this perception itself. While law enforcement agencies, authorities, schools and parents actively participate in the blame game, none of these groups have been able to address the problem and find rational and realistic solutions. Lack of awareness among all these groups as well as their inability to work together becomes the root cause of this blame game. Before 1985, when the NDPS Act came into force, India was largely indifferent to drug abuse as a crime. Drug abuse was never perceived as a wrongful activity in the past. The NDPS Act along with its various shortcomings created

an atmosphere of chastisement towards drug abuse. Addiction, especially among children, should not be considered just a crime. Rehabilitation and recovery are aspects usually missed out on. Instead of focusing on eradication of drug abuse and rehabilitation for its victims, legislators and administrators focused largely on penalising perpetrators. While the Act is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to large scale smugglers, it fails the victims of drug abuse. Hence, the chastising attitude towards drug abuse and lack of awareness among the masses is the reason why the process of solving this problem hits the roadblock of the blame game.

Who should first take up the responsibility to stop this menace? Dr. Sudha: Immediate action by parents and then de-addiction centres. Dr. Gulati: All. Parents, teachers, educational institutions, administrators, policy makers, community policing personnel, rehabilitation centres, NGOs, community groups; religious organisations, peer circles, cinema, TV, and social media. Bijal Mehta: The problem with human beings is that we refuse to take responsibility for our actions and would rather blame someone, or circumstances, for making decisions that in the end destroy us or/and our loved ones. Playing the blame game never leads to real change. We are better off confronting the challenge head on than trying to avoid the situation. If we overcome all this, then healing and probably eradication of the vice itself can eventually happen.

Before 1985, when the NDPS Act came into force, India was largely indifferent to drug abuse as a crime. Drug abuse was never perceived as a wrongful activity in the past.

Sunita Singh: Every citizen, mainly the cooperative approach among students, teachers, parents, police and related professionals should take up the responsibility to stop the menace. Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: As is often said, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” Once the problem of awareness in society is tackled, only then can any group can take the first step towards stopping the menace of drug abuse. Sensitisation towards the drug menace must take place. Schools must step up to take the responsibility to instill among children the awareness of drug abuse, not just instructing them to not use drugs but focus on creating an understanding of the ill-effects of drug abuse. Schools can create an understanding atmosphere so that children are encouraged to seek help and even report activities of drug abuse around them. Parents also need to understand the implications of drug abuse and communicate with their children. It is often reported that parents are oblivious to acts of drug abuse taking place under their own roof.

What should be the role of the government and its different wings, like departments like narcotics control, police and health, in eradicating this menace? Dr. Sudha: Government is nothing but people, police also without cooperation from people cannot function independently. Only thing they can do is build awareness campaigns, restriction the entry of narcotic drugs into the country, close shops and liquor shops near the schools. Dr. Gulati: Government should take the help of three Es: efficiency, effectiveness, and economy to combat the menace. Bijal Mehta: Indian laws to barricade drug-abuse: Following Directive Principles of State Policy, UN Convention, the legal framework and the present scheme, which are enacted as to prevent the coming generations from this evil should essentially be implemented. The Constitution: august 17

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Cover Story

Q&A

Article 47 of the Constitution of India under the Directive Principles of State Policy directs the State to Endeavour to bring about prohibition of consumption, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health. UN Conventions: The Government of India is a signatory to the following three UN Conventions on the subject:a) Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, as amended by the Protocol of 1972 on Narcotic Drug b) Convention on Psychotropic Substance, 1971, and c) Convention on Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance, 1988. The NDPS Act, 1985: Article 253 of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to legislate for the purpose of discharging obligations under international conventions and foreign treaties. Accordingly, the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 was enacted in November, 1985, to give effect to the provisions of the existing UN

Conventions. It contains stringent provisions for the control and regulation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, and provides an essential framework and appropriate provisions for administrative actions. Sunita Singh: Government and its various wings can play a major role in eradicating the menace by: Planning school curriculum to make the students face the life. Value education should form a part of learning; Narcotics and police department should work in more vigilant manner to prevent drug trafficking and trade; More counselling centres and rehabilitation centres to deal with drug abuse should be set; Government and voluntary organisation should work to de addict people and spread awareness against the menace of drug abuse; Police must check drugs smuggling and trafficking; Strict punishment should be given to people found in drug trafficking.

Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: The role of the government and its wings in respect of the problem of drug abuse has been largely penalising in nature. Narcotics Control Bureau and State Police departments have solely focused on stopping smugglers and arresting perpetrators. On the other hand, public health Narcotics departments have focused on treating drug addicts. Their Control impact, however, is questionable Bureau and at best due to the rising numbers State Police of drug addicts across the country. departments The Narcotics Control Bureau have solely and State Police departments focused on stopping are simply doing what smugglers and they are told. What is arresting perpetrators. required to tackle On the other hand, the drug problem public health departments in its entirety is have focused on treating a shift in the government’s drug addicts.

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approach towards drug abuse. The government needs to acknowledge its role as a harbinger of positive change in society and not just a penalizing authority. In the name of rehabilitation, the government sets up de-addiction centers but this is not enough. In simple terms, financial as well as human resources must be allocated by the government towards this issue in order to adopt a holistic approach towards the menace of drug abuse.

What are the ways to sensitise students, parents, teachers, school managements and government officials on the negative impact of drug abuse? Dr. Sudha: What else is more effective other than audio and video media? People do not have patience to listen but have patience to see mobile, movies and chat sessions. Using that media is more effective. Dr. Gulati: To me, the flip side of the drug menace is well-known to all the stakeholders. Only, through regular and intermittent reminders like workshops, seminars, nukkar nataks, debates and discussions by the electronic media on prime time, short and crisp movies, including web series especially on social media tools like Facebook, WhatsApp, You Tube, Twitter, and Google+ can be made use of. It is pertinent to point out that with effect from 2017-18 academic session, UGC has made “Drug Prevention and Control” as a compulsory subject at the UG level for all disciplines in GNDU and its affiliated colleges.

Bijal Mehta: Efforts to fight drug abuse must occur in the schools since they provide a major influence in transmitting values, standards, and information to children. Early intervention and prevention activities should characterise a school’s drug abuse programme. “Saying No” is one example of a drug abuse prevention programme, which schools can undertake by emphasising and teaching students to resist peer pressure and practicing reasons for not taking drugs. The approach, targeted at sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, uses methods such as role modelling, videotaped practice, and assertiveness training to help students learn how to refuse drugs. The National Institute of Drug Abuse sponsors “Just Say No” clubs that offer booklets, pins, and T-shirts. Collaborative plans should be made with parents, school boards, treatment agencies, and concerned groups within the community to ensure successful programmes. Security measures should be implemented to eliminate drugs from school premises and school functions. A comprehensive drug curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12 should be constructed. Teachers should receive appropriate training to participate in the programme. Teachers exert a significant influence on students’

attitudes, knowledge, and opinions. They can complement a school’s drug abuse programme by incorporating drug abuse prevention strategies into their subject at any grade level. The first step when suspecting drug abuse is to notify the appropriate school committee if one exists. Otherwise, the teacher should express concern to the student and to the parents, citing observed behaviour’s. Students who have been abusing drugs should be referred to professionals for help. Intervention strategies must be supported by the school principal. Principals need to provide opportunities for teachers to meet for discussions about drug use and how they can fight the problem. They must inform students and parents that teachers have been authorised to communicate their concern. They need to have professionals available to counsel students. Finally, principals should follow up with students and/or parents after school personnel have intervened. Sunita Singh: Students must be provided proper guidance, direction and objective by their parents and teachers. Teachers and parents must be observant about the students’ activities and behaviour. Children must be heard. Parents must give them time, must provide more care, attention and love to their children.

