नई शिक्षा नीति-2020 के सन्दर्भ में भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था : INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM IN CONTXT OF NEW EDUCATION POLICY-2020

नई शिक्षा नीति-2020 के सन्दर्भ में भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था

आजकल “भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था” (Indian Knowledge System-IKS) की चर्चा जोरों पर है. भारत सरकार के शिक्षा मंत्रालय द्वारा बहुप्रतीक्षित नयी शिक्षा नीति में भी भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था पर बहुत जोर दिया गया है. आज देश जब अपनी आजादी के ७५ साल पूरे होने पर “आजादी का अमृत महोत्सव” मना रहा है और अपनी उपलब्धियों के साथ-साथ आजादी के नायकों को भी याद कर रहा है. प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी ने आगामी २५ सालों के लिए ५ लक्ष्य निर्धारित किये है जिन्हें “पंचप्राण” की संज्ञा दी गयी है, ताकि भारत की आजादी के १०० साल पूरे होने तक “आत्मनिर्भर भारत” की स्थापना की जा सके. इन लक्ष्यों में देश को विश्व की आर्थिक शक्ति के साथ-साथ “विश्वगुरु” बनाना, गुलामी की मानसिकता से स्वयं को मुक्त करना, अपनी समृध्ध विरासत पर गर्व करना और इसके लिए अपने कर्तव्यों का पालन व्यक्तिगत और सामूहिक रूप से करना. इन लक्ष्यों की प्राप्ति के लिए भारतीय शिक्षा व्यवस्था में आमूलचूल परिवर्तन जरूरी है और नयी शिक्षा नीति में भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था पर जोर दिया जाना, इस दिशा में किया गया जरूरी प्रयास है.

शिक्षा की भारतीय दृष्टि अत्यंत बहुविध, व्यापक और गहरी रही है, जिसमें यह विचार शामिल है कि शिक्षा को व्यक्ति के आंतरिक और बाहरी विकास दोनों को बढ़ावा देना चाहिए, साथ ही बाहरी दुनिया के बारे में सीखना अपनी वास्तविकता और स्वयं के बारे में सीखने के अनुरूप होना चाहिए. भारत में षडदर्शनों- यथा सांख्य, योग, न्याय, वैशेषिक, मीमांशा और वेदांत के साथ-साथ अनेकानेक परस्पर विपरीत विचारधाराएँ साथ-साथ पल्लवित और पुष्पित होती रही है और इस विविधता ने भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा को समृध्ध किया है. तैत्तरीय उपनिषद में छात्र को पांच आवरणों अथवा कोशों (अन्मयकोश, प्राणमयकोश, मनोमयकोश, विज्ञानमयकोश,आनंदमयकोश ) से आवृत्त बताया गया है जिन्हें “पंचकोश” की संज्ञा दी गयी है इसके अंतर्गत शारीरिक, प्राणिक, मानसिक, बौद्धिक और आध्यात्मिक विकास को सुनिश्चित करना बताया गया है. इसके अलावा, भारतीय उपनिषदीय ग्रंथो में शिक्षा के पांच चरणों- अदिति, बोध, अभ्यास, प्रयोग और प्रसार का विस्तृत वर्णन मिलता है जिसे “पंचादि” की संज्ञा दी गयी है जिसके माध्यम से स्थायी ज्ञान और विस्तृत समझ को विकसित किया जा सकता है. इसी तरह अद्वैत वेदांत सीखने के 6 माध्यमों ( प्रत्यक्ष, अनुमान, उपमान, अर्थपत्ति, अनुपलब्धि या अभाव, और शब्द या अगम) की बात करता है, जिसे “प्रमाण” की संज्ञा दी गयी है. भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था में प्रश्नोत्तर का भी बहुत महत्त्व है जिसे प्राचीन भारत की शास्त्रार्थ परंपरा और उपनिषद-आरण्यक ग्रंथों के अध्ययन के माध्यम से आसानी से समझा जा सकता है.

भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था, विश्व की श्रेष्टतम व्यवस्थाओं में से एक है तथा यह विश्व की अन्य ज्ञान व्यवस्थाओं से कई मामलो में भिन्न है. जहाँ विश्व की ज्ञान व्यवस्थाओं में भौतिक ज्ञान, तथ्य और तर्क पर जोर दिया जाता है, वहीँ भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था भौतिक ज्ञान को आध्यात्मिक और संस्कार युक्त तरीके से दिए जाने पर बल देती है. भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था में दो तरह के ज्ञान की संकल्पना है- विद्या और अविद्या, जहाँ विद्या आध्यात्मिक ज्ञान और मुक्ति का साधन है (सा विद्या या विमुक्तये) और इसके लिए संयम तथा विशिष्ट पात्रता जरुरी है,  वहीं अविद्या भौतिक व सांसारिक ज्ञान की प्राप्ति का साधन है, जिसके लिए किसी विशिष्ट पात्रता की आवश्यकता नहीं है. साथ ही भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था में ये दोनों तरह के ज्ञान (विद्या और अविद्या) अलग न होकर आपस में सम्बंधित और साहचर्य है. उदहारण के रूप में- आर्यभट, ब्रह्मगुप्त, भास्कराचार्य, पाणिनि, पतंजलि, चरक जैसे भारतीय मनीषी ऋषि के साथ-साथ गणितज्ञ, वैज्ञानिक आदि भी रहे है.  विश्व की अन्य ज्ञान व्यवस्थाओं में जहाँ आप धार्मिक तथ्यों पर तर्क नहीं कर सकते है, वहीँ भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था में शास्त्रार्थ की समृध्ध परंपरा रही है और विभिन्न विचारधाराओं का सह-अस्तित्व भी देखने को मिलता है. विश्व की अन्य ज्ञान व्यवस्थाओं में जहाँ महिला शक्ति को धर्म और ज्ञान परंपरा में स्थान नहीं दिया गया है, वहीँ भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा में प्रारंभ से ही गार्गी, अपाला, घोसा, लोपामुद्रा जैसी अनेकानेक विदूषी महिलाओं का उदाहरण दृष्टव्य है और समाज में महिलाओं का सदैव विशिष्ट स्थान रहा है, यहाँ तक कि धार्मिक विधिविधान और कर्मकांड भी महिला के साहचर्य के बिना संपन्न नहीं किये जा सकते है. इन तथ्यों से भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था के सर्वोच्चता को समझा जा सकता है.

