NCERT’s Concern for Minority Educationncert.nic.in/html/pdf/Publication/newsletter/newslatter_jan07.pdf · National Council of Educational Research and Training ... of Indian history,

JANUARY 2007

LIFE ETERNAL THROUGHLEARNING

The intertwined Hansassymbolise the integration of three

aspects of the work of theNational Council of EducationalResearch and Training (NCERT):(i) Research and Development,(ii) Training, and (iii) Extension.

The design has been adapted from anAshokan period relic of the third

century B.C. found in excavationsnear Maske in the Raichur district

of Karnataka.

The motto has been taken from theIsavasya Upanishad and means

life eternal through learning.

NCERT’s Concern for MinorityEducation

Three priority areas of Minority Cell were identified onthe basis of discussions held at the first meeting of the12-member Minority Cell in the Department of Educationof Groups with Special Needs. The meeting held on 16November 2006 was in pursuance of therecommendations of the National Monitoring Committeefor Minority Education constituted by the MHRD. Themembers have been drawn from the Regional Institutesand NIE departments. Prof. J.S. Gill, DESM has beenappointed as the Nodal Officer and Prof. Neerja Shukla,Head, DEGSN as Convener. The Minority Cell has beenset up to strengthen the contribution of NCERT inunderstanding and resolving the issues related tominority education.

It was agreed upon that this Cell may prepare a reliabledatabase regarding education of minorities by collectinginformation from all the states. It was also recommendedthat NCERT must promote such researches, which canenhance the understanding of deep issues related to theminority education.

PRIORITY AREAS

Documentation of Researches, Researchers and ofMinority Institutions.

OBJECTIVE

To work out the strategy for making the role andcontribution of NCERT more effective as far as theeducation of the minorities is concerned.

The speakers of minority and tribal languagesoften suffer severe linguistic deprivation.It is important for us to realise that themajor language of our country, includingEnglish, can flourish only in the company ofand not at the cost of minor languages. Thedevelopment of some of the languagesprovide marked impetus to language spoken inlinguistically diverse tribal areas and spur thespeech communities to consciously strive in thatdirection.

—NCF-2005

2 NCERT NEWS/January-2007

A three-day needs assessment programme wasorganised by the Department of Education ofGroups with Special Needs under the projectentitled “Capacity building programme forteachers with a focus on multilingual educationin tribal context”. The programme was held atRatu, DIET, Ranchi, Jharkhand from 17–19October, 2006.

These include, besides the language issue, theteacher’s attitude towards students belongingto tribal communities, classroom environment,extent of teacher-learner interaction, teacherattendance, teacher’s knowledge of tribal cultureand traditions, etc. These issues are to form thebasis of the proposed training programme forthe teachers working in the tribal areas ofJharkhand.

The faculty members of DEGSN, Prof.Neerja Shukla, Dr Kanan Sadhu and Dr S.C.Chauhan along with the resource persons MrA.A.C. Lal, Ex-NCERT faculty and Prof. R.Sachdeva, CIIL, Mysore, visited schools in theMundari and Kurukh (Oraon) villages.Discussions were held with around 20educational functionaries and scholarsbelonging to Department of Tribal Languages,Ranchi University, Jharkhand Rajya ShikshaPariyojana (SSA) and Jharkhand TribalResearch Institute.

There is a need to work backwards to find whyinclusion has not taken place in spite ofpolicy initiatives and what are the barriersto the implementation of such an approach.The Department of Education of Groupswith Special Needs had taken up a Projectentitled ‘Developing an index for inclusiveschools’.

A Consultative Committee was constitutedwith the purpose of planning the wholeprocess of Development of the Index. TheCommittee included eminent experts fromuniversities, schools, non-governmentalorganisations, etc. A meeting of theConsultative Committee was held at NCERTon 24 November 2006.

A conceptual framework was suggestedfor the development of the index that wouldbe named as ‘Developing Inclusive LearningCentres—Some Indicators’. The membersalso suggested that it was important to studysome good practices in the country beforetaking up the task of developing theindicators.