Sensitisation programmes in school for students, teachers and parents should be organised. Encourage development of personal social skills and values in students. Students should be treated fairly; students should be made clear expectations from them. Teaching- learning should be interactive. Classroom atmosphere should be non threatening and non judgemental. Audio, video and print media must contribute in campaigning against the impact of drug abuse. In movies this menace should not be glorified. Zaara Zia & Ananya Sharma: The first step in sensitising parents, students, school managements and government officials on negative impact of drug abuse is creating awareness among these groups so that they understand drug abuse in its entirety. An underlying problem among these groups is that they only know of drug abuse as a crime. Programmes must be approachable and understandable so that children, parents and the rest of these groups can easily understand the meaning of drug abuse and its implications. Children in particular must be sensitised towards the ill-effects of drug abuse and what a negative impact drug abuse creates on the future of these children. Schools and government officials must be made to realize their impact on society and how their actions affect the society at large. These sensitisation-prevention programmes may mirror the successful family planning programmes in India which have had a major impact across India. Execution of such programmes is key for their success; the burden of this execution must be effectively dealt with to win the fight against drug abuse. august 17

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Mentoring Ms. Nancy Principal, Maria Public School, Kottayam

Q

What do principals view as their most significant contribution to the daily operations of their school? Principal’s view on their most significant contribution may vary as they see it. What is important here to understand is the most important contribution of the principal to the daily life of a school from the community’s perspective?

PRINCIPAL

AS LEADER This interview is last of a series of responses from eminent academician. Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey, Principal, Ahlcon International School, (Global Perspective, Indian Values) responds to the questions of Principals about effective qualities of ‘Principal as Leader’

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The principal is the father/ mother figure, a mentor, a guide, conscience keeper, protector and upholder of the values.

How accessible is the principal? How inspiring and hands on the principal are? How are you leading learning? What is your visibility? These are the important questions to be answered. Rest will follow! I would hesitate several times over to count the administrative/ managerial work as a significant contribution.

Mr. Jagdeep Principal, Shiksha the School, Bathinda, Punjab

Q

How often do principals visit classrooms to observe instruction when it’s not part of a scheduled evaluation and get feedback on it? Again varies in the organisations. In any case, classroom observation as a routine exercise is not common.

As part of the teacher development programme, development of classroom skills, introduction of new pedagogy, technology integration or any other change

management, classroom observations could be used as an instrument of evaluation. Having said that, I must emphasise that a peep into classrooms throws several insights on the teacher-learner behaviour, classroom challenges and opportunities. Principals must not ignore these vital inputs on curriculum, instruction, learning experiences, etc.

Mr. Rajkumar Principal, Rama Krishna Public School Ranchi, Jharkhand

Q

How often are principals getting feedback on their performance? Not as a regular, structured mechanism of performance appraisal! Informal feedback may be shared by the top management. To obtain a comprehensive feedback on the complex role played by the principals is rather cumbersome. I am not suggesting that it is for this reason that feedback should not be obtained. Performance appraisal is a necessary exercise.

The school managements must devise a transparent, objective, growthoriented, all encompassing assessment system. A teaser;

Are principals ready for a 360-degree feedback sharing? How about some of the reputable organisations doing away with the employee appraisal altogether as practised in the corporate world?

Ms. Lakshmi Rao Principal, Prestige Public School, Bengaluru

Q

How much autonomy do school leaders have to make campusbased decisions? Depends on the situation and the nature of the issue involved. By and large, operational matters of routine nature are free from the larger decision matrix. Policy issues, disciplinary matters, liaison issues do invite the involvement of the higher management. Many schools have defined the contours of the operational domain; academics for principals, finance to the management and administration, resource management, etc. to the joint operation. Though, it must be said in all fairness that such straight jacketing does not necessarily lead to efficiency.

Ms. Usha T Principal, International Public School, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Q

In what way are leaders teachers?

In every sense of the term; from the basic training to the job requirement to the role of leadership in driving learning, I have argued it in the earlier editions that most of the principals have reached their position on the strength of their training and experience in teaching. How can they think of abandoning them once they become a principal? Yes, one becomes more of a coach, mentor, motivator, trainer and instructional leader. But teaching runs across all these roles. Considering the enormous expectation a school principal elicits, his/ her role as a community leader assumes greater significance.

Mr. Jayachandra Principal, Camford Public School, Mangalore

Q

How does the school leadership ensure equity of learning opportunities and support for innovation? Learning opportunity and support for innovation are not an either- or proposition. Also, change is integral to both teaching and learning. If teachers practice everyday innovation in their classrooms, equity of learning opportunities will widen by the day. How do we ensure this? The leadership should define the learning objectives keeping the individual learning needs of the students. Teachers must be supported in their efforts, provided with tools and resources, allowed to experiment and incentivised for innovative efforts.

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acharya

devo bhava award-2017

October 7, 2017 | Mumbai “Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.” – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Brainfeed salutes the indomitable spirit of teachers with the Acharya Devo Bhava Award 2017.

Felicitations of Acharya Devo Bhava 2014 - 2016.

Brainfeed has taken up the challenge upon itself to support, applaud and encourage outstanding performances of teachers who transform the lives of young people and prepare them to confront real world challenges.

Cash Prizes for first, second, third & fourth positions

` 1,00,000 ` 50,000 x 2 Nos. ` 25,000 x 4 Nos. ` 10,000

x 10 Nos.

Send your nominations with the credentials to: [email protected] [email protected] on or before

August 25, 2017 Click to Register: https://goo.gl/D489op

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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE

Vanalatha

MET Rishikul Vidyalaya

Preparing for life on ‘Rishikul Togetherness’ and ‘Workshop Days’ for teachers to come together and learn lifeskills for greater inner strength. This year MRV teachers will also be trained in the internationally recognised certificate CIDTL – Cambridge International Diploma in Teacher Learning. Innovative pedagogical practices

ET Rishikul Vidyalaya, MRV as it is popularly known is based on the principle of preparing one for life’s challenges, in shortit is a school that prepares one for life. Started in 2002, the school has come a long way. After adopting the Cambridge way of education in 2012, the centrally located abode of learning in Mumbai gives students a competitive edge to conquer, present and future challenges alike.

MRV adopts a multitude of Experiential Learning (EL), Blooms Taxonomy and Cross Curricular Teaching that drives the pedagogy and methodology of the teaching - learning process. Teachers play the role of facilitators and the onus of learning is placed on the students to mould them into strong, empowered, level headed individuals who will contribute positively to the nation’s growth.

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Under the guidance of the Trustee Pankaj Bhujbal, and the Principal Kavita Sanghvi, MRV constantly strives to equip its students with 21st century skills along with the traditional values. Quality educators MRV has a team of dedicated teachers who keep themselves abreast of the developments in the field of education. The teachers attend a vast array of workshops conducted by

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Kavita Sanghvi

Inspirational Mentor

Cambridge University and British Council in India and around the world, encompassing: online workshops, subject specific Face to Face training events, the International conference of the IGCSE schools, IGCSE workshops, International PreSchool Curriculum online certificate training and much more. For the past two years MRV has been hosting the MISA Cell Meets – a unique opportunity for teachers from International schools to meet and learn from one another.

“The school lays emphasis to shift school education from the ICE age (Instruction, Comprehension, Examination) to ACE age (Agility, Capability, Empowerment). This emphasis on asking interesting questions, checking what we are told, thinking on our feet, designing our own learning, making good use of resources, harnessing imagination, unearthing problems, being bold and trying new things, helps in a variety of teaching methodologies and practices.” says Kavita Sanghvi.

The school also conducts a number of in-house workshops

With continual excellence in academics and after achieving

great results in primary and secondary Checkpoints and IGCSE exams, the school is also set out to deliver the A and AS (Advanced Supplementary) level courses. Co-curricular activities Through sports, yoga and arts, students learn to appreciate and imbibe, the values of discipline, responsibility and creativity. To make the students ‘future ready’ MRV has initiated participation in the MUN (Model United Nations) programme, which exposes students to the real world conflicts. This academic year MRV successfully arranged its first MUN conference, RMUN, for its students. Special Education Inclusion of differently-abled students into regular curricular activities makes all the students confident. A team of special educators continuously looks after the needs of these students and create better humans every day. Unbiased evaluation and planning of curricular as well as co-curricular activities, to cater to the needs of students at both ends of the learning curve, makes MRV a place, students look forward to come to. Going Green MRV Green World, an ongoing process of making compost, recycling and reusing enables all

the students, teachers and parents to directly or indirectly involve their efforts into making the Earth a better place to live. MRV Green World arranges a Green Mela that raises funds by selling green goods, which are given to charity by the school. Parents and Teachers Accord The more parents and teachers share relevant information with each other about a student, the better equipped both will be to help that student achieve academically. Keeping this in mind there are a number of opportunities for two-way communication throughout the academic year. Parent-teacher organisation, Rishikul Teachers Workshop Day (RTWD) includes various selfdevelopment workshops wherein parents participate in some of the training programmes. Weekly or monthly folders of student work are sent home for parent review. An excellent counseling team of teachers always work on emotional or psychological problems faced by students. MRV’s Pre-primary section begins their Pre-school with mothers and their toddlers with regular communication using technology and meetings to ensure the

smooth functioning of the school curriculum and goals. Awards • British Council’s International School Award 2014 – 17 • ‘The India’s School Merit Awards 2016’ by Education Today Co. • MRV is Ranked No.1 in Maharashtra amongst India’s Top 10 Montessori’ • Project Search – Award of Honour by Teri – 2015-16 • Teach a Man to Fish – Business Growth Winner Stage 2 - 2016 • Winner MISA Synergy Resource Management 2016-17 International Participation MRV is an enthusiastic participant in various National and International competitions. One such competition is “Advance to Australia – Austrade” a video making competition, organised by Australian Trade Commission along with Cambridge Advance English. MET Rishikul Vidyalaya continuously grows and expands its horizons to create academically successful and responsible global citizens. august 17