सदियों की औपनिवेशिक दासता और स्वतंत्रता बाद भारतीय संविधान में धर्मनिरपेक्षता को समाहित किये जाने के कारण हम भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा से कट गए और मैकाले की शिक्षा व्यवस्था के दास होकर रह गए, जिसने शिक्षा का सम्पूर्ण उद्देश्य ही बदल दिया और इसे शासकीय कार्य में सहयोग के लिए सिर्फ स्थानीय लिपिकीय संवर्ग को उत्पन्न करने का माध्यम बनाया. आज पुनः आवश्यकता है कि भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था को भारत की प्राचीन परम्पराओं और मान्यताओं के सन्दर्भ में विकसित कर हर भारतीय को आध्यात्मिक और आत्मनिर्भर बनाने का प्रयास करे और भारत को पुनः विश्वगुरु के रूप में स्थापित किया जाये. भारत ने शून्य, दसमलव पद्धति, योग, आयुर्वेद, स्थापत्य, शिल्प, रसायन और खगोलविज्ञान  समेत अनेक क्षेत्रों में भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा के दम पर अनेकों उपलब्धियां हासिल की, परन्तु कभी भी अपने को आक्रान्ता और महाशक्ति के रूप में स्थापित नहीं किया बल्कि वह सदियों से विश्वगुरु के रूप में दुनिया को प्रेरणा देता रहा है और “वसुधैव-कुटुम्बकम” के आदर्श पर चलता रहा है. यही कारण है कि प्राचीन काल से ही भारत के संपर्क में आये लोगों ने भारत का यशोगान किया है और भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा की प्रसंशा की है, इनमें मेगास्थनीज़, अल-बरुनी, विलियम जोंस, चार्ल्स विल्किंस, कोलिन मकान्ज़ी, मैक्स-मूलर, एनी बेसेंट समेत अनेकानेक- अनगिनत विद्वान् शामिल है. आज पूरी दुनिया भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा को अपनाते हुए आगे बढ़ना चाहती है ताकि वैश्विक शांति के साथ-साथ सह-अस्तित्व और सतत आर्थिक विकास को सुनिश्चित किया जा सके. अतः ये उपयुक्त समय है, जब एक देश के रूप में भारत का हर एक नागरिक भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा को न सिर्फ अपनाये बल्कि इसके प्रचार प्रसार का माध्यम भी बने, जिससे भारत पुनः विश्वगुरु के दर्जे को प्राप्त कर वैश्विक विकास की दशा व दिशा निर्धारित कर सके.

भारत की नयी शिक्षा नीति के अनुसार, भारतीय ज्ञान व्यवस्था में प्राचीन भारत का ज्ञान और आधुनिक भारत में इसके योगदान और इसकी सफलताओं और चुनौतियों और शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य, पर्यावरण आदि के संबंध में भारत की भविष्य की आकांक्षाओं की स्पष्ट समझ शामिल होगी। मूलभूत स्तर से आगे के सभी पाठ्यक्रम और शिक्षाशास्त्र को भारत और स्थानीय संदर्भ में, दृढ़ता से निहित करने के लिए फिर से डिजाइन किया जाएगा और संस्कृति, परंपराओं, विरासत, रीति-रिवाजों, भाषाओं, दर्शन, भूगोल, प्राचीन और समकालीन ज्ञान, सामाजिक और वैज्ञानिक के संदर्भ में सिद्धांत सीखने के स्वदेशी और पारंपरिक तरीके आदि तत्वों को एक सटीक और वैज्ञानिक तरीके से पूरे स्कूल पाठ्यक्रम में शामिल किया जाएगा।  । यह सुनिश्चित करने के लिए कि शिक्षा हमारे छात्रों के लिए अधिकतम प्रासंगिक, प्रासंगिक, दिलचस्प और प्रभावी है, कहानियों, कलाओं, खेलों, उदाहरणों, समस्याओं आदि को जितना संभव हो उतना चुना जाएगा। विचार, अमूर्तता और रचनात्मकता वास्तव में सबसे अच्छी तरह तभी पनपेगी जब सीखने की जड़ें भारतीय और स्थानीय संदर्भ में निहित होंगी।

लेखन द्वारा :

अम्बरीश कुमार गुप्ता

प्राचार्य, केंद्रीय विद्यालय, भेल, जगदीशपुर, उ.प्र.

ईमेलl- akgkvs@gmail.com

शिक्षा: स्नातकोत्तर-प्राचीन भारतीय इतिहास और पुरातत्व, शिक्षाशास्त्र,

राष्ट्रीय पात्रता परीक्षा (NET) उत्तीर्ण  : इतिहास, पुरातत्व, भारतीय संस्कृति.

Suggestions for Making School Education more Relevant, Effective and Meaningful

Suggestions for making school education more relevant, effective and meaningful

A good school infrastructure with adequate learning tools makes it a desirable place for students to learn and creates favourable environment for learning. Hence, school infrastructure should be developed with all basic amenities including enriching modern lab equipments, library books & sports tools. Educational Research Institutions should enlist and develop class wise practical toolkits & these toolkits should be provided to all schools for student’s use. E-granthalaya & all available e-learning materials should be made accessible to all students through Digital Library of vidyalaya and some assignments to be given to students regarding this to go through and submit their view on any e-book / audio-video material. For ensuring this sufficient fund should be allocated to schools. The amount collected through Education cess must be utilised for the provision of quality school education specifically. Public funding through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & parents or any tax payers should be allowed at school level and these contributions should be made 100% tax free under IT rules.

Parent-Teacher Associations should be made effective. Parents and local famous scientists, scholars, artists & sports personalities should be invited in school for interaction with students & skill training.

Teaching –learning should be activity & problem solving method based. Pedagogy must evolve to make education holistic, integrated, experiential, discovery oriented, learner-centred, discussion based, flexible and enjoyable.  40-50% Open ended question should be asked in examinations & students own oral and written views should be given weightage & appreciated. Students should be given flexibility in choosing topic of their project & submission of given projects. Educational excursion & visit of historic sites must be a part of school curriculum and report on such visits should be recorded & evaluated. Teachers should be given autonomy in choosing teaching methodology and arranging their classes as per their need & nature rather restricting them to typical class teaching. Participative approach of teaching should be developed with the help of students.

Curriculum should be updated immediately. New emerging, current, contemporary and useful topic should be included & outdated, irrelevant, biased & unauthentic topics must be removed from curriculum immediately. History books need to be changed urgently, which are glorifying invaders and destroyers of Indian culture & civilization. Ancient Indian legacies must be praised & contribution of Indian scholars, culture & civilization & bravery of Indian heroes must be included in history books. Biased examples given in political Science & Sociology books immediately should be removed for developing social harmony and sense of nationalism among children.

Written By:

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot, Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

How to do well in the CBSE board examination.

HOW TO DO WELL IN BOARD EXAMINATION (FOR STUDENTS)

SOME TIPS AND HINTS

1.      You should understand the subject thoroughly. Don’t go for rote memory. Clear your concept and doubts in all subjects.

2.      Consult your teachers/parents, reference books, study materials, e-material available on YouTube etc., if you have any doubt in the subject.

3.      Put concerted efforts to maintain consistency in your good performance & accommodating unceremonious learning. Remember, Peer learning is always helpful. Use group discussion technique sometimes along with your classmates on any topic.

4.      Adopt right techniques of presentation and organization of facts/ concepts in Exam. Draw / make flow-chart, diagram etc. wherever required for securing good marks.

5.      You should prepare entire syllabus. Don’t resort to selective study.

6.      Adhere to the word-limit in writing during Examination, if it is mentioned.

7.      Write your answers in points. Write one points for each marks or as per instruction given in question. Always write one additional point to secure full marks and avoid any deduction of marks in case any written point is wrong or repetitive in nature.

8.      You should ensure completion of at least 3 rigorous revisions of entire course before final examinations.

9.      Your subject teachers & entire school family is always ready to help you in case you have doubts in your subjects. Feel free to consult/talk your subject teachers for clearing your doubts or any help whenever you need.

10.  Prepare a regular time-table for self-study as per your own convenience & suitability (specifically as per your need & difficulty level of subject for you).

11.   You should solve at least five years (CBSE papers) with proper time management, so that, you will get adequate practice in writing especially in subject like Mathematics & Accountancy etc.

12.  Please go through sample question papers along with accurate answers (Marking Scheme) available on CBSE website.

13.   Read text books thoroughly line by line before you consult reference books. No guides to be used. Reading NCERT books is most important as very short type questions and MCQ type questions will be based on Facts and figures given in NCERT books.