A number of issues emerged pertaining tothe education of tribal children from thediscussions held in these sessions and theobservations recorded during the school visits.

The main objective of the Project was todevelop an index for inclusion after wideconsultation with school staff,educational experts, educationaladministrators, school students, parentsand other community members.

Capacity Building Programme for TeachersFocus on Multilingual Education in the Tribal Context

Index for Inclusive Schools

OBJECTIVE

To identify the issues involved inteaching through the mother tonguein a multilingual class comprisingstudents belonging to differenttribal communities, such as Oraon,Munda, etc.

3NCERT NEWS/January-2007

FOCUS ON UPLIFTMENT OF SC GIRLS

The four weeks training programme for teachereducators from rural areas on action research withfocus on upliftment of SC girls was organised bythe Department of Women’s Studies from 23November to 20 December 2006. The programmehad two main components, viz., sensitising thetrainees towards the upliftment of SC girls with arural focus and preparing them for undertakingaction research in their specific work situations.Thirty two participants representing 15 states and29 districts attended the programme. Theprogramme had resource lectures from variouspersons of national and international fame whoenriched the participants on thematic areasconcerning the status and upliftment of SC girls,preparing action research proposals, trying outaction proposals in field situations andimplementing strategies and interventions onspecific problems related to their states andparticularly the districts. Methodology of trainingincluded constant interaction, brain storming,lecture-cum-discussion, team work, individualassignments, video viewing, slide cum overheadprojection, power point presentation, pilot studyin the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools, field visit toPrayas, an NGO, preparing and presenting groupreports on the pilot field study carried out in Delhi

Kendriya Vidyalaya schools and details of actionresearch proposal to be carried out in theirdistricts. Participants presented status paperswhich was a pre-training requirement. The statuspapers included status of SC girls in the trainees'districts and states. These trained participants willbe reporting back after 6 to 8 months at NIE onthe action research work they would carry out intheir work situations. Trainees will share theirfindings in the 5 days follow up workshops to beorganised by DWS in August-September 2007,the project has already been approved by PAC.

Training Programme for Teacher Educators from RuralAreas on Action Research

Training Programme for Teacher Educatorsorganised by the Department of Women's Studies

The Department of Women’s Studies incollaboration with Centre for Women’sDevelopment Studies and RIE, Bhopalorganised an exhibition on Indian woman from1875-1947 at Ustad Amjad Ali Khan KalaParishad, Bhopal. The exhibition consisted ofrare exhibits of women in the modern periodof Indian history, particularly of those who hadaccess to photography. It was inaugurated bythe Governor of Madhya Pradesh Hon'bleShri Balram Jakhar. It was attended bystudents and teachers from different schools

of Bhopal along with other eminent persons.The exhibition was appreciated by the viewerswho keenly observed the visual depiction ofthe participation of women in the freedomstruggle and the social reform movement andin their own families. The exhibits alsoportrayed how education of women in thesocial reformists families brought a change intheir personal lives. Questionnaire preparedon the exhibits were filled by teachers andstudents. They also expressed their desire toprepare small projects on the related themes.

Documentary on Indian Woman 1875-1947


The Orientation Programme of Key ResourcePersons of North Eastern States on evaluationof language skills at primary and upperprimary levels was organised by NERIE,Shillong, at SCER T/State Institute ofEducation (SIE), Gangtok, Sikkim, from6 to 10 November 2006.

The Orientation Programme was attended bytwenty-six faculty members of different DIETs,SCERTs/SIE of NE states of Assam, ArunachalPradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkimand Tripura, and Deptartment of HumanResource Development of Government of Sikkim.Prof. Panchanan Mohanty, Head, Centre forApplied Linguistics and Translation Studies,University of Hyderabad; Dr. Ajit K. Baishya,Head, Deptartment of Linguistics, AssamUniversity, Silchar, Assam; Prof. J.P.Bagchi, Dr.S.Yadav, and Prof. A.K.Mishra of NERIEparticipated in the programme.

