Never Give Up and Be Honest

Dr.Anupam Sibal’s book “Is Your Child Ready to Face the World?” is really very interesting with many great virtues conveyed in the form of life experiences. It seeks to understand a child better in order to help him/her imbibe values needed to lead a good life. 

While reading this book, a question kept nagging me - Have I given some of these qualities to the children I come across everyday in my classroom? Perhaps, I have. But so much more can be done. Reading this book has given me a sense of purpose and direction to approach value education from a different perspective.

I remember the time I went to attend the Parent-Teacher Meeting for my nephew, Rahul. A student of class VIII, he was very nervous because his Language teachers were about to complain to his father regarding his handwriting. When my brother and I met his English teacher, she complained about his handwriting not being legible.  My brother became very angry and he wanted to hit his son. When he came back home, he called Rahul and gave him a choice: he could either improve his handwriting and put the matter to rest, or he could let things be and forego his summer break in Mumbai. I decided to help him and encouraged him to not give up. I constantly reminded him that in life, it is never too late to rectify our mistakes and improve. I oversaw his daily practice of cursive writing. In a week's time, he started improving and learned to write within the lines of a ruled notebook. His hard work paid off and his work was appreciated by his teachers who stopped complaining.

In another incident, when I was teaching in class I, the students were eager to know when they would be allowed to draw pictures and use colour. After I went over the designated chapter, I told them to draw a mango tree and colour it. Usually kids carry their own wax colours, but on that day Latha had not brought her colours so she borrowed them from Bhavya. After colouring, she returned a few colours and kept the rest for herself thinking her friend would forget about them. Suddenly Jeenal, another girl sitting next to her, saw that she is keeping Bhavya’s colours in her bag and complained to me about the same. I called Latha and told her that she must return things she borrows from others. It is not a good habit to take others' things without seeking their permission. I asked her to return the colours with a thank you and an apology. 

Everyday incidents like these speak volumes about the importance of values like never giving up and honesty in our lives. We often overlook their significance only to realise later, when it's too late. 

~ Kavitha Devda is an Educator at The Fabindia School. Her email address is kda4fab@gmail.com

Role of teachers in 21st century

The reading, writing, designing etc is well taken by the new technology but what it can never replace is the touch of the mother that a child feels comfortable and relaxed in his mind and heart with his teacher, the child cry on 1 st day of school because he searches the mother in his teacher but after a week or so the child stops crying because he finds his mother in his teacher and start to share his journey of exploring things, feeling and confusion with the beautiful comfort zone of love and care, 

The latest technology can give a rose graphics, animations  but cannot give the fragrance of rose and the touch of softness that gives a child soothing effect of presence of life, The technology helps a child in creating the best of the creations by its software but can't replace the holding of teachers hands gradually moving the fingers of child to make a boat and clap, smile to motivate the best creation made with immense love and togetherness. Technologies are useful and make things easily accessible but Teachers drive the Thoughts to make this journey inspiring, happy and motivating to rise and excel. Technology gives a child mind of creation and Teachers give child wings of passion to create a mind and heart of Excellence.

Technology is new era of innovation and teachers are the source of channelizing Thoughts to Innovations. No technology can ever replace a teacher because Technology can get virus but teachers are ever ready to face the new challenges to rise over all things.

~ Ms Tazeen Siddiqui is Managing Director, Mansha Educational society. Her email address is  fortazeen@gmail.com

Determination Can Do Wonders

The book "Is Your Child Ready to Face the World?" by Dr. Anupam Sibal is very interesting. The book stands out due to its constant emphasis on the advantages of a value-laden life. The chapter on "Determination" has inspired me the most. 

Dr. Sibal writes about Steve Jobs who really is an idol for all those losing hope and courage. After reading the book, it struck me that no-one every really fails. What is important is that we try our best in every endeavour we pursue, even if we fail to achieve the desired end goal. In today's world, children need motivation and positivity. When they fail in an exam, they become frustrated and sad. We must make them realise that it is not the end of their journey. They need to stand up and prepare themselves for the next set of obstacles. Real success lies in possessing this ability to pick ourselves up after each defeat, learn from our mistakes, and keep moving forward. 

