The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : ‘Classrooms should be lively and vibrant’

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Sunday, Nov 08, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

‘Classrooms should be lively and vibrant’

Staff Reporter

Photo: M. Periasamy.

Honour: M.P. Vijayakumar (second right), Advisor, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, presenting an award to a topper at a function organised in Coimbatore on Saturday. Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore Kendra, B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar (right), is in the picture. —

COIMBATORE: The classrooms in schools should be lively and vibrant enabling students to learn by experimenting and interacting, Advisor to the Sarva Shiksha Abiyan, M.P. Vijayakumar, said here on Saturday.

Speaking at an awards function organised by the Academic Council of Principals of Matriculation Schools, Coimbatore and the Nilgiris, he said that in the present academic system, which had its roots in the colonial period, the marks scored by the students in the board examinations were considered crucial.

The marks decided the forward mobility of the students.

Most board examinations focussed on testing the memory of the students on what was taught in the schools. So, classrooms and teaching revolved around memorising.

Education should promote the thinking skills in students and develop in them an inquisitive mind. Schools and classrooms should change so that children learnt by experimenting and doing different tasks. “We must give opportunities to the children to experiment, interact and share,” he said.

Memorisation should be blended with understanding of the subject. The classrooms should be transformed so that the children could learn, think, and develop an analytical capacity.

B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore Kendra, said education helped in changing people.

The management of educational institutions, teachers, government, principals, students and parents were all stakeholders in the education system. Social changes were on at a rapid pace and students should learn how to cope with the changes.

Education should enable the students to manage the change. Real education should be a blend of knowledge and wisdom, he said.

Kumudhini Periaswamy, Principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Matriculation Higher Secondary School and secretary of the council, welcomed the gathering.

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