Delhi educators say, ‘I Can’

Value-based education goes a long way. It equips students with the right frame of mind as well as skills to overcome challenges faced in the 21^st century world. Once out of school, these young minds will feel much more confident, assured and secure, thanks to the self-realisation of their own strengths and potential that happened early on.      

To help them reach this prospective, Ramakrishna Ashram Marg, New Delhi organised a two-day training workshop for educators titled “The Awakened Citizen programme (ACP)”. Teachers from Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park were also part of the training to learn and know the intricacies of it.

On the first day of the session, teachers engaged in discussion about the vision and efficiency of the programme as a new-age value education model. To initiate the flame of 18 possibilities in the students, they deliberated on: 6 universal possibilities and 12 unique possibilities (6 for knowledge and 6 for physical).

In the course of the discussion, they established that each individual child is to be provided with the space to explore these in a non-coercive environment. And further it must ‘awaken’ the universal possibilities followed by the unique possibilities in them. Before the end of the day, several teaching methods such as ‘discovery encounter’ were spoken of which can be incorporated in the classroom for making the programme successful.

Speaking about his experience, Mr Pranjal Gupta, a Science teacher at Apeejay, Panchsheel says, “The training was a great learning experience. It was not about teaching students moral values but how to have them participate and come to a realisation of having these values in their daily life. There were several modules and tools shared with us for it. And, I hope to inculcate them in the upcoming academic session which begins tomorrow.”

On the second day of the training, teachers focused on demonstrative teaching. All of them were divided into two classes and were assigned a mentor. They were briefed about the pedagogical flow. Further, each class was tasked to explore areas related to each of the universal possibilities. After this, teachers went through the course material, read the instructions and identified unique ways to conduct a class without compromising the major idea of the programme. They had to make sessions discussion-oriented and student-centric. They attempted to not impose or restrict a child’s individual expression. Finally, all the teachers successfully demonstrated the assigned lesson which was well-appreciated by their mentors.

Mr Gupta adds, “I always encourage students to become more interactive in the class. It boosts their confidence and makes them feel heard. Also, these young learners, especially, the classes I take, i.e. from 6 to 8 are very impressionable. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to make them understand the good, bad and ugly. I suggest that students must practice self-actualisation and develop an analytical mind. To further the same, I too conduct activities such as weighing the pros and cons of social media in my classes. It helps my students know that moderation and self-control is the key to life. In addition, my golden advice to them is to keep learning and exploring. They must never close their minds to great possibilities.”

According to Mr Pankaj Attri, a Mathematics teacher in the school who attended the training, “It was an insightful session for teachers! What made the difference was how every participant was open to listening. As the new session commences, my advice to children is to enjoy the ride! The challenges can be smooth sailing only with consistency, hard work and efforts.” His colleague, Ms Harjeet Kaur shares a similar sentiment. She says, “Mathematics is no different from value-based education. Through the training received at the Awakened Citizen Programme, I endeavour to make students more empathetic as well as rational. In the new session, they should know good values and try to work upon their difficulties.”