REPORT ON SESSIONS
 

SESSION - I

Date : 12th Nov. 1994 Time: 2.00 P.M.

Topics for Discussion

1. Institutional Growth-Perspective Planning & Resource Management 2. Managing For Overall Human Excellence

The First Session of the Conference started at 2.00 p.m. at the Hindu Senior Secondary School, Indira Nagar.

Dr. J.D. Johnson, Principal, SBOA Sr. Secondary School, Annanagar and General Secretary of APSC, South Zone extended a warm welcome to the delegates of the Conference. He also introduced to the Chairperson of the first session Dr. C. Palanivelu, Director of School Education, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Dr. C. Palanivelu, Director of School Education, Govt. of Tamil Nadu congratulated the Central Board of Secondary Education for organising a conference of such magnitude wherein there will be adequate scope for free and frank discussions between educationists and educational administrators on matters of academic interest. Outlining the importance of human resources and the urgent need for the development of human resources Dr. C. Palanivelu observed that education is the most befitting tool to develop and utilise the human resources of a country and is a singular largest factor in the successful management of a nation. Detailing the concept of "Education for All" he observed that every single child in this country should be given the best possible opportunity to educate himself or herself. Improving the quality and the performance of each child would in turn result in effective and successful management of an institution.

Detailing the various inputs necessary for the institutional growth and perspective planning, Dr. C. Palanivelu remarked that it is important to identify and tap the resources, and the most important issue is to optimally use the- available resources to ensure greater productivity.

Highlighting the role of leadership of an institution, the chairperson observed that the efficiency of the leadership could be assessed only by its ability to identify and make the best use of the available resources. The resources available in a school, according to Dr. C. Palanivelu was presently used only to the extent of 15 to 20 percent and that a country like India cannot afford to underutilise the existing resources. He called upon conference to exercise their thoughts to bring an effective system by which the existing resources of an institution are better utilised and productivity ensured.

12

Report on sessions 13

Shri H.R. Sharma, Director (Academic), CBSE, who was the lead speaker, outlined the basic goals of education and reminded the, audience of the eloquent oration of Dr. N.V.C. Swamy who called for fresh look into the curriculum pattern which will enable the students to face the realities of life. Elaborating the role of the school, Mr. H.R. Sharma told that each school was a mini state by itself which consisted of students drawn from different strata of society, different communities and different cultures. Hence a meticulous planning was necessary to ensure co-existence and accountability not only to the parents but also to the society. The dynamics of the curriculum has brought in several changes in the types of information made available to the student community and it was absolutely necessary to synthesise all these information and sort out in a manner that would enable the student an easy learning. It should also be ensured that wasteful information is removed so that it does not become an additional burden to the learner. Explaining the difficulties of effective management, Mr. Sharma- pointed out the need for balancing infrastructural resources, the absence of which will nullify the process of total development of the child.

Emphasising the need for a universally acceptable value based system, he said a little spiritual dimension to the process of education will strengthen not only the learning process, but will infuse a sense of self-confidence and self-dependence for the learner. Sometimes, the schools have to address themselves to the question whether they were really preparing the students for life or for a result oriented examination. Shaping the individual self and allowing self to sublime, to recognise its own strengths and weaknesses was very much relevant in the present context, where the accountability of the individual to himself and society is very much wanting. The planning of an institution is no ordinary task and monitoring the institutional growth needed agility and alertness. No institution can shun or shy away from this critical task. Organisational planning is not a mere infrastructural planning, but it is a wholesome attitudinal development focussed on the learner to ensure him a better tomorrow taking into the stock, the resources available today.

Mr. H.R. Sharma described several styles of management depending on the management policies, its composition, nature of personalities involved and mechanisms of control involved at various levels. Salient among them were:

(a) Interventioning Strategy

(b) Crisis Management Strategy

(c) Continuous Renewal Strategy

(d) Special Thrust Campaign Strategy

Concluding his talk, Mr. H.R. Sharma observed that "Resource mobilisation, though crucial, is too obvious to need elaboration. Material will have to be re-assessed and new priorities fixed for their mobilization or replenishment'. Institutional planning has always been a formidable task. It is going to be more challenging calling for greater adventure, vision, commitment, sense of purpose and above all bringing in a

14 Report on Sessions

professional acumen in management. Managing skills alone perhaps would not be the answer, but what is called for is an education with managerial insights to lay down a well conceived blue-print for a successful schooling enterprise.

Dr. K.V. Paulose, Principal, The Delta Study School presented his paper on Institutional growth and Perspective Planning with specific reference to pre-primary education. Highlighting the two glaring aspects of the difficulties at the pre-primary level, he listed

(a) the deep-rooted stigma engrained in the psyche of a child at a place often pronounced to be a Kindergarten

(b) the rationalisation of the relative importance of pre-primary education in the continuum of education.