DISCUSSIONS HELD ON

• concepts of assessment, evaluation andtesting,

• assessment/evaluation and NCF 2005,

• types of evaluation/language tests,

• cloze test, qualities of a good test,

• teacher as a tester and evaluator,

• test development,

• construction of a valid and reliable testin language,

• evaluation of listening skill,

• evaluation of speaking skill,

• evaluation of reading skill,

• evaluation of writing skill,

• testing vocabulary,

• communicative language teaching andtesting,

• testing communicative skills,

• continuous and comprehensive evaluation,

• assessment of early language learners,

• problems in student evaluation atelementary level, etc.

Many languages are becoming endangered andsome have actually disappeared from the Indianlinguistic scene despite our claims tomultilingualism and maintenance. Every timewe lose a language, a whole literary andcultural tradition is likely to be erased.

—NCF-2005

Orientation Programme on Evaluation of Language Skills

Participants at the Orientation Programme organised by NERIE at SCERT,Gangtok, Sikkim


Development of ExemplaryQuestions for Higher MentalAbilities

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005has documented that questions which are used totest students' achievement in different subjectsareas at present are largely memory based. Themeta-cognitive skills like reasoning, creativethinking, application of knowledge, interpretation,inference, etc. are neglected. In order to bring aboutchanges in the process of teaching-learning and togive the students an opportunity to constructknowledge, a change in the typology of question isrequired. Therefore, to make the teacher in schoolsfamiliar with new types of questions, theDepartment of Educational Measurement andEvaluation (DEME) prepared Exemplar Questionsin the subject areas of English, Science, SocialScience and Mathematics at the Secondary Stagein a workshop held in December, 2006. It isproposed to vet/revise these questions in asubsequent workshop in February-March so asto bring out a document containing the ExemplaryQuestions Testing Higher Mental Abilities in theabove mentioned subject areas for wider circulation.

Compilation of Data onSchool Education

A two-day meeting of the State SurveyOff icers was organised from 11 to12December 2006 at NCERT to disseminate thefindings of the 7th All India School EducationSurvey.

The format for preparing state reports andtheir dissemination was also discussed. Asession was devoted entirely to solve thefinancial problems experienced by the states. Inthis meeting 21 State Survey Officers or theirrepresentatives participated. The meeting wasinaugurated by Prof. G. Ravindra, Joint Director,NCERT. On behalf of National InformaticsCentre, Dr. Gautam Bose, DDG, NIC alsoparticipated.

One of the major functions of the Department ofEducational Measurement and Evaluation is tobuild the capacity of State Resource Persons inthe areas related to educational evaluation. Withthe NCF’s focus on changed typology of questions,it became imperative to train the Key ResourcePersons of different states in Question Setting. Forthis, three capacity building programmes wereorganised with the School Education Boards ofBihar, Assam and Mizoram from 4–8, September2006, 10–14 November 2006 and 20–24November 2006 respectively. In each of theworkshops about 50 key resource persons weretrained in developing questions testing highermental abilities in the subjects of Science, SocialScience, Maths and Languages. Each state willprepare a report of the programme containing thesample questions for circulating to their schools.

Examination system need to be more flexible,just as we must ensure that education andassessment system are fair to all social groups,we should ensure that they do not discriminateagainst particular kinds of learners, there is alot of psychological data to suggest that differentlearners learn differently, and hence to test alllearners through a written test of the same typeis not justified.

—NCF-2005 Vol. II

The Department of Educational Surveyand Data Processing has compiled thenational data of the survey in nine reportscovering di f ferent aspects of schooleducation:

(i) Schooling Facilities in Rural Area(ii) Schools, Physical and Ancillary

Facilities(iii) Incentive Schemes(iv) Enrolment in Schools(v) Media of Instructions and Languages

to be Taught(vi) Teachers and their Qualifications(vii) Schools for Physically Challenged

Children(viii) Specific Facilities in Secondary and

Higher Secondary Schools(ix) Pre Primary Education and

Alternative Schooling.

