Mysuru: NCERT Learning Outcome Books looks very complex said, R S Praveen Kumar, IPS officer who is working as Secretary of the Telangana Residential Educational Society which runs residential schools for Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe and underprivileged children.
As part of the 57th Foundation Day celebration of NCERT, Regional Institute of Education, Mysuru had organised a panel discussion on “Students Learning Outcomes and Systematic Accountability” at its premise here on September 1. Addressing future teachers and teaching faculties, Praveen said, “After going through NCERT learning outcome books I found them very complex. The younger generations are used to short message so when we design any content it should be like WhatsApp message. Nobody forced people to download Whatsapp but they started voluntarily downloading it because it is so simple and secured and it is very easy to operate. So when we design the learning outcome we need to really simplify the content. It should be more appealing and replicable which we need to really work on.” He called upon the younger generation to create WhatsApp kind of movement in education arena.”
“After completion of teaching courses, the moment you join the institution don’t be a part of unions, instead try to explore the world of teaching and more than anything else start loving the children. If you can’t love children you can’t teach. Don’t ever underestimate your potential. You can make or break a person. Money is not important but your contribution is extremely important-more important than the soldier on the border, police officer or IAS officer. You can shape the life of thousands of people”, added Praveen.
‘NCERT not only produced great books but also produced thousands of bureaucrats’
“Since NCERT was born, it has not only produced thousands of great quality books but also produced thousands of bureaucrats in the country. There is no civil service candidate who does not know about NCERT books. When we started our preparation for civil service, the first thing the mentor told us was to go to Kachiguda in Hyderabad where a long line of candidates would be standing in front of a shop called ‘Shree Book Square’ which is known for selling all sorts of CBSE books. Lakhs of students in this country love to read CBSE books not for knowledge but to crack civil services exam. The moment you meet mentors for civil services exam, first thing they tell you is to buy all CBSE books from class III, so as to learn right from scratch”, said Praveen.
‘Teachers should not be made scapegoat’
“If students are not performing, teachers should not be made scapegoats. The contribution of teachers towards student’s growth is 25 percent the rest depends upon peer groups, parents and other elements of ecosystem. Instead of making teacher responsible, parents should be made accountable because they have conveniently outsourced the art of parenting to teachers and schools. Hence if we have school of parenting on the lines of national council of teacher’s education, definitely it will help grooming students much better”, added Praveen.
Y Sreekanth, Principal of RIE, Mysuru who also spoke on the occasion said, “Learning Outcomes is part of RTE which defines the goals to be attained by students from first standard to eighth standard.” He also mentioned that systems were accountable for quality education and if system does not improve it would be a failure in providing quality education.
‘Teachers training institutes not delivering quality products’
“Based on number of candidates getting through Teachers Eligibility Test, it seems the teachers’ training institutes are not delivering quality products. Among those who appear for the test, only 10 to 15 percent are clearing”.
C S Nagaraju, former principal of RIE, Mysuru, S Sundaraman, Senior Consultant, SSA, Tamil Nadu were also part of the panel discussion.