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Education

Mihaela-Viorica Ruşitoru Doctor in Education Sciences, France

What Indian teachers

gained from Finland!

or quite some time now, Indian teachers have been visiting Finland to learn about its system. The Koulu Group from Helsinki http://koulugroup.com/ conducted a survey based on the questionnaire method with a sample of 36 teachers, consultants and school heads. Here is an analysis.

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Majority of the visiting faculty were interested in early childcare education and the approaches to STEM education. 69% of Indian teachers pay particular attention to this area. It can be said that it is primarily due to the importance of early childhood development that is important. 66% of Indian teachers are interested in social skills for children and skills for 21st century. It is nowadays

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unanimously recognised that social competences are unavoidable in a more and more globalised society. 61% of teachers are impassioned by the student-centred learning approaches as well as by the collaborative learning for teachers. There are the both essential ways to ensure a good quality for the education. More than 50% of teachers showed their professional interests for several activities, such as project-based learning (55%), parental engagement models (52%) and individualised learning paths (50%). Students involved in a common pedagogical project feel part of team and develop social skills too. The parents’ engagement seems to become a key-word for a successful education whereas the

individualisation of path learning takes into account both the talents and the needs of each child. 47% of Indian teachers invoked skills on experiential learning, communication skills, participatory methods and creativity. Beyond Dewey, plenty of researchers noticed that “learning by doing” plays a crucial role in the field of education. Communication skills and participatory methods help children to collaborate with one other, to work together, to have common goals and to become more involved in group and afterwards, in the society. Personally, I believe that creativity is a cornerstone for the education and teachers have to stimulate it from early age to increase sensitivity for music, arts, sport, literature, poetry, nature and so on. At the same time, 47% of teachers from India are eager to learn the best practices from Finnish schools. Sharing knowledge and skills could be a professional enrichment no to change the own education system but rather to adapt innovating methods to the national framework. 44% or teachers noticed the importance of phenomenon-based learning, use of technologies as well as the practical skills

(https://www.franceculture.fr/ emissions/la-question-du-jour/ comment-les-ecrans-retardentils-le-developpement-delenfant). This challenge could be overtaken by practical skills and collaborative activities like agriculture or wood work.

(cooking, wood work, agricultural work, etc.). The phenomenonbased learning is an innovative way to teach in inter-disciplinary approach. Even if new technologies are more and more used during the learning and teaching process, researchers draw an alarm signal on this issue because, according to the latest Canadian researches published a month ago, each half-hour spent by a child in front of a screen entails a 49% increase of the risk of delay in language learning. The crucial problem is that child used these new technologies alone, no in collaboration with parents

Communication skills and participatory methods help children to collaborate with one other, to work together, to have common goals and to become more involved in group and afterwards, in the society.

Attention is focussed on special needs education, sharedleadership governance and classroom management. 41% of teachers recognised the usefulness of education for children with special needs, but also the value of mutual governance in education and the skills needed to successfully deal with a classroom. Other contents are mentioned by teachers in different degrees of priority, as following: assessment and learning outcomes as well as learning materials (38%), foreign languages teaching (33%), but also artistic education, career counselling and Finnish education system (30%) and lastly didactics of sciences, mathematics and mother language (22%). This panoply of skills completed the core competencies. Coming to conclusion, I checked on the spot and identified the most valuable contents for Indian teachers training. Among the priorities called upon, we can track down more or less the core competencies fixed up by the European Union in 2006 for all learners from the Member States. In complementary to the list furnished, Indian teachers proposed other topics such as: happy and integrated learning, curriculum design development, trust and multicultural skills, sport education and education policies. Using these skills as weapons, teachers will be able to provide a good quality education and consequently, change the world for the better. august 17

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Special Report

Venkat Pulapaka

Creating learning

spaces for 21 century st

lassrooms in India continue to be boxes along a long corridor with poor ventilation. For years now, both the central and state governments have been debating on developing innovative learning spaces in schools for a child-friendly learning experience. But, their attempts have been ineffective so far. The situation is more or less the same with schools in the private sector.

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At a time when countries like Switzerland, Finland and other European nations are designing school and classroom spaces for the 21st century, India continues to lag behind. In India, school buildings continue to be built with little imagination. One reason could be the nonexistent meeting ground for engineers, educationists and architects. Brainfeed spoke to experts on innovative learning spaces.

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Q&A

Esther Joosa

Craig Kemp

John Stewart

Traditional school campuses and classrooms don’t make it easy for students to handle information in different ways. Comment.

How to create an environment (learning spaces in schools) that enables students to collaborate information in different ways?

Esther Joosa, Director of Pedagogies & Creative Director for Making it Home, Singapore: Traditional school campuses have not changed with time. Most instructional practice around the world presupposes a didactic attitude to theorise knowledge, learning and literacy. Most school environments are far from the real world.

Esther Joosa: The school campus can no longer be simply explained in the traditional teacher/student hierarchy and as learning centres for accumulation of facts. The effects of the design of classroom spaces are rarely considered for their independent qualities or as powerful influences on learning attributes. Space is too often accepted as a mere background rather than a context that influences on how meaning is created and learning goals are achieved.

Craig Kemp, Head of Educational Technology (K-12), Stamford American International School Pte Ltd, Singapore: Learning spaces, as highlighted in multitudes of research, have a large impact on student learning and the ability to collaborate. When faced with a ‘traditional’ learning space, too many people complain about being ‘stuck’ in a traditional campus environment but they don’t do the little things to make a difference – think outside the square and make a difference with student learning always in the forefront of your mind. John Stewart, Creator, Living School, Byron, Australia: Traditional school campuses are boxed into the old paradigm of a teacher as the transmission of all knowledge. The focus has been on knowledge transfer and testing of recall to confirm understanding. This is fine when the defined “intelligence” required to function in society is considered metaphorically to be a manual – a recipe for cooking the books.

Craig Kemp: Learning spaces are adaptable and breaking down the four walls of the classroom allows us to engage students in a globally connected world where anything is possible. John Stewart: The first focus is on the design. When we mention design, we should consider the classroom space (Learning Room), the campus space and the community space and then we must focus purposefully on the interconnectedness between these spaces. Design always is a compromise between form and function - it is often function that wins out. Learning Room space: Many schools compromise on the learning space by focusing on the number of students to teacher ratio: “How many students can I fit into a room?” This endorses the traditional factory-line production august 17

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Special Report model of schooling as a training institution, not a life-long learning abode. What if we were to start with looking at how students learn - the different environments needed, i.e. cubicles for independent learning, round tables for collaboration in small groups, coffee-table areas for relaxing and sharing ideas, soft seating areas for lounging quietly, split levels - to create variation in physical space, garden areas for contemplation, amphitheatres and/or lecture areas for large mass lecture formats, cyber areas for online learning platforms. We also need to consider learning resources within that space purposefully designed for learning situations, i.e. wall-to-wall whiteboards, windows that allow people to work collaboratively on either side of the partition, display spaces, brainstorming areas, electricity supplies for portables, lighting requirements, colour palette and soft fittings. Campus space: A campus can be a learning space in its own right - meaning, we can offer learning pathways between rooms and faculties. Imagine having students roaming between buildings while undertaking learning opportunities, e.g. soil pH testing kit, musical instruments, QR/ Aurasma codes for augmenting information from the virtual to exemplify something in the realworld (for instance clicking on information regarding a plant species, etc.). Imagine if a school had learning designers – who had a responsibility for updating learning pathways with new links, new experiments, puzzles and resources. There would be a powerful sense

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of wonder as students wander. This is the connection between the environment and the learning concept. Community space: If we truly want to connect learners with the community, we must ensure schools have designed into their DNA community space. This can be in the form of co-working hubs, adult learning opportunities, café/ coffee shop areas. The purpose is to make all feel connected. The network is much broader than a teacher and a class. How to give the students a sense of ownership of their learning space? EJ: It is not specifically the building, but the physical walls and the social/emotional human boundaries within the building that determine the flow of teaching. Too often the solution is being considered in a state-of-the-art physical change. CK: Give them a voice and a choice. JS: This is a vital element of building a value-driven school. We should be listening more to our students – what are their needs?