Capacity Building of KRPs inQuestion Setting


The Jawaharlal Nehru National ScienceExhibition for Children (JNNSEC) is organisedevery year to commemorate the birthanniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Themain purpose of the exhibition is toexpose various scientific and technologicalimprovisations and innovations as perceived bychildren from different parts of our countrybesides encouraging them to mark newinventions and discoveries. The exhibition alsogives ideas on simple models and devices.The 33rd JNNSEC- 2006 had been organisedby the National Council of Educational Researchand Training in collaboration with theGovernment of Maharashtra. The main themeof this exhibition was ‘Science and Technologyfor Rural Development’.

The exhibition was organised at ShivajiChhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune.Hon’ble Education Minister of MaharashtraShri Vasant Purke inaugurated the exhibitionon 23 November 2006. Director, NCERT,Prof. Krishna Kumar in his inaugural address

emphasised the significance and role of suchexhibitions in creating an interest in studentsand people towards science and technology. Awell conceived formal system of education is notadequate to achieve the desired goals of scienceeducation. Rigid and theoretical lessons of theformal system, and the often inadequatedemonstrations and experiments do not provideopportunity to the naturally curious childrento indulge in the joy and fun of scientificinvestigation. Science exhibitions offer anopportunity to the students to express andexchange their creative ideas, help them to learnthe methods of science, provide them withopportunity to develop their problem solvingskills and creative abilities. Eminent computerscientist Dr. Vijay Bhatkar and the ViceChancellor of the University of Pune Dr.

33rd Jawaharlal Nehru National ScienceExhibition for Children–2006

Themes of Exhibits

• Environmental Management• Industries for Rural Development• Landmarks in Science• Information and Communication

Technology in Education• Mathematical Models


Narendra Jadhav also addressed theparticipants. Hon’ble Education Minister andProf. Krishna Kumar later visited the exhibitionand interacted with a number of participants.More than one lakh students, teachers andparents visited the exhibition. Many eminentscientists and educationists interacted with theparticipants.

More than eight hundred educational CDsproduced by CIET were sold. These covereda range of topics on various subjects for

different groups of students as well asteachers.

The valedictory function of 33rd JNNSEC-2006 was held on 29 November 2006 in whichcertificates and mementoes were distributedamong the participants. During the valedictoryfunction Hon’ble Education Minister ofMaharashtra, Shri Vasant Purke; Joint Director,NCERT, Prof. G. Ravindra; Director, MSCERT,Pune; Sri A.M. Bedge and Head, DESM Prof.Hukum Singh addressed the participants.

COLOURFUL CULTURAL PROGRAMMES WERE ALSO ORGANISED IN WHICH THERE

WERE PRESENTATIONS FROM PUNE AND OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.


CIET (NCERT) has its own EDUSAT Network with100 Classroom Satellite Interactive Terminals(SIT) located all over India at SCERTs, SIETs,KVs, NVs, NIOS, CBSE, KVs etc. For effective useof Network a technical training on operationalaspects was organised by TPOM Division of CIETin two phases for the activated centres.

In the first phase, 46 coordinators(Technical) from 28 centres have been trainedfrom 22 to 28 June 2006. In the second phase,again 46 coordinators (Technical) from 27centres have been trained from 26 to 29December 2006.

AUDIO PROGRAMME ON PORTS OF INDIA

AND MEDICINE AND SURGERY

The CIET has produced a series of ten audioprogrammes on ports of India and seven audioprogrammes on medicine and surgery. Theprogrammes on Ports of India intend to depictlocation of ports, their history, types and theirimportance in socio-economic development ofthe region. The audio programmes elaborate theprocess of the construction of ports, otherinfrastructure inputs like roads and railways,industrial and associated economicactivities.The programmes will be useful forteaching/learning providing social input tolearners at school stage.