We all know that the quality of determination is very essential to succeed. I believe in teaching children to accept their failures and work hard to overcome them. This is where determination comes in - it is the engine, the force, that drives us in overcoming all obstacles. The level of our determination will decide how far we can go and how strong we can be in facing trying times. 

Every year our school organises a cycling tour but girls usually don't participate in it because of fear and lack of confidence. I tried to motivate and encourage them. I told them about famous personalities and their passion towards their work. My efforts bore fruit and they began signing up to participate. It was a very heartening and proud moment for me as a teacher. Even more so when the girls covered 40 kilometres before the boys! 

I have always believed in this piece of advice: Set small goals and locate your problems to convert them into success. I try to make sure that my students achieve their goals with these pointers in mind: 

1. Achievement of your goals depends mainly on "how you think" and "what you do", not luck or  circumstances.

2. The goal must mean something to you. It must excite you and fuel you with passion to achieve it.

3. Be strongly determined on pursuing your goals - it will automatically maintain your focus consistently and teach you how to prioritise for the same.

~ Tarun Mishra is an Educator at The Fabindia School. His email address is tma4fab@gmail.com

Behavioral Problems And Few Solutions

www.jaimansha.org

1- Arrogant child --- The arrogant child can be treated by introducing activities related to emotional things like Taking the child to the orphanage and making him spend time with them, by giving child responsibility of discipline and to see if kids of his class are respecting teachers.

2- Hyperactive child --- To treat a hyperactive child u need to introduce physical activities for him in class as for kindergarten kids, place blocks on 4 corners and ask the child to make a tower on one corner quickly and run towards other corner and do it likewise.On the first day of the child, make children have an orientation of the class by moving and guiding them along.

3- Shy child --- To treat a shy child,u need to develop confidence in a child by making him read in the class few sentences and encouraging them by clapping will boost their confidence and then gradually ask the child to speak on the topic in class and request the parent to make kid stand on a stoop or table as a stage and make them speak on any topic and appreciate.

4-Stealing --- To treat a child who does stealing, we must make him responsible for few things of the class and followed up regularly by the teacher and gradually increase the responsibility to inculcate in him the responsibility and honesty in him.

5- Kids who disrespect --- To treat kids who disrespect the treatment is to make that child the teacher of few lower class kids an activity that u can do once a week and in this way, he will learn what he must do to respect elders and teachers by instructing younger kids to behave.

6- Teenaged kids --- Teenaged kids emotional swings can be treated by making them follow a hobby of either reading inspirational stories for listening to inspirational speeches by great scientist and scholars, do not handle the child in an aggressive manner in his Teenaged age bcoz here u need to be mature, sensible and polite to build in the child confidence that u are with him.

~ Ms Tazeen Siddiqui is Managing Director, Mansha Educational society. Her email address is  fortazeen@gmail.com

Don't Let Your Child Crumble Under Pressure!

Is Your Child Ready To Face The World?

This is the title of a very interesting and knowledgeable book for children as well as their parents and teachers. Written by Dr. Anupam Sibal, it seeks to convey a critical message to parents and teachers alike - that along with studies, they should strive to inculcate some basic values in their children. As the book rightly demonstrates, this is best done by taking the help of examples from the lives of great people. He writes this book as the father of a teenager  and a doctor. As a result, he constantly delves into a child's psychology in order to understand children better.

When I read this book’'s chapter "“Handling Pressure", “I remembered a child in my class whose name is Rohan. He was average in academics.His parents visited the school regularly to keep themselves up to date with his performance. One day when I was teaching in the class, I noticed he was sitting quietly and crying. I went up to him and asked him the reason affectionately. He did not tell me anything and continued to cry. I turned to his friend to inquire further. His friend told me that in the previous day's class test, he had scored very less marks. His mother had scolded him for his poor performance. As a result, the child was frightened and was unable to speak. 

I realised that the child was being put under undue pressure from his mother to get a good rank in class. I decided to speak to his mother. She visited me a few days later. I welcomed her nicely and sat her down. I explained to her in a patient manner that the pressure to score well was having a negative impact on the child. He was constantly under fear and overburdened with the expectations of performing well. As a result, he was unable to concentrate on his work and was always sad.

Fortunately, the child's mother realised her mistake and promised to take corrective steps. After a week, I noticed a drastic change in the child's mood and behaviour. He appeared more confident and cheerful. 

