Sushama Yermal
The NEP attends to the topic of teacher education in two chapters. In chapter 5 on ‘Teachers’, it takes a cursory glance at the proposed programme for teacher preparation, then spells out novel plans to introduce professional standards that will inform teacher appraisal as well as career progression. In chapter 15, on ‘Teacher Education’, the need for professionally better equipped teachers is elaborated, the current status of teacher preparation/professional support are analyzed and possible solutions are proposed.
Year: 2019
Skewing priorities: what do we give up, what do we gain?
Saba Khan
Many major cities in India are undergoing massive expensive changes under the Smart City projects*. Bhopal is one of the cities in the first phase. There are huge expenditures for ‘beautification’ of the city, even as one can see how the rights of the urban deprived, Dalit, Adivasi, and Muslim children are being withheld and abused.
Sensing a story
Nabanita Deshmukh
Storytelling is a popular teaching aid in the primary classes. Sensory storytelling is a technique that is fast gaining popularity as it allows its listeners to experience a story through their senses and thereby giving them more learning opportunities. Here is how you tell a sensory story.
A hands-on learning aid
Madhulika Sagaram
Courage is a trait that all children should develop. But can you grow courage? This unique workbook from Liv & Blue Publishing promises to build your courage through a series of fun activities that cut across subjects and intelligences. Children learn to become ‘even more courageous’ as they imbibe mathematical, language and scientific skills among many others.
Habitats under threat: Grasslands
Geetha Iyer
After a hiatus, we bring you Naturewatch, this time focusing on habitats under threat. With more knowledge about the different ecosystems, young minds will be in a better position to think about conserving them. In this first article, the author talks about grasslands, which we believe are ubiquitous in nature.
Protecting technological innovations
CIPAM team
Our students are always full of ideas, some quite brilliant actually. If built upon, these ideas can turn into solutions to problems like pollution, space management, depletion of natural resources, etc. As teachers/facilitators we must encourage our students to keep their ideas coming and tell them how they can patent their ideas and take them to fruition.
Question of the Week
B R Sitaram
Did you find out why the tanpura and not the harmonium maybe a better musical instrument to accompany Hindustani music? Why do you think peacocks dance in the rain? If you haven’t yet been able to figure out then we give you the answers here along with a few more questions to keep you thinking until next month.
A corner to read
Dhiraj Pratim Medhi
The reading that most children do is from textbooks, which they consider a chore. With little or no access to different books, children don’t develop a reading habit. Here is how the Azim Premji Foundation is taking up this challenge in government schools in Uttarakhand.
Do we need a national language?
Anuradha C
Hindi or English? The question on every Indian mind today. While what language we use to communicate in informal contexts is not much of a concern, it is the medium of instruction in schools that is the cause of this nationwide debate. But does the language used to teach really matter so much? As long as we know what really to teach and how to teach it, learning will happen no matter the language.
Language, consciousness and empathy
Prakash Iyer
The draft National Policy of Education 2019 was put to public scrutiny and suggestions were sought. What is the point of such an exercise? Will all the one lakh comments and more be incorporated in the final Policy? Such large scale public exercises often offer more than participation in a democratic process. They offer us a chance to reflect, empathize, and even learn to express ourselves—some things which we will do good to develop in our classrooms as well.