TITLES OF AV PROGRAMMES ON MEDICINE

AND SURGERY

1. Khoj ek pahlu anek2. Avaz se pahachana rog3. Antibiotic ki kahani4. Bachav mein hai suraksha5. Ek bari jeet6. Voh barish ka din7. Hanste khelte bachche

TITLES OF AV PROGRAMMES ON PORTS OFINDIA

1. Bharat ke bandargah–ek paricharya2. Kandli3. Mumbai4. Marma Goa5. Kochi6. Tutikorin7. Chennai8. Visakhapatnam9. Paradip10. Kolkata

A series of seven audio programmes on thetopics of medicine and surgery from the point ofview of young learners, in the age group of10–14 years, were also produced. Theeducational aim of these programmes is to focuson the milestone discoveries and inventions.

Technical Training for EDUSAT

BookshelfDr. Mohammad Nauman Khan, Readerin the Department of Languages, NCERThas published an anthology of literaryarticles and Research papers entitledTalash-O-Tajziya.

These articles are published in Urdujournals and presented in nationalseminars organised by Universities, Urduacademics and literary organisations.Thebook is published by Dabstane, Bhopal in2006.

The literary articles and research papersare dealt with contemporary outlookmaking it a thought provoking reading.

SOME OF THE TOPICS DEALT WITH

• Kalidas aur Urdu Adab

• Bharti Hari Aur Iqbal

• Sir Syed Ahmed

• Shibli Nomani

• Abul Kalam Azad

• Dr. Iqbal

• Mulla Ramoozi

• Urdu Print media

• Urdu Educational Scenario in

Madhya Pradesh


PR

IZE W

INN

ING P

OE

MHindi Pakhwara

A number of competitions were held for NCERT staff during the HindiPakhwara from 14 to 28 September 2006. The winners for the various competitions are -

HAND-WRITING : D GROUP

First: Y.P.Joshi, Secretary OfficeSecond: Prakash Chandra, Accounts SectionThird: Ashok Kumar, Department ofElementary Education.

HAND-WRITING : TYPIST TO SECTIONOFFICER’S GROUP

First: Rekha Nirvan, CIET AdministrationSecond: Indesh Singh, Publication DivisionThird: Sahib Singh Bisht, ParliamentaryAffairs Section

ESSAY WRITING : ADMINISTRATION

First: Veena Kumar, SC/ST CellSecond: Vinod Kumar, Parliamentary AffairSectionThird: Rachna, Welfare Section

TYPING : BILINGUAL

First: Manish Kumar, Curriculum GroupSecond: Ram Prakash, M.H.R.DThird: Hari Narayan, Establishment WelfareSection

HINDI-TRANSLATION : ADMINISTRATION

First: Ram Prakash, MHRDSecond: Manish Kumar, Curriculum GroupThird: Gurpreet Singh, Compilation section,Accounts Branch

DRAFTING

First: Karunesh Gambhir, Appointment-I,SectionSecond: Jai Khishan Saini, Establishment-Welfare SectionThird: Madan Singh Yadav, D.E.R.P.P. ;D.N. Bhatt, D.C.E.T.A

DEBATE : ADMINISTRATION

First: Usha Gaur, D.E.S.S.A.ASecond: Sharafat Ali, DLDIThird: Mandan Singh Yadav, D.E.R.P.P

POETRY : ADMINISTRATION

First: Neelima Walecha, DEESecond: Gurpreet Singh, CompilationSection, Accounts BranchThird: Sagar Parashri, Receiving andDispatch Section.