14.   Prepare some bed room charts related to mathematical formulas, chemical equations, Mathematical derivations, Names of scientists, Biological terms, different cycles etc. This help in memorization & retaining facts in mind.

15.   Ensure regular Practice of writing and drawing all the diagrams, graphs, Maps, Chemical equations whenever required to fetch good marks.

16.   You should not try to bluff the examiners by writing absurd and unwanted things which will annoy the examiners.

17.   Use first 15 minutes of paper reading time for reading of question paper only. You should thoroughly read the question paper at least twice each question before you answer it.

18.   Read carefully all the instructions given on main answer book and question paper as soon as you get it, then ensure all necessary entries are made. Write your roll no, Question paper code, Subject name, medium of answering, etc. & check these entries thoroughly before you submit the answer book to the invigilator. Make entries of supplementary copies on your main sheet, if you have taken.

19.   Do not burn midnight oil, over straining will damage your nervous system. You should have sufficient rest and sleep during examination, especially before night on the day of examination.

20.  Last minute hard work will adversely affect your performance. Better to prepare yourself well in advance and have a sound sleep before examination.

21.   Reach examination center well in time with admit card, pens, pencil, eraser, geometry box, scale etc. Don’t rely on others for this. Gates of Examination Center will be closed exactly at 10.00 AM and no students will be allowed in examination hall lately due to any reason.

22.   Divide your exam time sensibly between the questions you desire to attempt.

23.   Choose the questions which your answer the best first. Need not to answer the question as per the serials no. of questions in paper.

24.   Don’t leave any questions un-attempted. Write a paragraph at least to fetch few marks.

25.   Leave at least one inch margin on the both sides of answer sheet. For this you need not draw lines on answer sheet. You can start writing just after folding answer sheet on margin both the sides.

26.   Be legible and neat in your writing.

27.   Do not write entire question on the answer sheet, instead write only question number.

28.   Don’t waste your time on difficult/unknown questions. Try to attempt them in the last.

29.   Your answer should be specific and brief to the point.

30.   Please practice model answer at home.

31.   Go to exam hall with full confidence. Don’t feel any tension during exams; it may hamper your performance. Take long breath and start writing.

32.   Allow some time for revision at the end of the examination.

33.   It is always better to make use of quick jottings, touching major aspects of the topic in case of running short of time in exams.

34.   Always leave some space (at least four lines) after every question so that you may be able to add /answer them subsequently if you remember anything later.

35.   Your language/ sentence formation should be pleasant, flawless, and simple in nature in exams.

36.   It is better to attempt one word question (short type) first as they carry full marks.

37.   You can write your answers point wise in case of essay type questions.

38.   Avoid overwriting. Erase it completely if you want to change your response, otherwise simply cross the wrong answer and write fresh.

39.   If you complete your paper before time, check all your answer once again.

40.   Please refer a magazine called “Education today”, “The Hindu” (Education Plus) in the month of January, February as they carry model question paper of CBSE. Regular study of news papers specially “Economic Times” will definitely help commerce students in understanding Indian Economy and solving questions based on Case Study in Economics & Business Studies.

41.   Watch topper channel if possible.

42.   Avoid use of social media for immediately & during examination, so that you can concentrate on your study.

These tips and practical hints, if kept in mind, are sure to help you in your exams and pave way to your success.

WISH YOU ALL THE BEST

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot“

akgkvs@gmail.com

P कृपया धरती को बचायें, अति आवश्यक होने पर ही प्रिंट करें”

Making the House System more effective in Schools

Making the house system more effective in Schools

“When you introduce competition into the public school system, most studies show that schools start to do better when they are competing for students.”                                – Bill Cosby.

The objective of education is to bring desirable changes in the behavior of a student, and the focus is all round development. Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities play an important role in grooming the latent qualities of the students. These activities are organized in almost all schools in some way or the other. In most of the schools, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are conducted through house system. The House system of school is of great importance to school life. This system brings out hidden talent of students and gives them opportunity to explore themselves & develops the spirit of healthy competition among students and promotes it within school. The inter – house activities give all students the opportunity to participate in various literary, Art & Craft, sport, music and other co-curricular activities with the aim of raising self-esteem, developing self-confidence and giving opportunities for leadership and teamwork beyond those already available within school. The main aim of the house system in schools is to accommodate more and more students and to inculcate competitiveness among them. House system apart from co-curricular activities, collectively can be used for engaging students in social welfare works, academic projects etc.

The House system began in boarding schools of England later it spread across globe during colonial period. Initially in England, boarding schools were literally having houses for the students to live in and various activities were conducted to engage students. Nowadays all schools (not only boarding schools) have house names, but no physical houses mandatorily. In house system, a school is divided into a number of houses (generally four) and each student is allocated to one house and competitions are organized at primary & secondary levels. These house competitions are organized weekly in front of all the students of the school during the last two periods called as co-curricular activities (CCA) periods. Each house has a cross section of the students in the school i.e. one-fourth from each class & age group. The reason for dividing students in houses is to divide a large group of students into smaller groups which ensures more individual attention and support to students. Students would strongly identify with their house and there would be regularly inter house competitions in co-curricular activities and sports etc. Once a student has been allocated to a house they usually stay with the house for years in school but sometimes their houses may be changed due to school change or any other administrative reasons. Houses may compete with one another in co-curricular activities, sports and maybe in other ways, thus providing a focus for group behavior or teamwork. Each house would have an in-charge teacher of the house called House Master/Mistress and a few teachers as committee members from different subjects/ streams to assist students in various activities. House masters appoint House Captains, Vice Captains, and other house prefects, who exercise limited authority within the house and assist in other school activities. Houses are named after saints, freedom fighters, leaders, colors and geographical identities etc. and are a matter of pride for associated students and teachers.

House system creates a positive school culture that focus on lifting each other up. Houses should be assigned to students on random basis and house masters, teachers should also be assigned a house on random basis to lead and assist students through lottery/ opening envelopes/ picking chits for selection to remove all prejudices. Then students should be asked to take house uniforms as per their matching houses. Each house is a team that works together and students participate in various competitions to collect points for ranking. Houses may be given points for positive behaviors of students. Earned points are announced in morning assembly and displayed on score board of school on every week. So that all house members may take note of it and plan their participation accordingly. Participation by any specific student in competitions can be restricted so that maximum students can participate in competitions. At the end, CCA coordinator reveals the final points gained by all house and best house is awarded shield/trophy. Students scream, sing, cheer, chant, dance and smile and feel happy. The feeling of being a part of a certain house involves great pride. So on an overall perspective, house system can be said a pretty crucial to develop leadership quality, team work etc. among students.

Apart from many positive things in house system, it is criticized for not aligning with school spirit. Many students dislike it as they don’t have friends in their houses, therefore they don’t participate in a way that they would if they had friends to help them participating in competitions. Inter house rivalry and ego clash can be seen in house system. House system weakens bonding among class students and they have little less emotions with other house members during class reunions. In spite of unwillingness of a few students, school administration keep pushing them to actively participate in house activities as they think this will help younger students acclimate by being in a house with older students who will mentor them. The present system of organizing these competitions do not fulfill the main aim of house system and do not cater to the psychological needs and aptitude of the students of different age group and different interest and hobbies. They also lack in variety and as such do not suit to the tastes of students. Even the main idea of the mass participation is not fulfilled since the total numbers of the students in houses are very large. Only a few of them get a chance and majority of them are generally ignored. . In order to ensure maximum participation the present houses maybe divided into groups with specific names. The division in these groups should be made as per students’ interest and choice. Inter house competitions among these groups should be organized simultaneously to cover up wide variety of activities. The best of these may be given a chance to have repeat performance during morning assembly or any special occasion. To conclude it may be stressed that at no stage a child should be made a passive listener. His/ her active environment in the activity being organized can be insured only when it caters to his or her taste and effects and improvement in his or her behavior, even when the child is one among the audience. This can be possible only by affecting changes in the existing houses system by subdivisions as already mentioned.

