Reaching Out...

Role of technology for differently abled children.. after today's session I came to know about the various facets of technologies in education. Its very obvious that when teaching is done with some constructive experiments rather than the stereotyped methods, the quality of education will definitely rise. It will help the slow learners, demotivated children, children having no interest in studies, to fill the gap between the whole process of teaching and learning. 

But how much feasible it will be for us to use technology for our heterogeneous targets or our unique ones?  I mean what kind of technologies can be used for those children who are having multiple issues attached with them like what about a rural-poor-disabled child, who has nor any exposure to technology nor their physical ability is supportive. 

                We have the provision of inclusive education, but how many disabled and multi-disabled children can be seen in a rural government school. And if they don't go to those school, I don't think  they have any other alternative rather than just to sit at home and survive, unlike their interest of doing all the activities like their similar age, so called 'normal' peers do. But for them even the basic treatments and therapies are not accessible, how can we think about creating a dream-like tech-savy school ambience for our special ones.

It was during my one of the field-visits that I was assigned to a village of Rajasthan where I had to do the social mapping. And during those visits I met with a few children who had varying levels of disability and when I interacted with their family they had simple responses. Like they don't know whom to discuss about their child's treatment, basic learning and rehabilitation or other interventions. Neither the PRI of the village is perturbed, nor the other service providers like teachers or health activists or supervisors are concerned for their well being. 

Doesn't some kind of effective technology introduction is badly needed for those most deprived ones ?

courtesy: google images

HEY YOU ARE LIKE ME!!!!!!!

These flowers of different colours somehow depicts my persona and moods..that is sometime I am lively, sometimes gloomy, sometimes I just like to be alone, and sometimes I hate solitude, sometimes I talk too much and sometimes I don't feel like speaking even a word...so I guess these colours portray my various moods !!!!

Bhasha...

I love my language..Maithili. But I never admitted it to anyone. Because I never considered it as a LANGUAGE. I can't single out a particular reason, but I guess we are socialized that way, according to our constitution and also by our curriculum. Like I was taught in my childhood a very technical aspect of language is that language changes with longer distance, and dialect changes with shorter distance. 

Although Maithili was included as a language in the constitution. But it was after the session I became more comfortable in accepting the fact, yes THE FACT that my mother tongue is a language.

Teaching..Learning..Education !!!

It's not EASY for me to deal but I'll give it a shot.. I don't know what I'll come out with..

Teaching.. is an academic process which involves a giver who imparts knowledge and a learner who receives the conveyed information, for e.g. a teacher and a student. And due to the teaching, students are motivated to learn in ways that make a sustained, substantial, and positive influence on how they think, act, and feel. In teaching a teacher contributes positively to the learning environment by providing exceptional energy, keen interest in students and extraordinary strengths. Teaching guides students successfully through exploration of the creative, critical thinking and problem solving processes. It can also help them in dealing with ideas and information they need to develop in their own understanding.

Learning..as I have known..is a continuous behavioural process from the day we born till the day we die. But if I switch to a broader spectrum, learning could be anything from exploring new things and getting better at it, having a better understanding of the ambience we are living in, journey of understanding and development of an idea, analysing or reflecting on the information acquired and after validating those information using them when necessary. One very significant aspect of learning is that it's a covert activity, completely personal to oneself. But the question here is how do we know that we are learning ? And who should decide how well we are learning ??

Before moving forward I really feel that isn't it ironic that we throw so much money, time and effort into trying to achieve something that we cannot define? And not only public or Govt. schools and their supporters, but many independent folks, one of those many is I myself. 

Education..is an act or we may say, process that leads a person to better understanding of the situations in his/her life. It is a process of getting informed, process of learning, process of enlightening experience. Education, is about learning to interpret events and experiences in an increasingly mature and wise way. In order to do this, we must know things that is, accumulate knowledge and experience. And we must understand things that is, accumulate insight and wisdom. Education requires learners to ask why, not just what and how.

An Insight..

Government...ministers...policies...for me they always seemed as useless; corrupted; having no sensitivity at all. I was also among those who used to blame the govt. for each and every thing whether it was for poor infrastructure, price-rise, everything. I thought the people who does the policy planning don't go for thorough research about the issues, or they're just ignorant. 


But when I got the opportunity of discussing and readdressing this issue by some of the prominent members of Azim Premji Foundation & University, my thinking got a different angle about the whole issue of govt. & policies. Blaming someone and pointing flaws is easy but accepting criticism and finding solutions is not every ones' cup of tea. I am not INTO it so I can just judge but when I was pulled into a situation where I needed to fulfil the task of a policy formulator, I imagined the pain. I was part of a team having only 11 members, and even in such small number it became impossible to come at a common point, or simply identify a proper answer to the problem. 


The whole session made me think how difficult it would have been for the policy makers to form all those policies which we keep on cursing. It needs serious research, countless brain-storming sessions, discussions and some great minds, to formulate the policies, which although of great efforts tends to have some or other loopholes. But the thing is society is dynamic, socio-economic scenario keeps on changing, which results in continuous emergence of new and untouched issues and problems, which makes the present policy questionable. 


But yes I also felt while formulating a policy the policy makers must keep in mind, that they must go for the opinion or views of those section whose problem is being discussed, for whom they are making the policies or who'll be the beneficiaries. It'll result in more effective and error free policy as it'll touch all the aspects of the issues and can be useful for a longer period. 

From 9 am till nw...lots of experiences...knowledge sharing...bit tiring...yet enriching...heyyy m excited as this is my first post....nothing 4 nw...totally exhausted !!!!!!!!!!!