It is very important to understand that children are just beginning their life's journey. They need support and encouragement at all times to succeed. Overburdening them with expectations and pressurising them will leave them demotivated at a very young age. We must deal with them patiently and hold their hands firmly through the initial phase of life. 

~ Aysha Tak is an Educator at The Fabindia School. Her email address is atk4fab@gmail.com

Honesty is Indeed the Best Policy

Honesty

Over the summer, I read the book "Is your child ready to face the world?" by Dr. Anupam Sibal and have learnt so many things apart from gaining a lot of inspiration. I found it very interesting, especially the discussion on how values can be inculcated in children. We all want our children to be good human beings. Being an honest individual lies at the heart of this. I believe that if we expect honesty from our students, we ourselves must first practise the same in its entirety.

This brings me to the story of a girl, Rani. Everyone knew that Rani was the best speller in the whole class. She could spell difficult words like encyclopedia very easily. She used to get perfect scores in the weekly spelling tests. Mr. Sharma, her English teacher, had made a rule for the spelling tests: any child who does not get at least 60% of the spellings correct would have to copy each word fifty times before the next week’s spelling test. Seema, who sat next to Stuti, always struggled in spelling tests. Last Thursday, she scored 56% which meant copying each word fifty times. Rani was so confident in her spelling ability that she decided not to study for the next test.

The test began and Mr. Sharma pronounced each word and then repeated it. Everything was alright, until he said "Handkerchief". Rani wrote "H-andke-r-ch…" and then got stuck. She couldn't recall if the next letter was an 'i' or an 'e'. Her mind went blank and Mr. Sharma moved on to the next word.

In the meantime, Seema had no difficulty in writing the spelling, having written it multiple times as part of the previous week's punishment. Rani, who was seated next to her, cast a glance sideways and tried to copy the spelling from Seema's notebook.

However, she noticed that Mr. Sharma had seen her cheat. She became tensed and worried, not knowing what to do. She had cheated for the first time in her life and did not feel good about it. So she took her eraser and erased the correct spelling, replacing it with the incorrect one that she had earlier thought of. She knew she would not be able to top the test, but felt satisfied at sticking to her values. Mr. Sharma called her after the class and appreciated her honesty.

It is important to reinforce the good values possessed by students. It strengthens their ability and motivation to uphold positive values at all times under all circumstances.

~ Kusum Dangi is an Educator at The Fabindia School. Her email address is kdi4fab@gmail.com

Mental Hygiene

When the child enters this world and goes in the arms of their dear ones, the thought to feel secure and guarded enters in their infant mind and they start connecting and feeling comfortable in the arms that give them immense love, care and affection, and when the child enters the phase of 3-5 years their thoughts, heart and eyes starts to explore the world to feel ,touch and understand what the world make them experience in terms of their experiences with things around them, when someone is hurt or in pain the child understands to sympathies a person and help them to be happy and this quality in the child is inculcated by the actions of the elderly people at that particular situation that the child experienced and learned by watching you.
     
If a child watches their elders abusing anyone or disrespecting anyone, he may not react at the very moment but its placed in the subconscious mind and it comes in action when the same situation the child experiences he copy paste the same actions as he feels that was the right way to deal as my elders had dealt it at the same situation before.
             
Action are very minutely observed by kids mind and heart .To inculcate empathy in kids it’s important to act to sensitivity to mankind and all lives existing by the elders to help a child build in the personality to be sensitive to every humankind and to feel the pain and an understanding to act by helping them to reduce it.
 
I want to share an experience of a counselling session where a child wanted to commit suicide at the tender age of 10 years because the religious priests had inculcated in the Childs mind that since he is a child his sins will be forgiven but ones he grow up his sins will be punished upon by the god so the child decided out of this great fear not to grow to the age to be tortured with the punishment and conveyed his will to end his life to his mother. On hearing the whole case I talked to the child and started counselling him in connecting him to the god in a positive way that god loves everyone and shall shower blessings on you if you be a great person and I conveyed him its very easy, just be kind to everyone and love them , once he connected with god in the positivity of loving his fear immediately reduced and the child instead of being fearful to god started loving god so its very important how we convey things to the child the half glass empty or the half glass full shapes the thought process of a child so “LIVE TO LOVE AND LOVE TO LIVE”