Aims and Objectives of House System-

• to prepare a child responsible citizen, a constructive future leader and sensitive human being by inculcating in him the qualities of healthy competitiveness and active participatory environment in house activities.
• to develop peer relationships and fostering of community feeling among students.
• to make a child mentally aware, physically fit and intellectually sound by adjusting in the school family comprising of people of different walks of life.
• to make a child aware of the significance of accurate and specific means to achieve the end while interacting in competitive environment.
• to inculcate in a child the quality of team spirit and to make proper use of all the talents available in the house.
• to ensure vertical interaction among students, where the young look up to the elder and the elder look out for and support the younger.
• to motivate a child to be self-disciplined, self-reliant, self-responsible and broad mindedness while taking part in house activities.

As ours is a land of cultural diversity, all curricular and co curricular activities should be chalked and conducted in such a way that they ensure desired harmonious and emotional development of students and also to preserve basic values of our society. In this context the house system in schools become more significant as a means to achieve goal. The house system is the backbone of school activities and also the foundation of all round development of personality of a student. Therefore the house system must be made more effective. For making house system more effective we have to develop such strategies by which the system could best be utilized for achieving aims and objectives set by the school and also for a smooth running of the school.

Steps/ strategies to make house system more effective-

1. Students of house on duty maybe assigned duties for conducting morning assembly.
2. If possible house captain may be changed in a month or two, so that more and more children may get an opportunity to develop traits of leadership which will ultimately lead to self discipline in students.
3. House captains/ prefects could be assigned the task of maintaining discipline especially during morning assembly and interval.
4. House system could be effectively used for creating an atmosphere for healthy competitions during various co-curricular activities including cultural, literary activities, Club activities, games and sports etc.
5. Value education viz. honesty, sincerity, to give due regards to senior students, teachers and all elders could be imported during house meetings.
6. House of old students should not be changed every year. This develops a feeling of belongingness among the students for that house and ultimately such feeling of belongingness may be developed for the school and so on.
7. Some new types of competitions viz. paper reading on current topics, group discussion on any topic / present problem, which helps in personality development of the child, may be included.
8. Lastly success of any system program depends up on proper supervision and monitoring. So to ensure the active participation of housemasters and their associates, they may be asked to submit self appraisal regarding their contribution in such activities and the same maybe reflected in ACRs/ APARs.

Moreover the role of the School Principal, House Masters and judges are equally important. As principal is the hub of the school system, his role is equally significant in making the house system more effective. He has to conduct meeting of CCA in-charge and house masters in the beginning of the session and to make them aware of aims and objectives of house system, to finalize annual plan of house activities in the beginning of the session, to ensure the annual plan is executed properly and to supervise the functioning of house activities, & to provide all the requirement for organizing house activities. Role of CCA in-charge and House Masters is to select the competent House Captains/ Prefects with care and fairness, to ensure participation of all the students in one or other activities & to prepare the participants for different activities. Role of the Judges is so important that no program can be effectively without judgment. Therefore the judgment must be fair and impartial while judging the program and a judge must be specialized in particular field of house activities and the criteria of judgment must be explained to all participants well before start of the competition.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

The Impact of COVID-19 on School Education & The Path to Recovery

COVID-19 has caused a devastating impact on almost every sect & section of the society on the earth. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it “a global pandemic” seeing worst impact of it on human health and world economy. Shutting down the international and domestic travelling and locking down the people in their homes was recognized as the only way to control the spread the ever changing Corona Virus. During the lockdown, multiple issues related to social, educational, economical, political, agricultural, psychological levels and many more have been noticed in global societies, which have created the devastating impact on the lives of the people.

The impact of COVID-19 on education has been harsh and its consequences will be seen in coming days. The pandemic forced schools and educational institutions to shut down and as per reports, around 25 crore students were badly affected due to school closure globally during the lockdown period. The pandemic posed several challenges in public and private schools which included a high rise in dropouts, learning losses, closure of many private schools and increase in digital divide. The pandemic also raised a question mark on preparedness of the school education system including teachers training for such conditions. It is assumed that the impact of school closures will have lifelong impact on the productivity of this generation of students. Children being out of the school for about two years will have greater impact on their learning capacity & outcomes.

Lockdowns during COVID-19 have interrupted traditional schooling for about 2 years globally including India except a few countries like Iceland & Sweden, where primary and lower secondary education remained open with some restrictions. Although government and educational community have made concerted efforts to maintain learning continuity during the pandemic period but students had to rely more on their own resources to continue learning through the internet, television and radio. Teachers also had to adapt new pedagogical concepts and modes of delivering of teaching for which they were not trained. Students from marginalized and under privileged groups, who hadn’t access to digital devices for learning by own, were at risk and lagged behind. Students were promoted without quality assessment and formal examinations. Many students were struggling to get passing marks even after reduction of 25-30 percent syllabus in curriculum. Instructional time in online learning mode reduced also in comparison with instructional time being used in offline school system and practical & lab activities affected badly. Learning loss of students in this situation resulted in skills loss and the efficiency & productivity of such students declined. These students may face difficulty in preparation of competitive examinations or pursuing their higher education as the syllabus for these competitive exams were not reduced and they may find themselves in difficult situations while applying for job or they may funneled out by employers.

Teachers who are well versed in chalk & talk method, Blackboard and book based classroom teaching, were really new to this digital teaching and trying hard to adopt and handling new ICT enabled methods of teaching to ensure teaching-learning during the pandemic time to aid students and engage them in constructive manner and keep them away from stress and disconnection with academic activities. But on the other hand, many teachers associated with private schools had lost their jobs or faced heavy cut in salaries and perks. Many among them were forced to search an alternative job to support their families.

Educated parents were supporting their children throughout the pandemic, but most of the illiterate and marginalized parents especially in rural areas were feeling of helplessness to help their children in their education.

There are many parents in India who send their children to school so that they can get sufficient food for survival under Mid Day Meal scheme. This scheme has helped many children who couldn’t bring their food from the home to get their nutrition. Dropout cases rapidly increased during pandemic period as most of the school-going children from economically weaker section were involved in child labour to support their families. Parents from these section are mostly unwilling to send their girl child to the school as they see it impractical and financial burden in doing so. This pandemic has not only affected the students but also the low-budget schools and institutions also, resulting in close-down the same. Parents denied fees to these school in mass during pandemic period due to closure of schools,  ineffective online teaching  and inability to join online classes due to lack of digital devices & internet connectivity. Many parents from middle and upper middle class also denied paying fees in various heads which resulted in failure of even many big schools and institutions build on bank loan facility to run because of inability of paying installment against loan taken for building school infrastructure, arranging digital & smart classes and buying busses.