And we can start to get students (at an age appropriate stage) to start designing and constructing their own learning spaces In what way can architects give students a learning space that will work for their social, emotional and neurological needs? EJ: There is a need for educational leadership, architects and builders to work together to create spaces that are embedded in, and reflect on change in relation to the prevailing traditional beliefs. For example, in a project I designed for a kindergarten we focussed on exploration and environmental awareness. Sinks were installed with kinds of different taps, windows were opened to create a dialogue with the outside world and floors had different structures of wood. This created for the children new directions, informal dialogue, investigation and social learning. CK: Having non-educators involved in this process is the key. JS: Tomorrow’s workplace requires community members to be well-equipped in these qualities of human exceptionalism. And we can use colour, shade, water features, climate to great effect, too.

that they invest money in changing technologies, not because of the ‘hype’ or because of the ‘technology’, but because of the pedagogy and the impact it would have on student learning. What about state-of-the-art environment? EJ: In Netherlands, often historical buildings are converted into multipurpose spaces, for example, the old military quarters of King Louis Napoleon now serves as housing, office space, a therapy for mental disabilities, and nearby a playground. This allows for multigenerational negotiation and critical thought. In fact, Playeum is located in an old building. In my design of the current space at the Children’s Centre for Creativity, the learning environment is not only converted by simply removing walls, but also by observing the movement and flow in terms of time and attention to the different needs and perspectives of visitors, comprising of children, parents and teachers. CK: Schools need to hire experts to support their staff and ensure

JS: I would start by referring to multipurpose halls, which are synonymous with adaptable environments. We can design adaptable learning environments based on a multi-dimensional constitution of learning. This means fusing technology intentionally with the natural environment with a social construct to improve the learning process and individual/group engagement.

Schools need to hire experts to support their staff and ensure that they invest money in changing technologies, not because of the ‘hype’ or because of the ‘technology’, but because of the pedagogy and the impact it would have on student learning

How can learning spaces enable students to be creative? EJ: Contemporary education needs attention to the shift in education and attention to non-academic integration that includes social-emotional learning. In my work for Playeum, I provide consultations that focus on the creation of learning spaces that not only teach knowledge but stimulate contemporary learning habits. JS: This can be achieved simply by using glass windows as two sided interactive spaces. Using grids and angles, students can map ideas in tandem on the different sides of the window drawing a protractor with 180 degree angles on the floor around the door swing, teaches angles every time a student moves across the threshold. Imagine a table top that doubles as a white-board and a display space. This allows students to collaborate together and then by raising their table top where all their ideas are presented they can immediately generate gallery display walks – areas where all students can walk around and comment on the ideas other collaborative groups have produced. How does one create low-tech spaces for students? EJ: Once less attention is given to correctness of methods but more to the acquisition of learning skills, the study of space will become more relevant. Space is a social and semiotic phenomenon that nurtures 21st century. august 17

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Learning spaces

Give me Colour

Shimmi Sharma TGT English, Sunbeam School, Varanasi

Colours can weave a spell of magic and a thoughtfully done classroom with a good blend of colours can make teaching and learning a wonderful experience

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ike adults, children have distinct personalities and there are colours that appeal to their souls. This is quite evident when one walks past a Kindergarten. Beautifully designed furniture, bright and attractive colours, versatile usage of wall painting and the whole class is like the colour palette of a flamboyant artist. The exuberant colours appeal to the soul as well as the mind. Colours play a key role in creating an environment that fosters learning. School entrances and hallways with bright colours attract students and serve like a colourful cake decorated with bright red cherries. Colours can uplift the energy levels in everyone. Preschool and elementary school students are attracted to the warm colours like red/ orange/yellow. The well-executed colour palette can enhance the absorption of information and it also facilitates the thought process.

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Effect on Students Studies have proven that the children are active and outgoing in a brightly coloured playroom. The whole spectrum of colour is attractive and can influence our body and brain. The correct usage of colours affects the feelings, attention, learning and behaviour of the children. The learners easily recall images in colour than images in black & white. Colours act as cue to recall many things because the mind associates the data with the colours more effectively and efficiently. Neuroscientists have found that with colours, the information travels in multidimensional ways like motion, shapes, edges, and related information. Colours have tantalising effect on the productivity of the students. The gorgeous mural combined with chevron curtains provides an excellent source of visual stimulation for the students. The usage of green colour helps to stimulate sensory development in a very subtle way. When the colours are used in the surroundings the students are exposed to different shades and tints of colours, it helps a student’s brain to make important colour connections early in their life. During nursery classes there

is multitude of opportunities for the teachers to actively engage in colour recognition using simple décor items like coloured wall prints, multicoloured cushions and the area will be vibrant and aesthetic in nature. The usage of variety of colours also enhances the communication skills of the learners as they use colours as a learning tool to describe and communicate with others. It provides a wide arena of creative expression and the brightly coloured classroom can be an extension of the child’s bright and cheerful personality. The concept of Green Room has also emerged from the effect of green colour for keeping longterm concentration and clarity. A school with green surrounding would likely have a better concentration power in their kids. Looking at the green texture could provide a moment of revitalization for the students. Similarly,

The brightly coloured classroom can be an extension of the child’s bright and cheerful personality.

Orange colour reminds us of unlimited horizon...an unlimited opportunity to learn. It stimulates the critical thinking process and memory retention. Have you ever thought why students from many ages are writing in blue ink? Blue colour has positive effect on our reading and comprehensive skills. It stimulates our creativity and soothes our mind.

Yellow is generally said to be lively and energetic, eliciting positive emotions .The high visual coloured contrast sends strongest visual signals to the brain and stronger signals means more brain growth and rapid visual development. As a result, the colourful environment in the early stage of learning provides a visually stimulating message that can boost the child’s attention span, curiosity, memory and nervous system development. august 17

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Learning

Kamlesh Chandra Chairman, SHANA International School, Bikaner, Rajasthan

To Learn

and Live Beautifully Learning eligibility and learning efficiency enhancement are crucial for the development of a student

in learning. In simple terms, the state of learning readiness can be achieved only when we are ready at all the five levels - body, brain, mind, energy and consciousness. We can take the desired leap in our life if we are able to create a synergy among these elements. Now let’s talk about few factors to get learning eligibility.

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earning Capacity and Learning Eligibility Just imagine a class with 15 students. A very efficient teacher delivers a superb lesson on a certain topic. After the lesson, she assesses the learning outcome of her class. She conducts a test of 10 marks. What do you think will be the result? Will all the students have same results? So, your answer is NO isn’t it? You are right. Surprisingly, the Learning Efficiency or Learning Outcome is dependent on three factors - Learning Capacities, Learning Eligibility and Learning Process. For example, we all have the capacity to become a famous guitarist but only those who have eligibility (readiness) and have mastered the process can become a guitarist.