ROLE OF SCHOOL IN SHAPING PERSONALITY OF THE CHILD
School plays a significant role in shaping personality of the child ,the most important aspect of personality of the child are communication skills, logical thought process, empathy ,interpersonal skills , counseling skills , decision making skills and behavioral reaction skills

~ Ms. Tazeen Siddiqui is Managing Director, Mansha Educational society. Her email address is  fortazeen@gmail.com  

Why Forgiveness is Important

क्षमा का महत्व

डॉ अनुपम सिबल द्वारा लिखित पुस्तक का अध्ययन किया, पढ़ते हुए ही आनंद हुआ । मानवीयता, अपनी ताकत, कभी देर नहीं होती, लक्ष्य, ईमानदारी तथा क्षमा इत्यादि विषयों का अध्ययन किया । सारे विषयों पर चर्चा बेहतरीन अंदाज़ से की गई है परन्तु "क्षमा" मुझे अधिक रुचिकर लगा ।  पुस्तक में नेल्सन मंडेला को लेकर जो बात कही गयी वह अच्छी लगी कि किस प्रकार जेल से राष्ट्रपति के पद तक पहुँचे और जेल में दी गयी यातनाओं को भूलकर प्रताड़ित करने वालों को क्षमा कर दिया । हमेशा से ही सुनते आ रहे है कि क्षमा में बहुत शक्ति होती है । सम्भवतः होती भी होगी ऐसे विचार मेरे मन में भी आने लगे । 

हिंदी कविताओं और कहानियो में क्षमा के बारे में गंभीरता से लेखन हुआ है । एक हिंदी अध्यापक होने के नाते अंग्रेजी पुस्तक पढ़ना एक चुनौती थी, परन्तु पढ़ने पर ज्ञात हुआ कि सरल शब्दावली का प्रयोग हुआ है अतः कुछ स्थानों को छोड़ पुस्तक पढ़ने में कठिनाई नहीं आई । 

मैं क्षमा की बात कर रहा था | अपनी उद्दंड कक्षाओं में अकसर किसी न किसी विषय पर उद्बोधन देना होता था ।  कई बार छात्र आपसी झगड़ों को लेकर आते, पूछने पर बताते - शुरू इसने किया था, मेरी कोई गलती नहीं । यह एक चुनौती थी कि किसे दोषी माना जाए और किसे निर्दोष करार दिया जाए ।  कहीं ऐसा न हो कि दोषी बच जाए और निर्दोष को सजा मिल जाए । ऐसे में छात्रों को परामर्श देना आवश्यक हो जाता है । मैंने भी दिया पर लगा कोई विशेष फायदा नहीं हुआ | आपसी मनमुटाव को दूर करने तथा क्षमा करने के लिए व्याख्यान देता रहा । हालाँकि कोई घटना सामने नहीं आयी, परन्तु उदाहरणों के साथ दिए गए व्याख्यानों का कितना असर छात्रों पर हुआ ये बता पाना कठिन प्रतीत हो रहा था । 

एक दिन मैदान में खेलते हुए एक बड़ा बच्चा गिर गया तो कुछ छोटे बालकों को आनंद आया और ठिठौली करने लगे ।  खिलाड़ी छात्र को क्रोध आया परन्तु वह अपने खेल में व्यस्त हो गया । कालांश की समाप्ति पर सभी अपनी-अपनी कक्षाओं में जाने लगे तब उनमें से एक नन्हा बालक गिर गया ।  खिलाडी छात्र ने उसे उठाया और एक कुशल परामर्शदाता की तरह उसे समझाने लगा । ये दृश्य देख कर लगा कि छात्रों में क्षमा की भावना विकसित हो रही है । ये अलग बात है कि सभी की पहुँच से अभी दूर है परन्तु अपेक्षा की जा सकती है । कोई भी बात क्यों न हो, बच्चे एक दूसरे से जल्दी सीखते है । शिकायत लेकर आने वाले छात्रों को अपनी गलती मानते हुए भी देखा । ये एक नयी शुरुआत ही तो है । 

