February- 2014

“The secret of education lies

in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to

choose what he shall know, what he shall do.

It is chosen and foreordained and he only

holds the key to his own secret.”

― RALPH WALDO EMERSON

B.Ed Internship Programme

In order to get a personal feel of becoming a teacher in a real

school set up, a 6-day internship programme was organized in the

respective practice teaching schools. This helped the students to

understand the real responsibility of a teacher in moulding the lives

of children. Through this programme, along with the completion of

practice lessons all the team members had to plan for a literary,

creative, topic centered teaching and even had to complete a whole

chapter and conduct a unit test on the same. The path was quite

patchy and tough but the motivating words of the mentors

increased the zest for learning and provided the right direction to

look into. Apart from the intensive emotional and intellectual

workout and daily hassle all the learners got the valuable

experience of taking up a responsible profession. Some learners got

an opportunity to complete the internship programme at

Nareshwadi Learning Centre near Dundhalwadi, Dahanu Taluka,

about 130 km from Mumbai, where almost five hundred children

from underprivileged families are getting education and living in

the campus. Some more B.Ed learners got the privilege to complete

their internship program at Sameerwadi, a CBSE affiliated K. J.

Somaiya English Medium School located in an eco-friendly, serene

and sylvan rural surroundings of Sameerwadi away from the

humdrum of daily life, 8 Kms from Mahalingpur. The sprawling

campus spread over an area of 5 acres is aesthetically and

imaginatively designed to meet the academic, sports and cultural

requirements of the students and staff. Particular attention has

been paid to blending buildings with the evergreen and picturesque

surroundings. It is a co-educational school with special emphasis on

nurturing the vast latent human resource available in the villages

who are often denied the opportunity.

Research paper reading session

On 1st February 2014 Mr. Ajay Saini, Teaching Associate

and Doctoral research scholar at TISS presented his research work

'The Post-tsunami Humanitarian Aid in the Nicobar Archipelago:

Governmentality, Subjectification and Socio-cultural Change'. This

research was based on qualitative paradigm and uses ethnography

as a method. Apart from the usual subject

matter, he specifically focused on philosophy of methodology and

the relations between theory/perspective, method and findings.

One of the broader lines of inquiries of the paper reflects on

schools as catalyst for socio-cultural change among Nicobarese, a

tribal community in the Nicobar tribal reserve.

On 8th Feb 2014 Mr.Ashutosh Bishnu Murti , doctoral student of

TISS presented his work on, 'Labour Market Flexibility and Skill

Shortage : A Study on Management Graduates in India'

His research explores the specific labour market dynamics that

underline the skill shortage of management graduates in Indian

Industry. The fundamental argument of this study is that an

understanding of a skills shortage requires a different knowledge of

the internal and external nature of each labour market in which the

shortage is being experienced. The study develops a critique of the

neoclassical perspective which dominates current analysis of skill

shortages. While it is important to understand the external labour

market, it is equally important to consider the internal labour

market to better identify and understand the specific dynamics that

underline skills shortage among management graduate in an

establishment and industry.

On 15th February 2014 Ms. Arpita Das, Doctoral research scholar at

TISS presented her research work ‘Living with the politics of floods:

A study in the Dhemaji District of Assam.’ This research strives to

contribute towards a socio– anthropological understanding of

floods. It does so because it perceives a lack of literature which

looks at floods as a socio-cultural and political process rather than

as an one off event. It challenges the existing definitions of 'natural'

and 'disasters'. The study argues in favor of a nuanced and

everyday understanding of floods which affects communities,

nature and the State. In doing so, it looks at the dialectics of

people's knowledge of floods and contrasts it with the knowledge

that the state propagates. This research was focused on the people

who live with floods in the state of Assam. The fundamental

concern of the researcher was to understand what people's

experiences of floods in a perennial flood prone area.