The COVID-19 impact was both positive and negative happening around us. Educational Technology paves the way for virtual education and expansion of educational reach, thus helping the students and teachers to connect one another virtually through online classrooms, webinars, digital exams, and so on. The government also got opportunity to bring desired changes in existing education system during pandemic what the government was trying hard to implement from past many years. The New Education Policy (NEP)-2020 and subsequent initiatives such as National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) came into being during the pandemic. Government started many TV channels like SWAYAMPRABHA and Radio Channels like GYANVANI for broadcasting video and audio lessons of all classes and subjects to reach out students having no electronic gadgets. Web portals/Applications like NISHTHA were also widely used for study and training purpose of students and teachers.

Students from privileged class with their parent’s support and eagerness had an alternative opportunity to use private digital learning platforms full of educational contents, to gain knowledge at their own pace and by real time lessons led by their teachers using virtual meeting platforms. These online learning platforms became very popular during pandemic and now it has turned into parallel to the educational institutions. Although students from disadvantaged groups remained out from their schooling which widened “Digital Devide” and need to be removed with immediate initiatives and active support from government. Thus, a variety of resources were used for virtual and distance learning to support students who were unable to come to school during pandemic, including pdf files of textbooks, printouts of notes & worksheets and live worksheets, Radio and TV education & real time instructional platforms etc. but mostly schools and students used real-time online platforms for their study like Google Meet, Microsoft Team, Zoom, Cisco-Webex etc.

Government & educational institutions worked hard to develop training portals like DIKSHA and online training modules to train teachers and provide support for digital learning. Such efforts enabled teachers and students to access specialized learning materials in multiple formats beyond textbooks. Similarly simulation based virtual laboratories like O-Labs etc gave students opportunity to design, conduct and learn from virtual experiments. Further, Portal like VIDYANJALI provided opportunity to all teachers, parents or any other stakeholders to contribute in creating digital learning materials for students. Such platforms helped teachers and all other stakeholders to work as co-creators of knowledge, coaches, mentors and evaluators.

PM CARES fund are being used by Government of India to support education of children who lost their families in pandemic period. All academic expenditures of such students will be borne by government. But this is not sufficient to bring back the disfigured education system on track due to COVID-19.  Government must increase it’s budget elocution on Education and utilize public funds to provide equal opportunity of education to all citizens. Education and Public Healthcare is an area in which government intervention to public fund, direction or regulation of provision of these services are must so that government can ensure that education is not beyond the reach of some peoples of society as there is no guarantee that market will provide equal access to education to all. Government should release a relief package for educational sector and provide electronic gadgets and financial assistance to students for paying fees and buying books & notebooks. Funds must be released to equip schools with digital platform and tools for ICT enabled learning. Government should also try to regulate prices of Books, Notebooks, and Stationery etc. to make these affordable to all parents. Government should also provide relief to parents by wavering interest on educational loans taken for studies during the pandemic period and Scholarship should be given to meritorious and needy students.

Everything is done for the well-being of the students so that they can stay safe at home and keep learning without getting affected by the life threatening Corona virus. Though we were not ready to face such situations, but with continuous effort of teacher’s fraternity and government support, we succeeded in providing flawless education to students even during pandemic period.  Now we have entered in the recovery phases of COVID-19, we need to critically evaluate our existing education system and bring revolutionary changes in it. It seems that the present government is taking all possible steps to overhaul and reconstruct existing education system as per need of the time. The New Education Policy -2020 aims at building a global best education system rooted in Indian ethos and transforming India into a global knowledge superpower in coming days.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

Value based Education & Inculcation of Values among Students

Value based Education & Inculcation of Values among Students

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” –C.S.Lewis

Value Education is teaching of universal moral values like truth, tolerance, patience, honesty, non-violence etc, to the students and Values-based Education is an approach to teaching that imbibed with values. Value based education not only ensures holistic environment for teaching but also learning the full range of academic, social and interpersonal skills. Value based education creates a positive learning environment that not only enhances academic achievement but also develops students’ social and interpersonal skills that last throughout their lives. The purpose of value education is to develop patience, honesty, moral values etc., good manners and responsibility towards citizenship and democratic way of living, personality in its physical, mental, emotional & spiritual aspects in all students.

It is a strange paradox that value education is so serious a concern in a country like India, which has culturally and spiritually been so rich. Reason being that we are passing through a transitional phase, where old values seems to be lost due to rapid technological, scientific and industrial growth on one hand and on the other hand no replacement by new values. It is modernization that is responsible for the crisis in values. Modernization involves industrialization which results in people becoming self -reliant and self –centered, hence more interpersonal in their conduct and the process of disintegration has made its way in.

It is the right time for policy makers & educationists to realize that without values formal education will crumble because a man, as long as he guards his values, is called a man, the moment they are gone, he ceases to be a human being and stoops down to the level of animal. Therefore the crying need of present age is, to inculcate the spirit of self discipline, sense of duty, freedom, truth, honesty, hard-work, punctuality, reasonability, devotion to duty, love for one country, justice, non-violence, secularism, care for public property, consideration for others, scientific temper, team-spirit, cleanliness, humanity, cooperativeness, service to the people.

The question arises how to inculcate these values for the desired behavioral pattern which apparently involves individual, school, society and environment. We have a blend of natural and social world in our curriculum. The natural and physical sciences, the humanist studies have formed an integral part of the curriculum, but little has been done for the moral education. Human values should be taught along with existing subjects like Science & Social Science and languages in spite of teaching these as an additional subject or specific topic. Universal truths and great moral values common to all religions, sects & faiths should be taught through words, activities and books in and outside classrooms by all subject teachers. The children can learn these truths through daily life of the teacher. If the teacher lives up to the tenets of truth and justice then alone can the children learn these human values.

Value education, thus a broader concept of moral education (a traditional term) for which strategies needs to be planned as per the availability of time, environment and other desired resources. Curricular & Co-curricular Activities, Sports, NCC, Scouting and Guiding, Mountaineering, Tracking, Excursion and Club activities like; Integrity club, Diksha club, Eco club etc. may serve the purpose of inculcation of desired values among the students and the formation of their character.

The main purpose of value oriented education is to develop moral values, mental & social values, good manners and personality of the students along with making them good citizens who may share their responsibilities in the changing setup of the society in order to give the desired shape and image to the society and the country at large. It is not only for students but also for parents, individuals and in fact for all citizens and the whole society has to be involved in the program of value oriented education.

Inculcation on Values in Education:

A value is what is desired or sought. It stands for ideas human society live for. Values include all common religious beliefs & teachings, moral traits of humans, philosophies of life and political ideologies etc., which help in sustaining the society and its culture. Values are part and parcel of the philosophy of a nation and the national educational system, since they are the guiding principles which enable us to make suitable adjustment with our own culture. Today it is urgently needed to pay increased attention to the inculcation of right values among the students at all stages of education. Values may be inculcated in education through the existing curriculum (classroom teaching & practical activity method), co-curricular activities & games and Incidental learning method (Role modeling) & socialized techniques (Project method). Educationalists and teachers must play an important role in such programs, since on their shoulders rests a major share of the responsibility of shaping the future generation, who are in close contact with their teacher community. There are a few approaches that we could adopt in order to achieve this extremely important target of imparting life-long values to our students’ impressionable minds.

Morning Assembly & Community prayer in the school is not just an early morning gathering to start a typical school day but also plays an immense role in making personalities and inculcating faith in the almighty and getting acquainted in the power of praying. A “thought for the day” following community prayers goes a long way to propagate our extra rich Indian culture and feelings of brotherhood, forgiveness and patience in our students. Community songs in morning gathering develop shared values and respect for communal & regional harmony and unity in diversity. Celebration of national festivals at the assembly time and time to time mention of freedom fighters and national heroes inspires the developing generation to develop a feeling of patriotism and to realize their future responsibility of protecting their motherhood from adverse situations and to contribute their efforts to make this earth a better place to live on.