जब कोई सक्षम व्यक्ति क्षमा करें तो प्रशंसनीय कार्य होगा । इसलिए क्षमा को महत्व दिया जाता है । कभी-कभी अपने नुकसान को अथवा मन की चोट को भी भूलकर क्षमा करना सचमुच बड़ा कार्य है । 

~ Krishan Gopal Dave is an Educator at The Fabindia School. His email address is kde4fab@gmail.com

Future of the Indian Classroom

The future of Indian classroom must be coined as "Garden of knowledge "where teachers don't teach a Concept but create it to make kids experience every Concept  taught to them, The” Garden of knowledge” must be so designed where there is freedom to explore, express and create their thoughts into reality to bring innovation in the existing Concept . It must be so uniquely designed that it delivers integrated Concept learning and assignment on its approach to create innovative thoughts towards the existing Concept. The garden of knowledge must be embraced with a variety of Learning Concept, skills and innovations. It can be shaped in its best effective learning by bringing the words in the textbook to reality for experiencing innovation.

For Early childhood education the “Garden of knowledge” plays a vital role in igniting the Thought process of the little stars waiting to twinkle. Creating a Concept in this important phase of a child helps him in shaping his thought process, experiencing the reality and approach towards new things and their existence and most importantly it creates the interest in the child to learn with joy and happiness to creativity.

The creating Concept Approach in the garden of knowledge helps to bring positivity in the child who in turn helps in personality development and great mental health. The stress and anxiety to studies is reduced as the child starts to enjoy learning for self-development rather than for grades.

         “DREAM TO RISE AND RISE TO DREAM”

~ Ms. Tazeen Siddiqui is Managing Director, Mansha Educational society. Her email address is  fortazeen@gmail.com              

Leaders: Get Out of Your Office!

How have you been successful in demagnetising yourself from the office? What do Principals do in their offices all day? There iPhone connects with Google Drive, Twitter, Evernote and Google Hangouts. Embrace the digital tools that empower your Smartphone to be the hub that turns the gears for your school site.

After first hearing about #NoOfficeDay on Twitter last week, it actually made me kind of laugh. The #NoOfficeDay is a Tweeting Challenge a challenge for principals, to spend more time each day in classrooms than their office. This is one of the ways to demagnetise from the office. On#NoOfficeDay; #NoOfficeDay should be about learning alongside teachers and students.

Each week, keep these questions in mind:

• What did I learn? 
• What did I notice? 
• What do the teachers and students want me to learn?

No Office Days should be special. Shouldn’t have supervision or evaluation of teachers; instead, participate actively in learning and teaching as a peer. Sometimes teach a lesson ... Sometimes provide student support... Still other times, simply be present, participating enthusiastically in whatever the activity is. Be highly visible on campus, while staying connected through a plethora of digital tools throughout the day. 

Here is a defining question: Where is the action, in the office or on the campus grounds? If you answered “the office,” you have a better chance of catching a javelin than you do of being a successful principal. The principal should be where the action is, which is where the students are—in the classrooms, around the campus, on the playground, in the cafeteria, and on the swing set. Only by

observing the students in their element can one truly understand their experiences, feel their existence, and know the goings-on of the entire school. And there is no substitute for that knowledge.

It’s such a simple concept -- but it makes a huge impact, Whitaker told Education World. I would tell all administrators, to be in the classrooms -- immerse yourself in the learning of your building. Make it a priority.

How does this help students? Administrators get the opportunity to see students interacting in a classroom environment. Some students need to know that they are safe. When students see administrators, they understand that they are not very far away, when and if, they need them. It also shows teachers that their administrators care about what they're doing in the classroom. A kind word on the part of a principal can help a student stay on track.

Visibility breeds reassurance and familiarity, while at the same time offering a healthy dose of fear and order. It has been said that when a principal walks into a room, it has the same effect as seeing a state trooper pulling onto the highway—the students straighten up and “take their foot off the gas,” even if they weren’t speeding (or, misbehaving). 

I promise that if we make walkthroughs a priority, you will see significant changes in school climate, teacher diligence, student performance, and many of the "issues" that pull you back to the office will disappear of their own accord.