On 22nd Feb 2014 is Ms. Divya Kodoth, doctoral student of

TISS presented her work on, ‘An Ethnographic Study of Devadasi in

North Karnataka’.' The ethnographic study on the Devadasi

included a detailed in-depth understanding of everyday life of

devadasis, their family, and the community as a whole. This study is

convergent on having a holistic understanding of the present and

past form of this institution, its effect on the lives of devadasi

women, on their tradition, livelihood and identity. Attempt also has

been made to get insights on how the people within this social

cultural set up view this social practice at present.

Training Program in ICT for In-service Language Teachers

K. J. Somaiya College of Education had organized a training

program in ICT during the month of January starting from 4th for N-

Ward vernacular medium English subject teachers. The training

program was designed to train the teachers for using ICT in English

and also to teach them about how to use ICT in developing the four

language skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing). 30

teachers from 18 schools attended the Training program.

The fifth day of the training was on 1st February on orientation of

web based resources. The session started with a recapitulation of

the previous session. Ms. Rupal Thakkar oriented the participants

about the use of Orell Language Lab software.

After the language lab session, Ms. Sheenu Shekhar who works

with Google explained the participants the importance of ICT in

teaching. She also created awareness about the Google search

engine. She taught them the use of Gmail and Google drive. Ms.

Sheenu Shekhar also explained the importance of ‘Sharing

Knowledge’ through various activities. The participants seemed

very engaged and motivated to learn from her. Ms. Pradnya Bansod

and Ms. Rupal Thakkar facilitated all the teaching sessions. She also

taught them the use of Google Story Builder which is online Story

Building software to develop silent reading skill. After the teaching

session the participants were given time to have hands-on

experience where, they created their own story on Google Story

Builder.

After the hands-on session, the Valedictory function started. Shri.

B.D.Puri, Education Officer of N-Ward was invited for the function.

Dr.Vansundhara Padmanbhan (Principal) felicitated him with a

bouquet and a token of love and appreciation. Shri Puri gave a

motivational insight on ‘Why is ICT important in Teaching Learning

processes to the participants. After his inspiring words few teachers

spoke about their experience of this training program. The overall

feedback of teachers was positive.

Participants were given assignment work according to the Standard

wise to be submitted before 25th of April. They were also provided

with refreshments and lunch. The training session ended with a

doubt solving session.

Simulated Teaching

In order to gain exposure to and try out innovative teaching

strategies, simulated teaching was carried out. Learner centered

technique like Role Play was demonstrated to our B.Ed. students in

simulated setting by our faculty members followed by the students’

demonstrations of Role play. Such endeavors would also help the

learners in bagging prime positions in reputed organizations.

Women development cell activity

A guest lecture on the regulatory principles for ensuring women’s

safety was delivered by sub-inspector of police from the Tilaknagar

police station on 22nd February as part of women’s development

cell at the B.Ed. campus. It was thoroughly a very informative

session as she mentioned and discussed all the legal provisions

applicable for lodging a complaint against a crime or sexual

harassment. Her kind nature proved and deceived the notion that a

police is unapproachable at the event of a serious problem. She had

a detailed conversation with all the students and concluded the

session with the assurance that the Mumbai police is and always

will be with the women in trouble.

Sports Day Event

‘Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity’.

---John F. Kennedy

Very true, as is the saying ‘health is wealth’. Inspired on these lines,

K.J.Somaiya Comprehensive College of Education, Training and

Research, organized its annual athletic meet on the 17th of Feb,

2014 at the Somaiya Sports Ground with great zest and enthusiasm.

The programme commenced with the march past by the students

followed by the oath. This was followed by various events like

100m & 400m race, relay, lemon and spoon race, potato race, short

put, javelin throw and long jump etc. All the students participated

with true sportsmanship and made the session a lively event. There

were accolades for the winners, cheers for the participants and

motivation for the losers. It was a packed event right from the start

till the event concluded. With the spirits held up high, none could

deter the students from showcasing their level best during the

course of the events. And most importantly, it was the message of

sports that maintained the active atmosphere, “participation is

more important than winning”. Henceforth, it was one of those

nostalgic memories that one would always cherish throughout their

life time.

Hearty congratulation to all our winners!!