Good literature is an indispensable tool for imparting good value education to our younger generation on whom rest our hopes. Nice story-books with implicit moral education are very useful which are never dictated rather imbibed. Sufficient numbers of such books of various levels of understanding are a must for every school library. Even more important is the free accessibility and compulsory circulation of such books among students through class libraries and various other methods. It is an extremely important function of the school principal to ascertain that these plans are implemented. It is impossible to achieve the same without the cooperation of school librarian, many of whom are already playing this key role with dynamism and enthusiasm, Acquainting our students with special schemes, such as NCC, NSS and BS&G and to encourage their active participation in the same helps a great deal in arousing their inclination to help to the underprivileged and to acquire the sportsmanship spirit respectively. We tend to underestimate these aspects but the reality is what these capabilities make a man in its truest sense. Social service programs as a part of the curriculum (SUPW) arranged according to the resources available cater to the aforementioned objective. Art and Music teachers have enormous scope to develop good habits and human values among students through their teaching. Guest lectures by the excellent role models from the society, and by some of the competent staff members including the head of the institution inspires the tender and impressionable minds and effectively teaches them the virtues of good conduct, courtesy, kindness, helpfulness and obedience of elders. I personally think it is rather urgent to lay emphasis on this particular issue. It is rightly said “Honesty is the best policy”, and this value should be inculcated in the students with the help of success stories from our scriptures. Sanskrit shlokas represent a treasure of such motivating, heart-warming and memorable stories with golden message of lifetime. Knowing and respecting all religions and patience & tolerance in behavior go indeed a long way to help percolate the values imparted by all of these in our kids. To become future good citizens who shall bring us pride, our young ones should be consciously trained to have a priority consideration for the feelings, rights and wishes of others, so that they may letter on enjoy smooth sailing in life, with minimized mutual friction among their fellow-workers and to avoid making social blunders, for instances egoism, selfishness, ill-temper and arrogance.

The most realistic and effective approach to accomplish these aims is through exemplification. It leaves a much more meaningful and permanent impact on these growing minds to adopt the demonstrative method. For instance, a principal or teacher reaching the school on time and following meticulous professionalism automatically sets the standards in a non-verbal, yet extremely effective way to the younger lot, who by their very nature, mimic the standards set in front of them. We can make this fact work in favour of our mission to build a healthy society, simply by setting standards worth following. 

Although the list of the strategies designed to achieve our mission of developing a better nation with better future citizens may be endless, I would like to conclude here with some of these simple, yet effective strategies to guide us along, and also would like to invite innovative suggestions in this direction. Let us join hands in seeking the best possible results through reminding ourselves to channelize our efforts and energies to pursue our goal.

” Education without values is like flower without fragrance.”

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

Principal’s vision about School and Academic Development

Principal’s vision about School and Academic Development

“If you think of the best, you very often get it”. The vision of my school as the principal is premised on this axiom for an educational institution symbolizes energy, activity and growth and to achieve the best, the individual who heads the institute must have the best in his mind to generate and achieve that in terms of visions and results.

Learning is a continuous process. It starts since birth and continues throughout the life of an individual. Immediately after birth the child is exposed to a new environment. During infancy the child learns mostly from parents, home and surroundings. After attaining a particular age the child is put to relatively new environment of schooling and encounters different sets of people. It is this environment and the people which affect the physical, mental and emotional development of the child. Initially, for any child who comes to school, it is the get up and environment of the school which attracts the child and enables him to adjust in the school. So, for a better education and perfect learning, it is essential that the campus of the school should be attractive with good school building, beautifully decorated classrooms and corridors on BaLA  (Building as Learning Aids) concept, equipped laboratories, music, art, sport & yoga rooms, enriched libraries & reading room with books and magazines for all age groups, school gardens with some sets of swing for children and full of greenery with plants and flowers along with facilities of drinking water and separate & specific toilets for boys & girls and differently able people in the line of Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan). Convenience of visitors must be taken care of and waiting area should be peaceful and comfortable with positive thoughts and some magazines to pass the time. The school plant should be such that it can impress every newcomer who enters the campus. Principal, being the head of institution, has to be careful in this regard and should make personal efforts to make the school attractive and impressive.

Nowadays good education is being considered synonyms with good academic achievement. Unfortunately this academic achievement of the child is being measured in terms of performance of the child in CBSE and other public exams. In today’s society the rating of a school is judged in terms of academic result of its students. The results are positively correlated with quality and quantum of textual learning of the child. In any school, teaching of textual material based on a particular syllabus is imparted by a team of skilled teachers. Learning should be with pleasure and not pressure. Principal as leader of this team has to motivate and guide the team to enable them to impart quality education so that the students of the school can achieve new heights of academic excellence and maintain the quality result every year.

Gandhiji, in his article “Nai Taleem” expressed his views about the shape of education in free India in which he expected that education should bring about all round development of body, mind and soul of the child and emphasized upon the need of the use of head, hand and heart. Schools should, therefore, have the facilities and environment to develop the 3 “H” to ensure overall development of students. For this, good school infrastructure is a necessity. In addition to these there should be regular emphasis on the inculcation of human values in students through various activities like Joy of Giving, Cleanliness & Plantation drive, Bharat Scouts & Guides/ Cubs & Bulbuls activities, Collection for Army Welfare Fund, exposure to cultural activities & heritage as well as through pamphlets and posters and lectures by teachers regarding saving environment, water etc. In the present cyber era, the concept of education has acquired dramatic dimensions. Curriculum, content, equipment, information or knowledge have ceased to be the only goals to develop a student’s personality. Today an educated youth must be equipped with not only all the required information and knowledge but he must also be prepared to face the life and it’s complexities squarely with confidence and grit. Mere bookish knowledge is a sheer waste. Therefore, education should be correlated with meaningful and relevant life related experiences and training in disaster management so that the student gets the optimum opportunity for blooming and blossoming and overcome from any dilapidated conditions or calamities.

Further, teachers are as software in hardware like school and regular updation of this software is essentially required to keep the institution useful, relevant & knowledge up-to-date. Teachers are the vital part of school’s infrastructure and “Faculty Enrichment Program” should run at every school level to ensure professional growth of teachers. The principal should be ready to help the teaching staff in solving their academic and other problems and take democratic decisions to create healthy environment of working in the school. The principal should spot the talent among staff and encourage the talented and enthusiastic teachers to grow in their carrier and competence along with the children. Teachers should be encouraged to take part in various training and scholarship programs like Guidance & Counseling, MEXT, Fulbright scholar program etc to enhance education competence. The school as an institution should strive hard for unparalleled academic excellence to be able to fulfill the aspiration of its students in particular and society in general.

Finally, a school can achieve academic development if and only if its ideas and applications are good. The ability of the principal as the torch bearer of an institution in developing excellent rapport with the teachers and students and also smooth inter-personal relationships with the higher authorities, management and parents, motivating teachers to work with a keen sense of commitment, integrity, accountability, and sincerity and involving parent in closely monitoring the studies of their wards at home on a regular level can bring glory to an institution in terms of its academic excellence.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

Principal and Communication Skill

“Communication works for those who work at it.”