Inspired from the article on edutopia.org “Administrators: How to Get Out of the Office and Into Classrooms”

~ Ms. Rajeshree Shihag is the Principal of The Fabindia School. Her email address is principal@fabindiaschools.in

Humility Never Fails

Humility

Humility is one of the most important and most expensive virtues that one should possess. It means understanding that the delights, pains, and needs of others are as important as our own. If we examine the lives of great persons, we can identify the importance of humility as it is almost always the secret ingredient of their success. If we are humble, we can easily recognise our own faults and strengths. We become aware of our personal limitations as well as the broad limitations of humanity in general. It helps in strengthening relationships that we form in our lives. Dr. Sibal emphasises on the same thing in his book - "Is Your Ready to Face the World?".

Nowadays, virtues may have fallen out of fashion, but they have never been out of date. Being the second home to every child, a school has a crucial role in inculcating positive values in him or her. One day, when I was teaching Class 8, I heard a voice calling out to me. It was Nitin. I looked at him and asked what had happened. 

Nitin: "Sir, somebody has taken Mohit’s money. He had kept it in his text book"

Me (shouting): "Why do you bring money to school?"

Mohit: "I brought it for buying some copies"

I informed the principal about this and she sent the PTI to solve the problem. He checked everyone’s bag and found the money in Rakesh’s bag. Rakesh was caught but it seemed to be the case that it was not his doing. He denied it but no one believed him. It was the work of another student, Babulal, who saw the money when Mohit opened in his text book in the morning. He secretly put the money in Rakesh’s bag when PTI began checking all the bags.

Rakesh was the thief in the world's eyes. So he got punished. He was accused, mocked, and troubled by his classmates but he kept his calm through the ordeal. He was a humble child. Later, Babulal was overcome with guilt and confessed in front of everyone.

Humility is God’s grace, it never fails. It leads people to the truth and helps people to stand tall against all odds. 

~ Byju Joseph is the Vice Principal at The Fabindia School. His email address is bjh@fabindiaschools.in

Forgiveness is Divine

क्षमा करना दैवीय है

क्षमा करना दैवीय है - अर्थात किसी को क्षमा करने वाला देवताओं के समान माना जाता है क्योंकि किसी को भी उसकी गलती पर क्षमा करना हर किसी के बस की बात नहीं है | विद्यालय जीवन में कक्षा नर्सरी से लेकर पांचवीं तक सभी छात्र आपस में लड़ाई कर लेते पर वो एक दूसरे को अगले ही दिन माफ कर देते हैं अर्थात पहले दिन हुई लड़ाई को भूल कर वो फिर से एक दूसरे के साथ खेलने लग जाते है जिससे पता चलता है कि वो एक दूसरे को बहुत जल्दी माफ़ कर देते हैं | मैंने अपने सात साल के सफर में आज तक फैब इंडिया में एक भी छात्र / छात्रा को नहीं देखा जिसकी एक दूसरे से लड़ाई हो | यंहा पर सभी मिलजुलकर रहते हैं | शिक्षक हर समय अपने छात्रों के द्वारा की गई गलतियों को माफ कर देता है | साथ ही साथ शिक्षकों द्वारा की गई गलतियों को छात्र भी माफ कर देते हैं | जिस तरह से नेल्सन मंडेला और महात्मा गांधी जी अपने विरोधिओं को माफ़ कर देते हैं - वह एक सराहनीय कदम है, जिससे आगे चलकर वो महान आदमी बनने के साथ-साथ समाज में अति लोकप्रिय नेता भी बने | क्षमा करने के और भी उदाहरण हैं I ठीक इसी तरह की एक घटना मेरे साथ भी हुई |