Calling for a greater thrust to have trained and qualified teachers at pre-primary level Dr. Paulose said that "the low returns in terms of economic gains and noneconomic incentives like social status have contributed to a negative attitude towards effective performance at the pre-primary level".

Expressing his deep concern towards the unscientific Way in which eligibility criteria is fixed for admission and the absence of specific teaching programmes at the pre-primary level, he called for a conscious effort from organised sector to provide models for development of skills and a creativity based approach to learning which does not burden the child. Removal of the fear psyche of the four walls of the classrooms was essential.

Professor Kuldeep Kumar, Head, Planning, Programming, Monitoring and Evaluation Cell, National Council of Education for Research and Training (NCERT) presented his paper on "Encouraging excellence in performance". Emphasising the need for a learner-based curricular approach, Professor Kuldeep Kumar said that in our school system we have more trainers and less of educators. He said education was different from training. Our assessment of the students is not wholesome, but it took care of only certain specific aspects of the student performance. While the skills related to performance of the head are concentrated, the emotional aspects of the development of the child are given a safe go-bye. He stated that there was an urgent need for a will to change from the routine. The minimum level to performance which is expected to be imparted by the teacher is taken to be not only essential but also "not to be changed". He said that this has to change, if excellence is to be pursued. He impressed on the principals the need for development of non-scholastic factors and to appropriately nurture them especially during the formative years. Development of self-esteem, mutual respect, social equality and the quality of life are an integral part of the educational process. One cannot shy away from providing adequate opportunities for the students to develop these qualities. The role of education, he said is to maximise the opportunities and provide stimulation to every child and not for a chosen few. It was essential that the route to success should be opened up for all including handicaps, the disabled and diffident.

Report on Sessions 15

Mrs. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer, CBSE, presented the paper of Mrs. Indu Pillai, Principal, Mothers' International School, Delhi on her behalf. Mrs. Indu Pillai in her paper called for creating a democratic and participatory attitude in the school climate. Inspite of the pressure she said, a principal has to be readily available for discussion with the students, teachers and parents. She added that the curriculum and teaching strategies have obviously to flow out of a clear understanding of the needs of the child. Through an active satisfaction of his own needs, the child develops his instruments of knowledge and action. He develops skills, intellectual capacity and strength. The pioneering efforts of Maria Montessori in the field of pre-school education still continue to influence our teaching strategies for very young children. The exploration of the sense through touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight are still the basis of the new toys and teaching aids that are selling in the market. At each level of the child's growth, classroom organisation, institutional design and materials, as well as the teacher's approach needs to change.

Detailing with the problems of adolescents, she said the adolescent needs to understand his own feelings and emotions and the changes taking place in his body. Timely help and advice can do wonders. An unsympathetic teacher can do a lot of harm. In her school, Teachers have voluntarily undergone training to enable them to act as counsellors to children. Aesthetic appreciation of art forms refines the senses. One learns to reject grossness and coarsensess. Many of the co-curricular activities are particularly important in this respect. They are a breath of fresh air.

According to Mrs. Indu Pillai, the mind grows by observation, experimentation and discovery; by exchange of ideas and experiences. Traditional education is unable to evoke or sustain the interest-of young people in the acquisition of knowledge. A teacher will need a large repertoire of professional skills and a sound grasp of the subject matter to be able to satisfy the child's need to understand intelligently. The environment will also need to be adequately equipped and nurtured.

Quoting Confucius she concluded, "The ancients who wished to demonstrate illustrious virtue throughout the Empire first ordered well their own states. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons, their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first taught to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things."

Mrs Arundhati Mohan, Principal, Sindhi Model Senior Secondary School, Madras highlighted her view on overall excellence in education. She stated that education is a perennial process and has to draw sustenance from a variety of factors. Several agencies have to work in unison, each one offering the very best of its distinctive contribution. Only then can education become a radiant instrument for the attainment of human excellence.

According to her, youth is the greatest asset of human society. Today's youngsters are tomorrow's responsible citizens. A country's development, peace and prosperity

16 Report on Sessions

depend much on the fulfilment of the aims and aspirations of its youth. Education is instrumental in creating responsible youth who will face the challenges of the society and the nation, with an iron will and a strong heart.