-John Powell

Communication skill is the art of transferring one’s feelings, thoughts, messages and orders to an individual or a group. Principals are educational leaders of their schools and as such frontline managers of the hub of learning i.e. school. Their areas of leadership cover curricular issues, students’ welfare, personnel management, utilization of resources and relationship with the community & hierarchy. Principal of an educational institution and his communication skill are interlinked as a wheel and its arrows fitted in. The Splendor of school depends upon how effectively the principal communicates his message amongst his staff, students, parents and members of community. For improving the management capability they have to develop certain skills. Communication is one of the most important skills involved in administrative process.

It is an imperative need that principal of the school should be in useful and adequate contact with the members of his staff. Regarding the direct contact with them, there are a few certain patterns:

1. It is very good and practicable to have a vice-principal or a senior most teacher between the head and the hands of school but it is proper only if he is a real heart. He acts as a coordinator among teachers both on academic and other subjects. He can also be a shock observer between the rule conscious head and right conscious subordinates.
2. While the school starts the principal can be little early to the school and take the stand at the point where all the staff members walk in. He has a piece of paper with some communications meant for teachers and even pupils. He greets them and transacts the business briefly and pleasantly. The same routine is workable when the school closes. Thus for the majority, the principal is available at a point of time. This effectively reduces their visits to his room. Problems come to light without any effort and only solutions need be found out.
3. The rounds of principal are another opportunity to see his staff in working. Instead of sending for a teacher to see principal in his room, it is always better to chat out a matter briskly and finish it on his rounds. If a Teacher is called out of the class for a short period of time, there should not be resentment about it. The consequent relationship of the staff and head in a school enhances their prestige in the minds of the pupils.
4. The traditional contact of principal and the staff in face-to-face meetings, group-meetings and periodical staff meetings serve a limited purpose within the framework of daily routine. It is the informality of the contact that draws out best of both sides and such contact supplements successfully the formal aspects.
5. Internal communication- The way the communication is carried on between the principal and the staff, staff and student, the principal and students is important in building up an atmosphere conductive to healthy feeling and working of a school. It can be done as follows:
6. Communication through circular to staff and students- Circulars should be in simple and unambiguous language acceptable to all.
7. The talks in the morning assembly or in staff meeting should be as broad based in principles and as near to practice as possible. They should not be dominated with first person “I”. There is no harm in bringing others together and make it “we”.
8. Staff meetings and
9. Communications to parents- The personal conversation to individual members of the staff the most desired effect can be brought out by the personalization of it. A few hints in this regards are:
10. To be courteous to everyone.
11. To acknowledge person’s opinion cordially.
12. To talk with calm assurance.
13. To refuse idle gossips.
14. To be a good listener.
15. To avoid arguments.
16. To praise honestly.
17. To radiate friendliness, enthusiasm and good.

With these hints we can make communications agreeable and effective.

In communication three points play an important part i.e. Time, Place and Person. Principal usually adopts two method of communication. These are- Oral or Spoken Communication & Written Communication.

Oral Communication is used more frequently in school administration. While speaking or communicating orally, a principal should be more careful because in spoken communication, there is no chance of correction but every chance of distortion of your statement by others if it is not very clear and specific. Therefore, vague statements should never be made while communicating orally with an individual or a group. Effectiveness of oral communication depends upon selection of words to be used, tone and pitch to be articulated and above all facial expression of speaker which is termed as gesture or paralinguistic approach. Even a practiced smile on being said “good morning sir” can make one crazy (literally a change in behavior) whereas an unwillingly said “good morning” can function adversely.

In any type of communication, person to whom message is to be communicated also plays a very vital part. What principal wants to communicate does not lie in how splendidly he knows about the subject being referred, but much more depends upon how much he knows about the person to whom subject is to be communicated. A principal cannot and should not use the same style of oral communication, some choice of words and save gestures while communicating with a group of students, a group of teachers or a group of parents. It has to be different. The quality and capability, the age and ability of audience should always be kept in mind while communicating with an individual or a group. Normally a principal has to communicate with the students, staff, parents, members of society in general & superiors in department. For effective communication the approach of principal with every group has to be different. While communicating with seniors or superior authorities, principal should be more polite and respectful. His choice of words should be more proper, precise and business like (semi-formal).

All educational institutions need to make formal and written communication with all stakeholders to convey/seek necessary information, request, suggestion, progress and guidance.  Any such official communication needs to be in black & white for future reference. In written communication he should be more specific. Creating unnecessary background of the topic and very lengthy story telling type description of topic is never desirable. In minimum possible words and sentences he should be able to send his message.

While communicating with his staff or students (orally or in writing) he must develop some mechanism to get proper feedback from the receiver. He should continue to assess whether the person or the group, to whom he addresses his message understands exactly what he is saying. The communication should always be a reciprocatory process of interaction. Principal’s non-verbal / verbal communication should project his message as an elder brother to his staff and as a father to the students. Memorandum (written) should prove to be a part of suggestion not terror. Gone in principal’s office the person should come out with a smile not with a cry.

Principal himself should be a message like and advertisement where verbal and written communication may be only supplementary to it. His own behavior and conduct will communicate his message to the staff and students much more easily than any lecture or written order.

The communication need not be always vocal or written. They can be nodes, denials, assents, appreciating looks, any movement expressing an idea or feeling, but it should have a background of understanding between the two that are communicating.

Once the consistency in communications is accepted, good intentions understood, the whole exercise becomes pleasant, automatically understood and confirmed. What we cannot communicate properly and well, better not communicate it at all because an unsaid word does little harm in human relationship. Let us not write any word that cannot be said at ease.

Lastly, I would like to mention that principal is like a glowing bulb and its rays are his communication skill. The color of the rays will be according to the quality of bulb and so will be the impact of horizon.

“Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”

– Brian Tracy.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

Strengthening Primary Education in India

• “Creativity is the key to success in the future, and primary education is where teachers can bring creativity in children at that level”. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

 Over 85% of a child’s brain development occurs prior to the age of 10. It indicates that we must ensure appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in a child’s early years to ensure healthy brain development and growth. “Primary education forms the base of children on which the edifice of a successful society and nation is built. New Education Policy-2020 mandates Universal provision of quality primary education for all by 2030. This can be achieved only if we involve ourselves with whole heart and soul to the cause of education and work with some commitment. Some of the pre-requisite activities to strengthen the primary education are as given under:

School Readiness Programme: School felt that child should be prepared before he is initiated to the formal education system. The school readiness is an effort in this direction. The purpose of this program is to prepare new entrants to accept the school as a part of their life. During first few weeks an environment which should become a link between the home and school should be developed and entire period is devoted to play-way activities so that children develop and interest to come to school voluntarily. The approach of learning by doing arouse the level of curiosity and confidence among children. In the suggested activities the child is being exposed to familiarize with school. Competencies such as observation, making distinction, identifying and understanding some basic skills have been kept in view.

Development of Foundational Literacy & Numeracy: Primary classes are the backbone of entire education. So the development of basic numeracy and language skills viz. listening, speaking, reading, and writing is a must to understand and achieve the target of basic arithmetic & mathematical thinking and language learning. Quality digital resources should be developed and utilized to build a culture of reading and communication.

Curtailing Dropout Cases & Ensuring Education for All: Though government is trying to ensure 100% enrollment of children in schools and tracking them through UDISE numbers but public awareness & community assistance is also required to ensure zero dropout and universal education for all children in India. Evening classes should be arranged at every school by volunteers or local NGOs.

Activity Based Learning: The books are having a number of activities to be implemented among the students according to their need. These activities generate interest, curiosity, makes learning easy and creative. The students must be divided into groups to perform group activities and to have a real joyful learning.

