No subject

teach eight out of every 10 schoolgoing kids in Tamil Nadu =97 in
June 2007.=20
</p>
<p>Ask how Tamil Nadu did it when Karnataka and Kerala had failed at
similar experiments in the previous decade, and the answers
diverge.=A0=A0=A0 Vijayakumar, 61, now honorary adviser to
SSA, says, =93Here, administrative will matched political will.=94=20
</p>
<p>Vimala Ramachandran, founder of the Delhi-based Education Research
Unit, says it was the gradual scaling up that helped build the
resources and train the teachers.=20
</p>
<p>Subir Shukla, an educationist who&#39;s preparing the first
comprehensive evaluation of ABL based on a 1,832-school survey, says,
=93Tamil Nadu is a society where sincerity means following orders; so
implementation tends to be better.=94 In his report, to be submitted
by mid-December, Shukla is going to propose ways of changing the
=93mechanical way in which the teachers use the material, going
against the flexibility the system promises=94.=A0=20
</p>
<p>=A0</p>
<p>The ticks and crosses=A0=20
</p>
<p>The first order, however, did not go down well with the 80,000-odd
teachers who had to re-train. All the seven primary school teachers=92
unions opposed the scheme, asking why they had to shift from the
=91chalk-and-talk=92 method that had run for 150 years. S. Kannappan,
joint director of SSA, says, =93Vijayakumar and I met more than
50,000 teachers to convince them.=94 Usha Mohan, Subhashri=92s
teacher, is one of those. She says, =93ABL kids are much more
confident and fearless of failure than the others. There=92s no
bullying, as kids from Classes 1-4 sit together to learn the same
subject.=94 But she is still not happy with her increased workload
and the fact that she has to sit on the floor.=20
</p>
<p>Parents brought with them other worldly worries. Many equated the
lack of exams (there&#39;s self-evaluation instead) and homework to lack
of discipline. Mani Mekhalai, principal of Rani Meyyammai School in
Chennai, says, =93One father wanted to take his daughter out when we
implemented ABL. We invited him to the school. He came and stood at
the gate for a couple of days and never came back. The daughter is
still with us.=94=A0=20
</p>
<p>Like the parents, the unions have piped down. They are now
demanding that in this =91experiment=92, the teacher-student ratio be
changed from the current 1:40 to 1:10. The solution, however, might
lie in the demographic trends. With the lowest fertility rate in
India, Tamil Nadu has a shrinking population. It=92s a population
that=92s on the petri dish of the nation.=A0=A0=20
</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style=3D"border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-colo=
r -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: medium medium 1pt; paddin=
g: 0cm 0cm 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br>
</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<h1 class=3D"western"><a name=3D"ctl00_NewsHeadline1_NewsHeadLine1"></a>Int=
ernet,
technology to be integral teaching tools in state board schools</h1>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name=3D"ctl00_NewsPhoto_NewsPhoto1"></a=
>
<b><a href=3D"http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/Serena-Menon.aspx">Seren=
a
Menon </a>, Hindustan Times</b></p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;">28 November Hindustan Times</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">Teachers will soon use the Internet
and computers as integral teaching tools for classes IX to XII in
state board schools across Maharashtra.=20
</p>
<p>For instance, instead of having to plot a graph manually for the
oscillations of a pendulum, a teacher may soon use a technological
interface that will convert the data into a graph displayed on a
computer screen.=A0=20
</p>
<p>Such technological instruments are being presented to school
authorities in an ongoing three-day workshop organised by the
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
in association with the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.=20
</p>
<p>The state board is organising a series of such workshops to ensure
fast and effective implementation of the national policy on
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in school education.
Drafted by the Department of School Education and Literacy and the
Ministry of Human Resource Development earlier this year, this policy
aims to reform teaching methods.</p>
<p>Teachers will also use Internet websites like <a href=3D"http://www.curr=
iki.org/">www.curriki.org</a>
and <a href=3D"http://www.wikiversity.org/">www.wikiversity.org</a>
where research studies from universities around the world are
published as references in addition to prescribed textbooks for
physics, chemistry, biology and math.=20
</p>
<p>=93Children can learn certain things by exploration instead of
being spoon fed,=94 said a representative of the state board, on the
condition on anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the
media. =93Teachers and textbooks have their own limitations. The use
of the Internet and videos will give them an added opportunity.=94=20
</p>
<p>However, some representatives expressed worry about implementation
of this policy in rural areas.=20
</p>
<p>=93It is indeed a dire requirement and the need of the hour,=94
said Pathak R M, a biology professor from the Yogeshwari
Mahavidyalaya at Ambejogai, in Beed district. =93But the
implementation assumes that all schools have access to computers.=94</p>
<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0cm;">_______________________________<br>
</p>


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