Don’t always go by the book!

Nimesh Ved

The textbook is still the ultimate authority for some teachers and students. When there is so much of trust placed upon the textbook you’d believe them to be error-free and passing on the right knowledge. But with some textbooks that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is important that we debate and discuss how textbooks are written and how we can improve them.

Gearing up to teach

Gowri Iyer

You are said to be a good teacher if you are also a good learner. Here are seven techniques that will help you become good learners and therefore good teachers.

“What good is trigonometry in my life?”

Jyoti Thyagarajan

Trigonometry need’nt be as scary as it sounds. If you know the right directions to point them to, children understand how trigonometry is useful in their lives.

Letting children think things through for themselves

Neeraja Raghavan

Are we spoon-feeding and spoiling our children by giving them all the answers? The next time a student asks us a question, let us not jump up to give them the answer, instead let us encourage them to find the answer for themselves.

Staying cool during exams

Smaranika Pattnaik

Exam time is no doubt a stressful time for both the students and the teachers and parents. But this is also the time when it is necessary that everybody involved stays calm in order to be better prepared.

Gap year – lost in translation

Kiran Gandhi

Taking a year off to decide on a future for oneself makes perfect sense but is there any sense in parents encouraging their children to take the year off to train to write exams to get into top engineering and medical colleges? If a student is taking time off in life let it be to find a direction for himself and not for any other reason.

Building bridges of peace

Ajay Sharma, Jayshree Murali, Rakeem Dalwai and Swapnalee Gurav with inputs from Anam Zakaria

A Skype call, two sets of students across the border and a group of enthusiastic facilitators — together they hope to break stereotypes, unlearn biases and make conscious efforts to know “the other”.

Leading by example

Rubina Majid

It is not just the role of the teacher but also that of the principal that is changing. Meet the new-age principal.

Exploring the past

Jyothi Pawar

An exhibition of antiques to teach primary children the importance of history.

Will I?

Mrinal Agarwal

A touching poem about the thoughts of a new born girl upon learning that she is unwanted.