He regretted that very few knew of government declaring 2012 as the year of mathematics and December 22 as National Mathematics Day.
Seventy-year old Madanlal Baldevaraj Ghai of Patiala in Punjab State is a lover of mathematics and a relentless campaigner promoting the numerical science as an art and game of life. Madanlal who is out on a mission touring the country for the second time, to help shed the fear psychosis revolving around the numbers game in children and creating a love for mathematics.
Talking to The Hindu during a brief stop over here on Thursday en route his 50-day blitzkrieg touching the four states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, ‘the young mathematician campaigner’ as he calls himself says that the notion that mathematics is not an easy subject should be removed in the minds of children. If children carry such an impression it is difficult to get away with it even in their adulthood. Children should not be sent to school at two-and-half years of age.
Parents should not spoil their childhood nor pressurise them to study after coming from school. They should be allowed to play and not make them bogged down with home works and so on. Parent should be a parent and not don the role of a teacher. Primary school teachers should be paid more than any one as it is they who lay a strong foundation to future education and particularly mathematics.
The retired head of the department of mathematics from Rajpura says that the government should spend more on laying mathematics foundation which include practical mathematics and research oriented mathematics with mode of applications.
He regretted that very few knew of government declaring 2012 as the year of mathematics and December 22 as National Mathematics Day. Six months have elapsed without the school children and managements of educational institutions not being aware of the government declaration.
He said that class teachers should not be allowed to take home tuitions except in case of really weak students. One lesson or one mathematical problem should be taught 10 times instead of 10 mathematical problems being taught only once.
Teachers’ brains being conditioned to complete syllabus is a very bad thing.
Syllabus completion should not be given importance and on the other hand the few lessons or the mathematical problems explained to them should be digested well by the students.
The septuagenarian mathematician in the evening of his life is still a student of mathematics pursuing his Ph.D. in mathematics from Punjab University.
Keywords: Madanlal Baldevaraj Ghai, Patiala, Punjab, mathematics, numerical science