Emphasising on the need for life enrichment through the development of the inner mind of the individual, she said that the basic concept of life enrichment lies in good character and integrity. To put in a nut-shell the basic concept of life enrichment lies in the good character of the individual blended with moral cleanliness. The inner mind of man according to great scholars like Sri. J. Krishnamurthy is noisier than the children themselves and it is in these minds that effort to restore peace should be made. The school is the suitable and sacred place of learning. As most of the schools nowadays do not spiritually train the children, they go astray. Lack of these virtues leads to difficulties at home and unrest in the society. The youth of today, who are embryonic citizens, are the architects of the destiny of the future. Their character should be moulded on the right lines from childhood, and they are to be trained to imbibe the great values of discipline, co-operation, honesty, sincerity and patriotism.

Detailing the role of a successful teacher in planning for overall excellence in education, she said that the school happens to be miniature society in which training for one's cultures to be given and the school helps to pass on the cultural accumulation of the generation to another. Thus each generation is provided with the opportunity of advancing further in social existence. A successful teacher must know that there is a whole reservoir of knowledge and subject matter, which may not be quite essential in school life, but prove to be of great asset at a later stage.

Hence, the non-scholastic subjects like Art, Music, Dancing, Needle work, embroidery and craft should be treated on par with the main subjects.

Quoting Bertrand Russel, she remarked that "Education is the drawing out the best in man and child-body, mind and spirit. All the plans, programmes and policies relating to education become meaningful and relevant only to the extent they lead to supreme goal". The other aims and objectives are subsidiary and in the nature of means to this glorious end.

Summarising her views she concluded, education, if it is to be a tool for excellence, needs the soulful support of the parent, class and the public. Parents have even to bear in mind that they are the second parents and do all that lies in their power to strengthen the efforts of the teachers so that the wholesome influence generated in schools is not neutralised by vicious external agencies, and they can no longer afford to be passive agents in the process of the education of the young. Great men of the past like Chhatrapathi Shivaji, Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi whose lives serve well as a model to others, have acknowledged with reverential gratitude the value of wholesome training they received at the hands of their parents while young.

Mrs. M. Sandhu, Principal of Spring Dales School of Jullundur, speaking on managing for overall excellence stated that true education bridges the gap between

Report on Sessions 17

the advantaged and disadvantaged. Expressing her concern that knowledge is expanding, but human personality is shrinking, she called for greater efforts to promote morality, individually, collectively and globally. Suggesting a broad-work for the promotion of excellence, she listed the following as important:

(a) Attempt to meet the child's specific needs and interest, in other words, be a literal extension of a mother figure into the classroom.

(b) Encourage the child to achieve at his maturity level and not in terms of group standards or norms.

(c) Assist a child to use new concepts and skills on a continual basis.

(d) Utilise the ego involvement of the individual to motivate, and to avoid threats and comparison.

Stressing on the need for personal attention of each child for the individual development, she stated that the sole aim here is to inculcate in each child the feeling of being special. It is important for him to grow with this feeling that every individual is different. This was the basic aim of education in the first place. It was an idea, which got bogged down by idealogies and idealism where obvious achievers were applauded. The spirit of competitiveness has now overcome the spirit of cooperation. We have unconsciously bred a civilised version of barbarism where a person does not literally cut off the other's head but uses human heads as stepping stones in his mad race to the top.

Quoting T.S. ELLIOT, she concluded

Where is the life we have lost in living

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information

The answer lies in restructuring our educational system by emphasising human excellence.

Col. J.N. Agnihotri of Maheswari Public School Jaipur discussed the topic of Managing for overall Excellence under the following heads:

(a) Comprehensive and multi-sidedness of human learning

(b) Human Personality impacts, classification and characteristics, growth and development.

(c) Significance of curricular and non-curricular activities and their direct and indirect relationship with the development of different aspects of human personality.

(d) Counselling and guidance and career enrichment.

Detailing the conditions anticipatory to learning, he said that if any individual starts learning anything, his progress depends much upon his attitude prior to learning. If he is ready and eager to learn he would learn quickly even if the task is difficult. On the other hand, he would not be able to learn easy things if he has no desire to learn.

18 Report on Sessions

Learning is an active process and not a passive one. During the learning both required 'Orientation! of the individual towards the work. Learning requires effort, ceaseless endeavour, determination and will to learn. Sheer repetition will not affect learning unless there is will to learn.

Calling for the need of allround development of the personality which is vital for achieving excellence, he said, personality is the sum total of a man, his genes, physical looks, state of health, education, social behaviour, knowledge and self-discipline. All these combine together to add to the "charm of his presence" and contribute to- his social success. Personality is the sum total of person's physical, mental, social and aesthetic qualities. It is the average of his behaviour over a long period or a short period when he is subjected to different situations or stimuli to watch his reactions.

Summarising his views, he said that many great men began an average life but rose to great heights through their efforts and perseverance. We too, may achieve greatness and bring about overall excellence some day in some way. There are three rules for success and bringing about overall excellence. The first is Go On. The second is Go On and the Third is Go On.