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Body Readiness (Is your body ready for Learning?) Learning Capacities are biological factors which we get by birth and it is encoded in our DNA. So, we can’t do much about it but if we enhance the learning eligibility and know the process, no one can stop us from being successful in our academic endeavours and in fact life. Eligibility for Learning or Learning Readiness (Patrata) refers to all the factors which are responsible for achieving an optimum level

Children across the globe are facing numerous problems in cognitive development. Researches show that it is not because they are underachievers or they are not smart or they don’t care but because we are working against them. The longer we force our children and teens to sit glued to their seats, the harder it will be for them to learn and grow. Our body is specifically designed to produce energy through physical activities. Our cognitive

developments are directly related to the physical activities we perform as it increases the flow of oxygen to brain. The Jungle Syndrome– If we study little deeper about the biology of our body, we will find that our body was created millions of years ago to live and survive in jungles with other animals and it was constantly under threats. It needed to create and conserve lot of energy to survive in that kind of situation. It required lot of physical agility and movements. The basic characteristics of the modern human body are still the same which have been passed on through DNA but we force our body to sit for a long duration in front of a TV or Computer or in a classroom. Our limbs are meant for movements and action but we hardly involve ourselves in any sort of exercise which results in lower bodily energy which further results in low cognitive development. The Bio- Rhythms- Our body follows lots of cyclic processes to keep itself in perfect rhythm or balance. Food Cycle, Sleep Cycle, Cardiac cycle and Metabolic Cycles are the four important bio cycles. Scientists have proved that we humans may have reached full capacity if we understand and follow our bio-rhythms properly. As a learner we need to understand that right time, right amount and right type of food is very essential for creating the synergy among the body, brain, mind and consciousness. Cardiac cycles represent the blood and oxygen circulation in the body which ultimately results in generating energy. The scientists have affirmed that if our cardiac cycles are in perfect order, the metabolic rates of body increases

It needed to create and conserve lot of energy to survive in that kind of situation. It required lot of physical agility and movements.

Metabolic Cy cle iac Cycl e Card Sle

Food C yc le p Cycle

e

resulting in more vigour, energy and alertness. Sleep cycles work as a healing and repair mechanism, relieving body from all toxins. Right sleep cycle is essential for alert brain and calm mind.

Brain Readiness- (Is your brain ready for Learning?) We know the importance and role of brain in learning. We need to understand this most important organ in little detail so that we can fix most of the problems which we face in learning. Our brain is made of 100 billion neurons and one neuron can make 1octillion connections. It’s amazing to know that total number of possible connections these neurons can make is more than the number of atoms present in the universe. Brain is the central processing unit of the body which consumes 25%of the energy and 20% of total oxygen needed by our body. Physically, our brain is divided into three parts- Hind Brain, Mid Brain and Fore Brain. The function of Hind brain is take care of all life processes and reflexes automatically. It august 17

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Learning consumes maximum energy and oxygen. We need to understand that if our life is disciplined and we keep our bio-rhythms in perfect order, the work of Hind brain becomes easier thus consuming less energy. The function of Mid Brain is sensory data input and Pattern matching. It filters all sensory data, only keeps and receives information which is related to past memory in some way. Most of the time it works on an auto- pilot mode. It compares new actions and thoughts with the already created neural patterns in the brain and accepts and rejects information accordingly. Mid brain needs lot of energy to deal

and healthy, child will have only vegetative growth. It cannot have mental or spiritual growth.

need to reprogram or de condition our mind which is the guiding force of our life.

Mind Readiness- (Is your mind ready for Learning?)

Mind readiness means a student has 100% clarity regarding what he wants to do, why he wants to do that and how he is going to do that in the year, month week and day ahead. Our mind naturally goes under will power depletion which means after a certain time we will not be motivated enough to do what we have determined to do. To overcome this, we must use guiding structures, tools and techniques to remind us again and again what we have decided to do and why that target is so important to achieve. This is a complete mental discipline without this progress of students can never be ensured. Doing regular prayer, meditation and self-introspection can also help to overcome will power depletion.

Let’s understand what mind is and how to make it ready for learning. Mind is our software which is programmed by the sum total of what we think, feel and believe. What we perceive and conceive is totally dependent on this mental programming. Based on the mental programming we define who we are and what we should be, what this world is and what it should be. Mind is our software which controls and commands our life fully, until and unless we are

So once body, brain and mind of a student are ready to learn, student gets Learning Eligibility.

with emotions. More disciplined life means mid brain gets more energy to cope up with negative emotions like anger, jealousy, mood fluctuations and stress. Forebrain is also known as the thinking layer of the brain. Important functions of forebrain include decision making, new planning, new habit formation and problem solving. Fore-brain’s energy requirement is too high. If it does not get enough nutrition and nourishment, it runs the show on auto-pilot mode. This is a harmful state for any learner because if forebrain is not active

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not living and learning consciously we can’t reprogram it for better. By the age of 12 years our basic personality is framed and rest of life we go on thinking, believing and doing the same things unconsciously. We don’t want to change or not able to change ourselves after this point of time; midbrain takes control and runs the show on auto pilot mode. So it becomes so hard to change and develop new physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual patterns which can limit students’ progress and success in both studies and life. So to change and be better we

Shivam Agarwal and Yash Pugalia got admitted in our school in class IX in 2014. Both of them came from same school as they failed in Class IX. They had serious problems with their academics and were being labelled as weak, careless and notorious students. The day we met them, we realized that they had potential and we worked on their learning eligibility and learning efficiency enhancement. The result of it was Shivam scored 9.8 CGPA and Yash scored 9.6 CGPA in Class X CBSE Board Examinations. Shivam is now perusing for his IIT and Yash is doing well in Commerce stream. To be continued . . . (The article is co-authored by Kamlesh Chandra, Chairman, SHANA International School and Pushpalata Jha, Principal, SHANA International School)

Demystifying Math Steve Sherman

Chief Imagination Officer and Executive Daydreamer of Living Maths, South Africa.

Maths can be fun

A weekly challenge with numbers is all that is needed to first get students attracted to Maths. It really works eachers feel that they are under too much pressure to cover the required Maths curriculum and that there is very little time left to make Maths fun. The irony is that if the students are enjoying the subject and see its relevance in the real world, their levels of enthusiasm and understanding will grow. When students become passionate about Maths then their teachers will find it far easier to cover the curriculum content with willing participants!

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If you want someone to enjoy painting then do not make them paint walls for an hour every day. Expose them to beautiful art and this will inspire them to explore their love for painting. The same works for Maths. If you are only going to expose students to sums, worksheets, tests and exams – it becomes obvious why they do not enjoy it. I have prepared series of practical tips that a school can implement and this will go a long way to help change students’ attitudes towards Maths.

Weekly Brainteaser Challenge The Head of Maths should appoint a group or committee of students to facilitate the weekly brainteaser challenge. The committee will source the brain teasers that will be presented each week. They will also collect all the responses and report to the teacher in charge. The teacher will select the brainteaser to be presented in assembly and once the brainteaser is read out in assembly, it is then placed on a designated notice board with a post-box to receive the entries. The brainteaser committee then goes through the entries and picks all the students that got the answer correct. They hand these entries over to the teacher who will select one student from the correct entries to be the ‘Professor/ Genius of the week’. The following assembly, that person is called up to receive their ‘certificate’, house

points or chocolate and the next brainteaser is read out. This will get the whole school discussing the teaser all week. It is advisable for the teacher to select entries from children who do not always do well in Maths – a little boost never hurts anyone’. Don’t forget to put the previous week’s solution on the notice board. You can also post it on the school’s website. This approach will have the students and their parents working together to find creative solutions. It will encourage the discussion of Maths around the dinner table and on the school playground! Here is one to get you started: Junior level 1 ; 2; 3; 5; 8; 13; 21; ? What is the next number in this pattern? Senior level: J; F; M; A; M; J; J; ? What comes next letter in this pattern? More tips to follow! august 17

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Change Maker Koen Timmers Belgian educator and author, Top 50 finalists, Global Teacher Prize 2017

Educating Africa

via Skype In what can be termed as a major success story, Skype calls are making it possible to teach thousands of African refugees. Here is an initiative that is making a difference in the lives of children and teachers

S

howing pictures and video clippings of the lives that refugees live can be impactful but a Skype call can have an even more meaningful and direct effect on the students. In an effort to connect students and provide them a broader perspective, we decided to use technology to bring the world into my classroom and to bring my students in direct contact with African refugees via Skype. Two years ago, I had a skype call with Moses – who is an outreach assistant in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The Kakuma refugee camp houses 200,000 refugees who fled from war and hunger in Somalia, Burundi, Congo and Sudan with 55% of them being children.

