Dream 2047, May2000 Issue

TEACHER's EDUCATION

Teaching, sadly, is not among professions which are "much sought after". It probably never was! But its importance for a country can not be overemphasised. The overall quality of its human resources and their development probably have a lot to do with the quality of its teachers- which, in turn, depends on thier education!

Of all the teachers, the role of those in the early years of schooling can prove to be very crucial. For, it is at that stage that a child gets moulded in terms of her/his overall attitude, approach and orientation towards education in general and what is required or expected of her/him in the class room. If preparation of the child for her/his "take-off" for destinations such as learning and education - and, by implication, good scores in examinations - isn't right, she/he may get permanently grounded, unable to cope with what is taught in class, or to keep up even with average fellow students! This can be very traumatic for the child, and even more so for her/his parents! The role of teachers in preparing children for the right "take-off" should not be under-estimated.

That brings us to the training and education of teachers. The situation is pretty grim overall and looking closely at the ground realities, one might be tempted to conclude that perhaps nothing can be done in the normal course to correct or improve the situation. In fact, one is amazed at the small number of outstanding performers, who keep coming out of our existing system and set-up. In this piece we would concern ourselves with the training and education of school teachers -- and that too only in respect of certain very specific aspects which have a direct or indirect bearing on areas of interest and concern to us i.e. science education, science popularisation and science communication. What are these aspects? Of particular interest and concern to us are: (a) language teaching and testing abilities of teachers and their own skills in written and oral communication; (b) teachers' own aptitude and orientation towards and their own abilities in making practical use in real life of whatever they teach; (c) problem-solving abilities of teachers themselves, if any, and the extent to which they are able to impart the same to their students; and (d) abilities of teachers to correctly evaluate and assess what their students have learnt.

How and why do the above interest or concern us ? Let me try explaining. For, as long as one can remember, it has been said that science education in our schools has been making science `unpopular' among children; it does not promote or encourage stimulation or inculcation of scientific attitudes or temperament among children; finishes off or crushes their inquisitiveness/curiosity by discouraging thinking or asking of questions; provides few or no opportunities for children to use their own two hands and head for exploration, experimentation, or expression of their creativity; does nothing to help their understanding or relate teaching to real-life situations, problems or applications and most definitely does not teach or impart problem-solving as an essential ingredient of the learning process; and so on and on !

Additionally, as it had been pointed out on an earlier occasion in Dream-2047, there is great dearth of good writers in all Indian languages (including English) - and in particular science writers. Among other things, it reflects on the nature and quality of language-education in the country. There have been interventions to mend the above situation, at various levels by individuals and organisations, as part of the science popularisation programme of NCSTC. However, much of the work thus far has not been with the teachers; it has involved working with the beneficiaries of our education system - i.e. students, or those who have completed their school/college/university education. What we are looking at now is the possibility of intervening at the teachers' end. Basically, we would like to put together efforts which would be aimed at teachers - during their education and training - to make them better and more effective teachers especially for science and language education, in respect of aspects which we have already stated above. Obviously, our interventions would be in the form of projects and activities involving willing teachers, teacher trainers and teacher trainees. Through these we would seek to demonstrate on a large enough scale the workability of idea(s) and the effectiveness of particular intervention(s) aimed at specific objective(s). Some of the objectives we would be aiming at could be : (a) Building up teacher esteem - self esteem as well as esteem in the eyes of the society as a whole; (b) instilling a sense of pride and self-confidence in teachers for their important nation-building efforts; (c) restoring respectability to this noble profession; (d) teachers deriving satisfaction out of the achievements of their students; (e) teachers helping to get the best and most out of their pupils by nurturing and building on their inclinations, interests and natural talents; and more. Before closing, let it be said that, in a vast country like ours, no matter how hopeless or grim be the look of ground realities - incidentally, our own creations - one would always be able to find enough good people to make a beginning, and then build on it. Views and suggestions are welcome.

- N.K.S.