A parallel universe of EDUCATION

Our Childeren are now a part of a vicious cycle! the education is now seen as an investment by everyone around them and the pressure of giving returns to this investment is enormous.

This has lead to an unwanted race of marks and degrees benefiting to the parallel schools. These schools are every where some are organized some are not, some are big some are not d some are benificial and most are not :). A recent article in TOI -A parallel universe of EDUCATION highlighted this concern well. But unfortunately, the same day the paper had many advertisements from the coaching classes (double standards) :). So , now I want you opinion on what you have to say about this.Do our children are forced to these classes? Is not this parallel universe is destroying their creativity?

Please vote you agree or disagree? This will really help me with my studies on education.

‘We have exams, not edu system’

Wov! The remark ‘We have exams, not edu system’ comes not from an ordinary man but from the scientific adviser of the man who represents the country, its ideology and its people i.e P.M. Manmohan Singh.

I have been following various developments in the field of education through media, and often have come across the statements representing the anguish of the people for our educational system but this one is one of the bests and straight forward to ‘We have exams, not edu system’ .

I this article a lot that had come in TOI and wanna know how many of you agree so please give your valuable inputs, this will help me in my studies on education and the campaign I have started to help students to make leaning an enjoyable process.Read more

SO please vote !

How much math do you really need in everyday life?

The Question we often ask is how relevant is what we teach? Well the irony is same for every one as it is quiet evident form the statement made by G. V. Ramanathan, emeritus professor of mathematics, statistics, and computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago in The Washington Post. Some glimpse of this exclusive article are as follows :

"Unfortunately, the marketing of math has become similar to the marketing of creams to whiten teeth, gels to grow hair and regimens to build a beautiful body. "

"You can see attempts at embarrassing the public in popular books written by mathematicians bemoaning the innumeracy of common folk and how it is supposed to be costing billions; books about how mathematicians have a more clever way of reading the newspaper than the masses; and studies purportedly showing how much dumber our kids are than those in Europe and Asia."


"How much math do you really need in everyday life? Ask yourself that -- and also the next 10 people you meet, say, your plumber, your lawyer, your grocer, your mechanic, your physician or even a math teacher.

Unlike literature, history, politics and music, math has little relevance to everyday life. That courses such as "Quantitative Reasoning" improve critical thinking is an unsubstantiated myth. All the mathematics one needs in real life can be learned in early years without much fuss. Most adults have no contact with math at work, nor do they curl up with an algebra book for relaxation."

Really, the earlier we find an answer to this question, the faster would be the growth of our children.

Schools Of Tomorrow !

iDiscoveri, the innovative education enterprise focused on learning and leadership, brings forth the second edition of "School of Tomorrow", an XSEED annual international conference on education to be held on December 7, 2010. It will be held simultaneously across New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. XSEED, the flagship program from iDiscoveri, is a path-breaking and comprehensive solution for quality teaching and learning in K-12 schools, which now reaches over 400 schools across India. Read more

Knowing NCF!

The National Curriculum Framework is a key document around which India is trying to transform its education. The report based on Study of 21 National Focus Groups advocates about a single core curriculum for all. Its focus is to improve the quality of education and to bring equality through education.

Some of the key points of NCF are as follows :

(i) connecting knowledge to life outside the school

(ii) ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods

(iii) enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks; and

(iv) making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life.

One of the best things in NCF is identification of importance of teacher training program. The best part of this document is its Epilogue. The letter wrote by an Mother to NCERT board about how our system is killing the childhood of our children and how this systematic destruction is fatal for the future of this nation.

However, the committee headed by Prof.Yash Pal Sharma had beautifully elaborated this issues in the document it self and has also suggested necessary reforms to eradicate these problems. One cannot ignore the phrases where the report addresses to the irony of the lack of political will to implement the policies suggested.

As an administrator, as an teacher, as an parent and as an responsible citizen one must read this document , as it contains lots of answers to the questions each of us have had in our minds.

Come on Teachers We Can Do it !

This post is dedicated to the teacher fraternity in India.

Do you all remember the expression of your child when you first introduced them to the idea of school. Well, if not then try taking about technology and its use in education to our teachers. You may find a better expression than what you had expected it to be !!

Well, on practical grounds overpopulated classes, low wages, stringent deadlines and lack of social recognition are some of the factors that have made teachers feel undone for long. But being submissive to all this has hasn’t helped the fraternity at all. One of the ways to improve this condition is to collaborate with each other, involving students and make ourselves accountable. I have seen numerous teachers in America, Britain and Australia sharing their ideas, views on their blogs. Often, this has helped children to understand their mentors better and has helped them in communicating in better way.

By no way, I say that there are no teachers in India who are not striving to achieve this. But the efforts need more momentum, more vigor and more accountability. Some famous blogs by professors on web are mentioned at http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning2-0/12-blogs-by-professors/.

I have been following the blog http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org by Scott McLeod. He surely comes up as a pro technology guys, but has added numerous resources to help teachers to come over their fear of technology. The blog advocates about the various responsibilities of an education system, teachers, society and each individual.

So come on now, it's a show time for all of us to show how concerned are we about our next generations and to those to follow them.

Olympiads- Celebration of Science

The sole purpose of education is to unlock the creativity in each mind. To make them think independent and not just pretend it. By think, I mean one’s own prospective to solve a problem, to analyze it, to solve it and most important to enjoy it.

For this we as an education system has to make our self’s free from our traditional thinking. We have to make them feel that education is not bounded to just the physical structures of schools and colleges, but much beyond that.

One of the steps towards it is making education fear free. In order to save kids from fear we have come up with new policies like grading them and taking away the feel of the competition from them. Absolutely, this is necessary, but the point is why this kids do not feel dishearten when they lose in video game, or cricket match or in any other sports.

The point I am making is, they are already equipped with capabilities of handling loss and win or success or failure. Why such a maturity can’t be transformed into them for their education. Why exam is such a painful experience for them rather than an joyous event. One good example of such educational competitiveness is International science Olympiads.

The International Science Olympiads are a group of worldwide annual competitions in various areas of science. I would like to call it as celebration of science. Where teenagers from senior secondary school, participate in exams and the top four from the nation participate at international level. To date there are 12 such ISOs:

• The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO, since 1959; not held in 1980)
• The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO, since 1967; not held in 1973, 1978, 1980)
• The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO, since 1968; not held in 1971)
• The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI, since 1989)
• The International Biology Olympiad (IBO, since 1990)
• The International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO, since 1993)
• The International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO, since 1996)
• The International Geography Olympiad (IGeO, since 1996)
• The International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL, since 2003)
• The International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO, since 2004)
• The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA, since 2007)
• The International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO, since 2007)

The important thing about these exams is that most of the questions asked are not based on memory but rather on content which has to be analyzed and answered. It could be solved by various methods. The finals at National level also includes a practical component and I have been a part of making few of these experiments and believe me it made me feel why I can’t be student again? The winners meet the great personalities and intelligent students from all over the world at ISO. They do not only just share knowledge of science but also of their culture, making it a more valuable experience.

India has done well in past, not only n subjects like physics, chemistry, biology and math that are offered in schools but even in astronomy, which is not official subject in most curriculums in India. The whole event is organized by participation of various agencies and funded by government of India. Homi bhabha center for science education – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (HBCSE-TIFR) is an institute which performs the major role in conducting and execution of this event.

There are many private organizations who have tried to use the name of Olympiads and make money out of it. But the ISO stands amongst all of them just because of it content and motive. I have often heard the rare expressions form students- “We enjoyed the Question’s and problems”.