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During my first Skype call I trained the Kakuma teachers and realised Kakuma has 30 schools and each of them having 20 classrooms and each of them has 175 students. Imagine 175 students taking a look at one single laptop screen. The schools have very limited resources; they have no power supply, insufficient furniture and a textbook ratio of 1:10.

I decided to send my personal laptop to the camp, I created the website projectkakuma.com and I started collaboration with FilmAid which is an agency in the refugee camp. FilmAid shared internet and paid for the power generators and two of their outreach assistants were dedicated to the Skype project. The Skype calls were an instant success. A few fellow educators

and I trained both teachers and students and the Kakuma teachers began to request Skype lessons on daily basis. So I created a global network of 100 educators over 35 different countries willing to participate by offering free education via Skype. But time zones were an issue so some teachers had to teach during night time and sometimes we needed to be ready two hours

FilmAid lost interest in hosting the Skype calls. The project became a burden because of the costs. So we set up a crowdfunding campaign which allowed us to ship 10 more donated laptops. Then we had to take care of the power issue. We chose solar energy. We stumbled upon an agency called We Care Solar (www.wecaresolar. com) which produces solar suitcases. These suitcases include one solar panel and battery which allows charging phones and five laptops a day.

Light in their lives About 30 students slept at school as the distance to their homes was too much. Studying at night was difficult. The use of solar energy changed the lives of 30 students who in the past had to buy a lantern priced $0.80 for being able to study during night time. With the solar suitcase they now don’t have to pay for lanterns anymore. At last we were able to establish an internet connection in three schools. We now are completely independent and from September we will start continuing to teach the refugees on weekly basis. Thanks to educators from around the world, we were able to bring change in one of the Kakuma schools- Cush primary school. A lot of educators and students collected money, storybooks, and an Indian teacher even sent robot car kits. During the Skype-a-thon which is a yearly event initiated by Microsoft, we connected classrooms covering 24 different countries to the Kakuma kids during two days which resulted in 1,75,000 virtual miles.

we connected classrooms covering 24 different countries to the Kakuma kids during two days which resulted in 1,75,000 virtual miles. in advance before we were able to establish a connection which was a nightmare to the teachers who involved their students. My laptop and a projector I bought disappeared and the situation became even worse because

This initiative apart from teaching Math, Science and English also talks about culture, religion and habits and sport. African students love to talk about football. We are offering the global students the right perception into the refugees’ lives. We are fighting misinformation and polarisation and knowing that the refugees are locked into the camp we are basically unlocking their world by having a skype call with them. august 17

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empowerment

Rachna Bhattacharjee Principal, Unicent School, Hyderabad

Emp wer women eachers Women teachers manage home and school with aplomb but are we taking them for granted?

t would not be a misnomer to say that women teachers are the backbone of the education system in the country. Male teachers do play a significant role, but by and large, especially in primary schools, it is women teachers who lead from the front.

I

Ironical though it may seem, while everyone agrees that women teachers are important and play a vital role, when it comes to day to day activities, women have to go that extra mile. The reason is simple, she is a wife, a parent, has to take care of the house, cook food, delegate household chores and also rush to school. Sample this: When a teacher has to attend a workshop in another city, the common refrain is, ‘I will have to ask my husband and in-laws.” Another common reason for a resignation, ““My husband told me not to continue with the job.” In an age when we speak about women empowerment, we still come across such situations when women teachers depend on the consent of their husband and in-laws for several decisions in life.

A teacher was given the duty of supervising the orientation programme for parents that was to be organised on a holiday. The planning and allotment of duties was completed a month’s advance. Just two days before the programme, the teacher says that her mother-in-law was not allowing her so she would not be able to come for the programme. A thought on the issues that plague women teachers must be taken into serious consideration and it calls for debate and research. There needs to be a balance of lady and gent teachers, especially in a co-educational school. Research has shown that boys bond better with male teachers and girls bond better with lady teachers. And where-ever bonding is

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better, the impact of teaching and the learning outcomes are also better. A lot of lady teachers are from conservative families, where the seniors of the family have opened up to the idea of the women of the new generation to work, but they want that these women must pay equal attention to the house-hold chores too. The women themselves also think the same way, as they have been brought up to think that they are the keepers of the family. It has been observed often that the husbands and fathers say for any household chore, ‘that is her job’. Parents of today have a lot of expectations from their children’s teachers, what the parents also need to remember that every teacher is a parent too!

the employee and the employee’s family. The job is demanding and fast paced, but it has its own advantages also like the timings, the vacations and the environment that suits everyone, especially in India.

for themselves, on how to strike a balance between their work and home life.

School teaching is a challenging career, where it is the pedagogical practices that are as important as the content, especially in the preprimary and primary sections. The Every teacher also needs to techniques of teaching hold more understand and act on the premise value to reach out to students. that just like her own self, parents There is that saying, ‘If the have an expectation from students don’t learn the their own children way a teacher teaches, Teachers and they look for then the teacher has the support which have to do a lot of to teach them the they can’t give way they would background reading, themselves and try out new strategies learn.’ To put feel dependent on this theory into and techniques, and the teachers of practice, a teacher their children. handle children with has to do a lot of background reading love, care and How can lady and hard work. teachers empower patience. themselves to become A child friendly teacher better employees and continuously modifies or teachers? Once a woman is out changes his or her style to suit the of the home to work, it has to be needs of students. School teaching with the consent of the family, is a very noble profession and a and she has to learn to deal with challenging one too, and often her family. She has to teach her taken up by women because it family members how to help her meets several requirements, for so that she also has a balanced the students, the employer and life. She has to be intelligently vocal. Women have to work it out

Women have to learn, to involve the men of their family in their professional matters. Teachers have to do a lot of background reading, try out new strategies and techniques, and handle children with love, care and patience. Teachers have to devote time to develop skills, and upgrade themselves, may be sometimes at home too, so that they meet the demands of their profession. Becoming a teacher has its own professional hazards as well, but quality cannot be compromised because it is a child’s life at stake. If constant up gradation is not there by the teachers, it is our students who will fall behind. It will be a whole generation that will get affected. Constant push and nudge for teachers is important, as it creates a positive stress that helps! The art is in creating the positive stress. Regular workshops with psychometric tests help to analyse the personality and then organizing need based counselling sessions. A strong appraisal system is important with focused deliverables. Small privileges like teachers being allowed to bring their children to school, special arrangements being made so that the teachers’ wards are looked after or supervised, creating opportunities for family gettogethers and encouraging ladyteachers to think for themselves.

Happy teachers will create happy schools. august 17

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Parenting

Satwant Palekar Regional School Director, West India, Mount Litera Zee Schools

Rules

often don’t

A fine balance between carrot and stick is essential to deal with children. Punishment could enrage the child and make him a prisoner of vengeance

A

s per our Indian culture the relationship between a parent and child has been one sided and linear. A parent has a final say and attempts to control the life of his/her own child. However the relationship between a parent and child does not need any definition and there are no theorems or principles to be followed, its natural and has to be with and does not require specific techniques. I recollect my seven year old son who is now eighteen asked me “Mom what do you wish me to become in life?” I was flummoxed with his question as I had never decided for him, I questioned him instead “What would you like to

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Rule

become?” He wanted to wear many hats. First he said that he wanted to become an officer in the Indian Navy. (Probably, he was fascinated by the crisp white uniform and the aura of officers and I too belonged to it.) He also wanted to become an engineer as he had a fetish for cars and automobiles, we had recently been to NASA and then he said he wished to be an Astronaut. I never compelled nor insisted he take up a particular field. Today, he has decided to become an engineer. If we enforce our ambitions and rules on our children, we may find ourselves caged which might result in a revolt from the child and create strife. Children and adults view discipline as a negative yardstick. The very word “discipline” smacks of authority and control, conjuring up images of punishments. In contrast, by seeing discipline not in term of instituting obedience based on

fear, but as education in crucial life lessons, our children learn how to use good judgment and discernment, make effective choices and create positive solutions. Rather than regarding times of conflict as a nuisance, behavioural shaping uses all conflict as a laboratory for learning. For this reason, shaping occurs continuously on a moment-bymoment basis instead of being squeezed into punitive time slots. When you focus on wholesome behaviour, especially with good intentions, you invite your children to turn towards the light within them. Just like a flower, they have a propensity for turning themselves toward this light. Do you believe your children need to be motivated by what is wound in them or in punitive ways? How you answer this question determines your approach to the entire parenting process.