Friendly Learning Environment: Teachers should maintain homely environment particularly in classes I and II with an affectionate heart while being with the kids so that they may feel homely at school also. A homely atmosphere in class at a school will keep them active, interested and attracted towards learning process through play-way teaching.

Dedicated Teaching: There should be only two are three teachers to teach class I and II, so that the children get well acquainted with the subject and activities undertaken under the loving care of these teachers. Maximum use of teaching aids, black-board, projector, pictorial charts, pictorial poems and stories and activities like poem recitation, role play, mimicry etc will prove quite effective and interesting.

Grading System: Grading system has been adopted for primary section to get rid of examination phobia and anxiety. This system has no room for first, second and third position in class, which checks unhealthy competition for position in the class. Really the grade system is a good beginning for the students to feel comfortable. This will relieve the students immerse psychological pressure. In general, this system will save the individuality and creativity of students.

MLL-Minimum Level of Learning Programme: Evaluation system in primary classes is skill oriented. Since there are so many skills in each subject to be tested, it is difficult to test all of them simultaneously. It has been suggested that different skills should be deployed phase wise and evaluation thereof must be done phase wise. In this way we can easily test individual’s ability in the same skill and maintain also minimum level of learning among the student.

Identification of Slow Learners and Underachievers: Slow learners and underachievers must be identified so that spare time may be given to bring them up to minimum level of learning. A simplification of learning must be developed and drilling of exercises should be encouraged for such type of children.

Child-centered Education: Children in primary classes should not be kept confined to the classrooms for a long time. They should be taken out to the playground to play and the teacher must join them. The teachers should also be with their while taking lunch. Teachers should acquaint themselves with child-centered approach; activity based teaching learning strategies and play-way techniques to make the learning process interesting.

The shift of emphasis in the curriculum to the new approach is from teaching to learning with focus on equipping the learners with essential language skills and granting them confidence to use them effectively in life situations. They must be given chance to exercise their thinking capacity. Use of audio-visual aids, demonstrations and dramatizations are helpful technique in this regard. To create interest and motivate the children for attending class and school, interesting Hindi poems and English nursery rhymes can be recited in a melodious manner, which can really inspire the beginners and promote in them the love for their school.

Holistic Development of Children: The goal of education is shifted to create holistic and well rounded development of individuals equipped with 21^st century skills away from the rote learning. Hence all aspects of curriculum and pedagogy must be changed to attain these critical goals and ensure holistic development of children.

Multilingualism and Mother tongue: Primary education must be given in native/local languages so that children can learn/ understand properly and happily. Though Rajbhasha Hindi & English should also be taught together but these should not be forcibly taught or used as the only medium of instruction in primary classes. Teachers should be encouraged to use multilingual approach, including teaching-learning materials, with those students whose native language may be different from the local medium of instruction.

Multidisciplinary Approach:  Children should be taught in collaborative and multidisciplinary methods, so that children can learn same topic from the viewpoint of more than one discipline for better understanding of the topic.

Importance of Music & Art: Music is a mixture of song, instrument and dance. A child has some of music right from birth and we can teach patriotism and moral values through songs (action, solo or group songs). Likewise art is very fascinating for children and they can learn any topic in fullest through the use of art. Hence Art integrated learning is being promoted.

The best has no bounds, but if these activities are being carried out honestly and sincerely by schools, it will definitely strengthen primary education in India.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.

Thrust Areas to be focused & Expected Behavior of a Principal

Thrust Areas to be focused & Expected Behavior of a Principal

The dictionary meaning of principal is someone who is the most important in an organization and becoming principal means shouldering heavy responsibility. Being familiar with the school functioning for so long and attached with the key post in education institution, I was quite confident of my abilities. Initially, I found myself in the seventh heaven and the world seemed to have changed for me when I heard about my selection as Principal. It appeared that administration would be a smooth sailing with so many hands to assist and follow me, but soon all the idealism vanished away and I was left to face the bitter truth that administration is not child’s play. The post is very demanding and challenging. Being an efficient teacher for so many years does not in any way guarantee being a good administrator. I realize today that managing human resources is an extremely different task as all employees have their own priorities too which sometimes do not match with your planning and organizational requirement. Everyday has moments of joy and sorrow for you in store. There are times you are sure that the school can run smoothly the way you want it, but very next moment you drop from the blue heaven when you encounter the tough and a new situation. All the rules and instructions fail, because every situation is typical in nature and needs a typical and unique treatment. But I know ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’; still I am confident that being a good and successful principal is not anything impossible. I would like to list below a few tips I have learnt as principal till date :

Common Thrust Areas

1. Admissions– Follow the admission guidelines strictly, plan the dates of registration, test. Declaration of result, display of list, admission process in a full proof manner. Also fix days and timing for admissions.
2. Fixed timing for academic work, office work and meeting with visitors.
3. Examination to be well planned and fully monitored especially in secondary and senior secondary wings and it should be planned at cluster/regional level in the line of CBSE.
4. PTA and Subject Committee Meeting is a regular feature of the school on regular interval & every last working day of the month respectively. Meeting with aspirations of parents and providing all required aids/ support to staff is a challenging task in an educational institution.
5. Excursion & Inter house co-curricular activities- planning & execution till 31st December and bridging it with curricular calendar removing learning gaps of participating students.
6. Discipline & Supervision– Monitoring the activities of teachers and students by regular academic supervision of classes, checking of home assignment and syllabus covered.
7. Liaison Work with chairman, members of SMC, Alumni & local administration etc. is necessary to meet routine requirements and ensure learning outcomes in school.
8. Issue of Certificates– Verify each and every entry thoroughly (date of birth, spellings, date of admission, etc.) in Transfer Certificate and other documents before issuing it from school.
9. Financial Knowledge- Knowing financial acts/rules & regulations, Budgetary provisions, TDS & EPF/EIS deduction etc and  verifying Tally vouchers while signing cash book entries and preparing annual account for institution is a must for principal  to act as a DDO (Drawing & Disbursing Authority).
10. Teacher’s training & Academic Council made to supervise the working of teachers and students and think of improving academic status of school.

General Behavior of the Principal

1. Tolerance is a virtue and it is one of the most required traits of a principal. Being tolerant and cultivating tolerance among others is also important because anger is a weak man’s imitation of strength and school should not be allowed to be a place of negative thoughts and energy.
2. Never try to please everyone as primary concern of a principal is welfare of students and the institution. Carrot and stick policy is a set norm for any organization which should be implemented to achieve organizational objectives.
3. Analyze issues critically but with a constructive and positive spirit.
4. Be innovative and receptive to novel ideas from all corners.
5. Don’t crumble over what you don’t have, instead be thankful for what you have been left with and try to nurture and enrich it.
6. Be good to all but trust none completely. Don’t make anyone indispensable for you. Be diplomat while answering and dealing with all stakeholders.
7. Avoid assigning duties to individuals but groups or committees. It will develop confidence in staff.
8. Be bold and firm in decision making. Respect everyone’s view but act judiciously keeping larger interest of students and institution.
9. Be a role model for your subordinates and students. You are the torch bearer and the source of inspiration for them.

Now that I have been selected as a principal I would always try to do justice to my post because I have been entrusted with the rare opportunity to save the innocent buds who may blossom one day. I will remember that principal means being patient, resourceful, impartial, noble, cautious, ideal, proficient, active and liberal if need be.

Written by :

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot. Gujarat.

Email- akgkvs@gmail.com

Education- M.A. in Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, B.ED.

NET Qualified in History, Archaeology, Indian Culture.