बात पिछले साल की है जब कक्षा IX के तीन - चार छात्र प्रारंभिक आकलन (FA) की परीक्षा में अपना सामान न लाकर दूसरो से सामान ले रहे थे जिससे कक्षा में शोरगुल होना शुरू हो गया | इसी बीच शिक्षक ने एक छात्र को कक्षा से बाहर जाने को कहा लेकिन वह छात्र बाहर जाने को तैयार ही नहीं था | बहुत बोलने के बाद भी जब वह छात्र बाहर नहीं गया तो शिक्षक ने उसे खींचकर कक्षा से बाहर निकाल दिया | छात्र क्रोध में था और कक्षा के बाहर खड़ा होकर शिक्षक के बारे में भला–बुरा कहने लगा | यह सुनकर मैं उसके पास गया (क्योंकि मैं उस समय वंही से जा रहा था) और मैंने उसे समझाने की कोशिश की पर वह क्रोध में होने के कारण कुछ भी समझने के लिए तैयार ही नहीं था | अतः मैंने उसे थोड़ी देर के लिए शांत रहने को कहा | फिर मैंने उसे समझाने की कोशिश की और कहा, "माना आपकी कोई गलती नहीं है फिर भी आपको अपने शिक्षक से माफी मांग लेनी चाहिए क्योंकि इस छोटी सी ज़िन्दगी में हमसे जाने-अनजाने गलतियाँ होती रहती हैं। जब हम खुद गलती करते हैं तो लगता है कि काश सामने वाला माफ़ कर दे, पर जब किसी और से गलती होती है तो हम रूठ कर बैठे जाते हैं और बिना सोचे-समझे उसे भला–बुरा कहने लगते हैं"। थोड़ी देर तक मेरी बातें सुनने के बाद वह बोला, "सर मैं आपके कहने पर यह सब कर रहा हूँ" | उसने शिक्षक से माफी मांगी पर शिक्षक ने उसे माफ नहीं किया और फिर मैंने शिक्षक से बात की और कहा कि अब वह कक्षा में चुपचाप रहेगा | मेरे कहने पर शिक्षक ने उसे माफ करने के साथ-साथ कक्षा में बैठने की इजाजत भी दे दी | 

अतः अंत मे, मैं यही कहना चाहता हूँ कि जिस तरह से हमारे माता-पिता हमारी भूलों के लिए हमें क्षमा कर देते हैं, ईश्वर हमें हमारे अपराधों के लिए क्षमा कर देता है, ठीक उसी प्रकार से हमें भी दूसरों को क्षमा कर देना चाहिए |

~ Suresh Singh Negi is an Educator at The Fabindia School. His email address is sni4fab@gmail.com

Making Our Students Future Ready

There is an ongoing debate within the Education Think Tank as how and what can make our students ready for the future. Our education system is still based on the models that worked in past.

In today’s fast and unpredictable world, it is not possible to list the type of jobs which will exist few years hence. What is relevant today might not be relevant 4-5 years from now. So, the big question all the stake holders and educators in schools, face today is how do we make sure our students are ready for the future in this ever-changing scenario.

With disrupting innovations like Uber, Air BnBs and much more it is not possible to prepare them for certain types of jobs. So, we as educators should make sure they have a certain skill set which will help them live, learn and work in this complex world.

• Collaboration is something which is to my mind first. In today’s hyper connected world students can learn a lot by collaborating with each other across cities or countries as physical boundaries do not matter much. They gain a deeper insight into other places or culture; their day to day issues and challenges. To understand and navigate through the cultural nuances of other students is a great learning and teaches them to look at the bigger picture of solving global issues/problems. It is good for students to team up with other pupils beyond their comfort zones, forcing them to adjust in their thoughts and actions, in turn widening their own horizons.
• Resilience teaches them to bounce back after making mistakes. The educators need to create a culture in their classrooms where failures are taken in a stride, as a part of the learning process. Once the students are not afraid to make mistakes, their learning takes a big leap giving them a high dose of confidence and self-esteem.
• Teaching students to think helps them to develop critical thinking skills. It’s time we cultivate curious classrooms. In a typical classroom where the number of students is usually large, the teacher invariably does not like to answer too many questions coming from students. The reason usually is lack of time and sometimes lack of intent.  A sense of wonder is missing in our students. A good question forces us to think. Learning begins with a question! Using 5 W’s (who, what, where, why, when) and H(how) with any topic can make learning more meaningful and engaging.
• Good communication skills can enable our students to convey their thoughts and ideas successfully beyond their classrooms. In the current scenario where social media plays a significant role, being able to communicate effectively to the right audience is the key. 
• Being creative enables them to have fun while learning. Making connections to the real world and finding out of the box solutions enable our students to adapt easily to something unexpected. It allows them to be more flexible and open to learning.

I firmly believe that students with these range of skills and competencies will be able to navigate our ever-changing environment successfully. 

~ Jyoti Chaba is a Tech Enthusiast, Education Evangelist & Founding Partner, De Pedagogics. Her email id is Jyotichaba@hotmail.com