Parents and teachers must bring about curiosity or willingness to learn in the mind of a child without forcing him to think in a particular way, Mahabaleshwara Rao, writer, has said.
He was speaking at a function to mark Teachers’ Day organised by the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, Department of Public Instruction, and the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Teachers’ Day Committee.
He said: “Don’t prescribe values.” In Dakshina Kannada, while there are elements claiming to safeguard culture and values, education is not imparting values to students as in years past. Education should be geared towards helping children learn about their social responsibilities and social obligations, of which they are unaware now. Most of them think about themselves and are not aware of working towards a larger, common good. Education in schools today allows very few opportunities for thought and analysis. Now that critical pedagogy in teaching is being emphasised, teachers should reorient themselves to relate their teaching to real-life situations instead of being marks-oriented, he said.
He said that the national curriculum framework should be approached in a constructive way. Instead of being guided by textbooks alone, teachers should act as facilitators and intervene appropriately while teaching a child. They should guide a child, allow him to make mistakes and learn on his own.
Mr. Rao said that it is important to celebrate Teachers’ Day in a meaningful way. Basing the awards for Teachers’ Day on applications made by teachers themselves is not a good trend. Simply paying lip service to teachers on Teachers’ Day is useless, he said. “Please create an environment which respects teachers, ” he added.
Teachers Michael Castelino from Madanthyaru, Belthangady; Praveena Kumari from Markanja, Sullia; Vasantha A.C. from Aranthodu, Sullia; Ramesh Bayaru from Kepu, Bantwal; Vasanthi K from Puttur, Diwakar Acharya from Uppinangady, K Sarojini from Puttur, Abdus Samad from Katipalla and Dhruva Kumar from Sullia were felicitated.