The Rule about Rules Many parents get into daily battles with their children over food, which clothes to wear or how homework should be done? Most of these battles are related to our egos and the need for control. If we regularly find ourselves embroiled in frequent conflict with our children over petty issues, this could be a sign that we are too invested in our children’s lives. In our anxiety, we sometimes become ultra-strict without meaning. Driven by the fear that we will lose control and be overpowered by our children, we become extremely stern. Everything cannot be a rule. A house with too many rules will simply fall apart one day. Children who are brought up with undue amount of rules and insufficient free space to explore and experiment are likely to swing to the wild side, unable to metabolise their parents’ rigidity any longer. When everything is treated as a rule, our children feel stifled. The worst thing we can do to their spirit is create an atmosphere in which their every expression of themselves is scrutinised for potential rule violation. There is a difference between main rules and flexible rules. Among main rules, I would list respect for the parents’ authority around bedtime, homework, mealtimes, wake-uptimes, and so on; respect for the parents’ authority when they say “no”; respect for self, including staying warm and safe and a respectful tone and attitude towards others. If we want our rules to be followed, we need to be serious about communicating this. All too often, parents are inconsistent with rules or simply do not follow through with them and then, wonder why their children ignore them. Flexible

rules are all the rules that make no real difference to a child’s sense of well-being or health. Once the main rules have been laid down, both the parent and child need to contribute to the lists of flexible rules, which can be discussed and mutually agreed upon. Our children need to be allowed to say “no” to us in an ever-flowing dialogue in which two spirits exchange views.

be avoided. Whatever creates self-esteem is to be fostered. The most effective attitude toward discipline was summed up by an experienced teacher. “I assume that pupils come to school with a distorted self-image. I take for granted their precarious selfrespect. Therefore while dealing with children, I am cautious.”

Discipline, like surgery, requires precision – no random cuts, no rambling comments. Above all, More than the main rules, it is a teacher demonstrates selfthe flexible rules that teach our discipline and good manners children the important lessons – no tantrums, no of life because they Flexible rules insults, no blistering provide them with an might cover language. Discipline is opportunity to express what clothes not a matter of fitting their opinion. Our to wear, food punishment to crime children learn about to eat, interest and balancing books. the give and take that and hobbies to It is the teacher’s exist in relationships pursue, books generosity and not his and that matters can to read or accuracy that counts. be negotiated – a vital movies to watch, A teacher is not a skill for functioning friendship to dictator. His formal effectively in the adult keep, and how powers are limited world. free time is and dwindling. His When we negotiate spent. authority comes from flexible rules with our competent exercise of children, we show resilience personal prestige and persuasion. and simultaneously, model a His best weapons are a cultured willingness to learn emotions distaste for violence and a alongside our children. We civilised disbelief in punishment. For in the last analysis, who is a drop our “perfect” agenda true disciplinarian? He who can and instead learn about our move children from imperfect self. This frees us to terror to trust! take a softer approach, so that potentially stressful situations Misbehaviour and punishment can then be addressed with are not opposites that cancel creativity and in a spirit of fun. each other; on the contrary, The essence of discipline is they breed and reinforce each finding effective alternatives other. Punishment does not to punishment. To punish a deter misconduct. It merely child is to enrage him. He makes the offender more becomes a hostage of hostility, cautious in committing his crime, a captive of rancour, a prisoner more adroit in concealing his of vengeance. Suffused with traces, more skilful in escaping rage and absorbed in grudges, detection. When a child is a child has no time or mind for punished, he resolves to be more studying. While disciplining, careful and not to be more honest whatever generates hate must and responsible.

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Career

Vanalatha

I

ndia is the youngest nation in the world and in the future, it is going to be the country with the most number of aged people. By 2050, number of senior citizens is likely to treble. With life expectancy rising by leaps thanks to advancements in medicine and technology, people are bound to live longer than ever before

There will be tremendous employment opportunities for those who want to make a difference in the lives of patients in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, clinics, and physician offices, and often provide or manage in-home care.

How to enter the field? One needs to have a medical degree to pursue specialisation in geriatrics. In India: Post MBBS, one can opt for MD (Geriatrics) which is being offered currently in major academic institutions.

As pediatrician is specialised for treating children, geriatrician is specialised in treating elderly. As India has a marginal number of geriatric specialists, the scope for geriatricians is vast. However, the future of geriatric medicine is bright as qualified specialists are going to have a very busy future.

Geriatrics the future career

In USA: Post MBBS, after passing the USMLE exams and getting ECFMG certified, one need to complete residency (MD) either in Internal Medicine or Family medicine prior to applying for 1-2 year fellowship in geriatric medicine. In UK: Post MBBS, after passing the MRCP exams and spending time in core medical training, one undergoes additional training in geriatrics. Prominent Institutes • Madras Medical College, Chennai • AIIMS, New Delhi • Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi • Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Coimbatore • NIMS University, Jaipur • ASTRON Institute of Social Sciences, Gurgaon • MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai

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What is the difference between geriatrics and gerontology? Geriatrics or Geriatric Medicine is a branch of medicine that focuses on healthcare needs and disease management of the elderly population. Geriatricians are physicians who are experts in assessing, diagnosing and treating older adults. Gerontology is “study of elders” that focuses on study of biological, cultural and psychosocial aspects of ageing. Gerontologists include researchers, social workers, biologists, nursing and other allied professionals who study the biologic, physical and social aspects of normal ageing. What is the scope of geriatrics in India? India is ageing. Older adults in India constituted 8.2% of the

Brainfeed interacted with Anupama Gangavati, MD, Senior Geriatric Consultant at Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru, about this upcoming career.

population in 2011 and are estimated to grow to 20% by 2050. Projections beyond 2016 made by the United Nations (1996 Revision) has indicated that India will have 198 million persons aged 60+ in 2020 and 326 million in 2050. It is estimated that developing countries like India and China shall house one third of the total elderly population, nearly one billion by 2050. With a growing ageing segment (average life span in 80s now), elders would need specialised care under a geriatrician. How aware are we about geriatric care in our country and are there enough geriatricians to cater to the aging people? Geriatrics is a newer, emerging field of medicine which offers specialised medical services to senior citizens. Since this is a relatively new field in India, there is dearth of qualified professionals in this field. Government of India has now recognised the importance of geriatric education for the medical students. In 2012, recognising this deficit in senior citizen-geriatrician ratio, Medical council of India (MCI) along with Health ministry introduced MD (doctor of Medicine) in geriatrics. Why are geriatricians important and why can’t physicians deal with the aging people? Ageing causes physiologic or normal changes which one needs to be aware of to prevent adverse reactions. A geriatrician is trained to distinguish between normal and pathologic (diseased) changes in ageing. We are in an era where there is ‘pill for every ill’ and sometimes the older you get the greater

number of pills you take for multiple diseases. A geriatrician is specially trained to review medications, its interactions and the side effects. A geriatrician also understands the normal changes with age and its implications and focuses with a specific goal of improvement in quality of life. What are the skills required for an aspirant in the field of geriatrics? One should have strong communication and leadership skills since one needs to educate and communicate with patients and families on regular basis. Patience and empathy are paramount since end of life care is something that one often encounters. Finally one should have love for problem solving and love and respect for the elders. Is there an age or symptom or sign when one should start thinking of seeking geriatric care? Typically one can start seeing a geriatrician after 65 years of age. But not everyone over the age of 65 years needs to see a geriatrician. Everyone ages differently and have varying degrees of illness and disability. Your advice to the aspirants Geriatrics is a fascinating field. A career in geriatrics is the future and it will empower you with the knowledge to take care of our elders in a compassionate and scientific manner. If you love bit of everything and love your elders, this is the field to be in. Lastly, your geriatric patients are always thankful and you get to hear such great and wonderful stories from them which never leave a dull moment. august 17

