Education should bring out the individuality in a student and must not suppress it, said V. Ponraj, former scientific advisor to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, here on Friday.
He was speaking at a panel discussion titled ‘Education: Expectation vs. Reality’ organised by The Hindu in School and FIITJEE at Dr. G.R. Damodaran College of Science. Mr. Ponraj highlighted the issues in school education such as students lacking basic arithmetic skills, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). “Unless we solve the problems in primary education, we cannot improve the quality of higher education,” he said.
Mr. Ponraj also suggested that the administrative works in schools must be automated so that the teachers can spend more time in teaching.
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Former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, E. Balagurusamy highlighted in his speech that teachers and parents must not impose their expectations on children. “Education is the process of man-making,” he said, adding that good education must impart “courage, competence, morals and ethics” to the students.
Noting that good education is to develop “knowledge and wisdom,” Director of FIITJEE (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) Ankur Kumar Jain said wisdom should not be left behind in the process of developing knowledge.
Entrepreneur and public speaker Mahalakshmi Saravanan suggested that schools must include entrepreneurial training for students to develop “critical thinking, communication and collaboration.”
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Following the discussion, the panel members answered a few questions from students and parents in the audience.
R. Krishnamoorthy, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu (Tiruchi), moderated the discussion.
The discussion was part of the day-long event titled ‘Inspiro 2019’ organised by The Hindu in School and FIITJEE. Around 350 students from schools in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts participated in the contests such as Spell Well- a spelling contest; Quizarena - a quiz based on science and technology; Sciencebition- an inter-school exhibition, and Rangmarch - a cultural programme.
Cash awards were presented to winners by Mr. Balagurusamy and the rest of the panel members. Little Kingdom Senior Secondary School, Tiruppur, won the overall championship at the event. AVP Trust Public School (CBSE), Tiruppur, and Vidya Vikas International School, Coimbatore, won the second and third places respectively of the overall championship award.