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Pedagogy

Peeyush Khare PhD. Student, Yale University, USA

Interactive learning is the only way out

understand that we are mentally wired in such a way that we could forget what we wrote or read but generally what we experience tends to stick in our memory. For classes 9-12, schools should arrange visits to major universities Visiting universities, appointing psychologists in schools and finding in different fields where they one’s inherent talent will ensure students shine in life could first-hand experience and Every child is different and offers ebates are on to rebuild observe what interests them his or her unique learning ability the education system. as a future career choice. Such to a school. However, if the school The loudest and perhaps university visits could include tries to cast them all into the the most productive visiting research labs where same grove in terms of teaching talks thus far have happened existing PhD students could give methodology, many are not going in university environments demonstrations/share experiences to fit. This results in expense of regarding the need to update or visiting art galleries where PhD energy on both students’ and the course content and existing students in the field of art could teachers’ fronts without any ways of learning which are rapidly discuss their work etc. significant gains. becoming outdated. This is a Such field visits combined with matter of equal concern for India’s It could be argued that in a class awareness about most suitable high schools. of 50-60 students, it may not be teaching style will eventually give possible to find an equal number We spend the first 17 years of our a clearer idea to the student, of unique ways of teaching. life in schools. The foundation teachers and parents, about the However, approaches could be laid in this duration becomes type of vocation for which their developed to teach a instrumental in how we engage student/ward would This diversity may child in ways that are with the world for the rest of our be fit. When students not apply to every reasonably close to lives. It is the curiosity toward a would graduate from ones he/she finds most subject but certainly high schools, they certain subject, line of thinking to some major ones will have a strong effective to absorb. For or a way of life that a student such as geography, academic foundation example, in any class, develops during teenage years because they learned geometry, science the school could hire that govern his/her vocational the same course trained psychologists to etc. The objective is choices in the nearest future and to ensure that every concepts but in perform psychological eventually their contribution to student understands ways that catered tests on students national growth. to their best style of the subjects and to identify how they In several cases today, we observe learning. Then, upon does not simply cram individually best learn. graduating high school students entering a university through exams to Then the entire class opting for university subjects environment, these pass classes. Then, could be divided into without any idea of what those students will perform innovative ways could three or four groups subjects entail. Consequently, better because of be sought to test a where one group might many discover their lack of more effective learning student’s knowledge learn fast by teaching via interest in their degrees and end choices they initially during exams. pictorial descriptions of up working in fields completely made and university the subject matter while that have no relation with their subjects they chose according to another group may grab faster university degree. their interest. from a written description of the Good schooling must not be limited same topic. Simply reproducing information to only teaching the prescribed Towards the end, their final result- crammed from books is numbered. books, but should strive to raise Skill sets in the world are rapidly sheet, depending upon a students’ a social and critically thinking evolving with increasing emphasis group, may have the teaching individual. This is a challenging on practical abilities more than style mentioned that was used feat and should be fundamental simply having book-crammed to train that specific student in objective of an institution. theoretical knowledge. high school. It is also important to

D

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TeachingEnglish

BRITISH COUNCIL

Error correction This series of articles from the British Council aims to help you think about your teaching and bring new ideas and activities into your classroom. The series covers topics including homework, working with large classes and finding resources. Today we look at error correction.

When and how can we correct our students’ speaking errors? Read these comments from teachers. Do you agree? ‘I worry that my students won’t learn if I don’t correct all their errors.’

‘My students make lots of errors when they speak but I’m not sure how to correct them.’

Sami, Palestine

Ayşegül, Turkey

What do you think? Anup from India writes: We need to remember the difference between a mistake and an error. The key difference is that mistakes, when attention is called to them, can be self-corrected. An error cannot. Often when a learner produces accurate language, they aren’t sure that it’s right. The teacher might think that the student “knows” that piece of language, when really the student was just experimenting or trying to communicate with the new language. By praising this good language use, the teacher shows that the language used was correct. Now students know that they can say it the same way again in the future.

Why do students make errors? n Students sometimes use language forms and structures from their first language when they speak English. n Perhaps students make errors because they are tired and find it difficult to pay attention. n When many students are making the same errors we may need to review that part of the lesson.

A classroom activity - team correction This activity is a fun way for students to correct their own errors. n Students do a speaking activity, for example, a discussion in groups. n Walk around the class quietly and take notes of mistakes you hear.

n Errors are a natural part of learning. Students try to say something but may not get it right first time.

n At the end of the activity or next class write sentences on the board with the errors you noted from the previous class.

When should we correct errors?

n The teams take turns to choose a sentence to correct. Give a point if they get it right.

n When we do a class activity that practises fluency, for example a discussion, we can pay attention to communication and not worry about errors.

n In teams, the students try to correct the sentences. n The winner is the team with the most points.

n A class activity that practises accuracy, for example, students performing a dialogue that they have prepared needs more attention to error correction. n If we correct too much our students may worry about making errors and decide not to speak! n Praising good use of English rather than correcting errors can be very effective. This shows students that they are using the language correctly. n Often students have clear ideas about correction. We can ask our students when and how they like to be corrected. How can we correct errors? n A shake of the head or raised eyebrows can show a student that he or she has made an error. n We can use hand gestures, for example, point behind you to show that a past tense is needed. n Remember to give the student time to think and to correct his or her error. n We can correct what the students said like this: Student: ‘I go to the shop yesterday.’ Teacher: ‘…went to the shop yesterday.’ n We can note errors and ask students to correct them after the activity. n Students can choose a secretary to listen and note errors during speaking practice in groups. The group corrects the errors later. n Another correction method is to record students speaking and then ask them to listen and try to correct any errors. Errors give teachers essential information about where their learners are, and what needs to be done next. We can help students learn from their errors by correcting them (or not!) in different ways.

Glossary

Think about

Reviewing is practising language that learners have seen previously.

n Think about how and when you correct your students when they are speaking.

Fluency is how well a learner communicates meaning - mistakes aren’t important.

n Do you use gestures to show errors?

Accuracy is how correctly a learner uses the language.

Want to find more teaching tips? Visit www.teachingenglish.org.uk Want to find more teaching tips? Visit www.teachingenglish.org.uk

n Do you give your students the chance to correct their errors? n How do you like your errors to be corrected when you are speaking a foreign language?

© British Council 2011

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© British Council 2011

CED provides consultancy services like:

Development

Centre For Educational Development Registered Centres: DELHI & BHUBANESWAR

nder the aegis of Manorama Innovative Solutions, an educational forum framed by technical and academic experts of the country, Centre for Educational Development takes the initiative to meet the needs and concerns of diverse learners.

U

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`2700

`2300

Note: If you want to get the magazine by courier add `500/- per year.

24 is 3 x 8,

Kindly draw the DD/Cheque in favour of “Brainfeed Magazine” payable at Hyderabad

36 is 4 x 9, 45 is 5 x 9, 60 is 6 x 10, and

Cheque/DD No: .....................................................................

84 is 7 x 12.

Date of Issue: .......................................................................... Amount: .................................................................................

SUDOKU SOLUTION 48

Bank & Branch: ......................................................................

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Date: ......................................................................................

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Signature: ..............................................................................

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8-3-191/565/K, Vengalarao Nagar

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SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad - 500 038.

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For online subscription: www.brainfeedmagazine.com/subscribe/

Ph: 040 - 65 51 51 51, 040 - 4262 2024 email: [email protected] facebook.com/brainfeededumag Scan for more Info

www.brainfeedmagazine.com august 17

57

MIND Criss Cross Puzzle 13

MINE

FURNITURE

A criss cross is a fun puzzle in which you are presented with an empty grid and a list of words underneath. Each word must be placed into the grid in either an across or down direction in order to fill the grid.

3 letters BED

5 letters

7 letters

BENCH CHAIR CHEST COUCH STAND STOOL

CABINET CUSHION LOUNGER OTTOMAN

8 letters BAR STOOL BOOKCASE CUPBOARD MATTRESS WARDROBE

6 letters BUREAU CARPET MIRROR PILLOW TUFFET

Puzzle 13

What time should the last watch show?

SUDOKU 49 4

6

1

2

2

2:31

3:13

3:55

4:37

?

1

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1 6

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july 17

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RNI No: APENG/2013/49994

Postal Regd. No: HD/1180/2016-2018

Posted at PC Secunderabad on August 7-8, 2017 Date of Publication: August 6, 2017

Scan for more Info

August 2017 Volume V Issue 5

A M o n t h l y ed u ca t i o na l ini t ia t i v e

`75

make inroads into

Schools Parenthood Don’t lose kids to cyberspace

11

Special Report Creating learning spaces for 21st century

36

Change Maker Educating Africa via Skype

46

Career Geriatrics the future career

52