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Vision

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMA COURSE IN

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

There is an increasing demand for trainedcounsellors in private sector as well as publicsector hence the need to make it available on alarger scale. Prof. Krishan Kumar, chairman ofthe Advisory committee of International DiplomaCourse in Guidance and Counselling throughDistance/On-Line Mode in Collaboration withCommonwealth of Learning (COL), drew theattention of the members towards the importanceof having a course relevant to the present dayneeds of the youth especially in developingcountries. There is a need to sensitise teachers tothe contemporary concerns and contextual factorsimportant for counselling. The course materialneeds to focus on the social, political, economic,contextual aspects and other complexities andrealities of the outside world in order to guideand counsel students. Keeping in view this vision

the Department of Educational Psychology andFoundations of Education is preparing to launchan International Diploma Course in Guidanceand Counselling through Distance/On-Line Modein Collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning(COL). The course is aimed at training teachers/teacher educators and untrained guidancepersonnel as counsellors/teacher counsellorsfrom Asian and African regions.

A meeting of the Advisory Committee of thecourse was held on 8 November 2006. Themeeting was attended by Director, Joint Director,NCERT and other senior faculty and expertsfrom NCERT and outside universities andinstitutions.

The committee took some major decisionsregarding launching of the course by mid2008-09, mobilising resources available atRIEs/NIE, universities and other institutionsand setting up the study centres in India andSouth Asia for transaction of the course.

A two-day Orientation Programme on NationalCurriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, wasorganised by the Curriculum Group forthe Principals/Senior Heads of DAV Schoolsduring 27-28 November 2006. Around 55Principals/Senior Heads of DAV schools fromAndhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal,Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh andUttaranchal attended the orientation programme.

Prof. Krishna Kumar, speaking on the occassionsaid, the major challenges in the implementationof NCF 2005, highlighted the fine distinction ofinformation, knowledge and understanding.The real joy can be experienced only afterunderstanding what we are doing/learning.

Prof. Khader emphasised the need to changethe mindset to bring in the quality dimension,where process becomes important. Prof. Agnihotrifelt that the approach towards languages is thedistinguishing feature of the NCF 2005, wheremultilingualism is treated as a resource andstrategy. Prof. Anil Sadgopal observed that thecurricular and pedagogic reforms can be brought

only if structural reforms take place. TheCommon School System can play an importantrole in this regard. Ms. Shubha Mudgalemphasised on the role of art education inmaking the education system more enjoyable,where it is important that the students becomeinformed listeners before becoming performers.

The presentations and discussions duringthe programme were focused on the key featuresof NCF 2005, syllabi and textbooks in varioussubjects, examination reforms, teachereducation for curriculum renewal, work-centrededucation and quality education.

Prof. J.S. Gill, Prof. B.K. Sharma, Prof. S.K.S.Gautam, Dr. V.P. Singh, Prof. Anil Sethi, Prof.Anil Sadgopal, Prof. Ramakant Agnihotri, Mr.Nasiruddin Khan, Dr. Jyotsana Tiwari and Mr.M.V. Srinivasan interacted with the participantsduring various sessions. From the DAVCMC, Dr.C. Prakash (Vice President), Sri M.L. Khanna(General Secretary), Brig. A.K. Adhlakha,(Director, Administration) and Mrs. RashmiChari (Assistant Director) were actively involvedwith the programme.

Orientation Programme on NCF - 2005


APPOINTMENTS

• Shri Shankar Lal Meena, appointed

as Lecturer in Physics (Leave

vacancy) at R.I.E. Ajmer w.e.f .

11-12-2006

• Dr. Ashita Ravindran, Lecturer

in Economics in DESSH w.e.f.

22-12-2006.

• Shri M.S.Kalidas Lecturer in Gujarati

at R.I.E. Bhopal w.e.f. 26-12-2006

PROMOTIONS

• Shri S.B. Sharma, Assistant,

promoted as Section Officer w.e.f.

13-11-2006

• Shri Smt. Prem Sahni, as Section

Officer w.e.f. 15-11-2006

• Shri Jitender Kumar Saini, LDC as UDC

w.e.f. 09-10-2006

• Shri Vinod Kumar, LDC as UDC w.e.f.

12-10-2006

• Shri Sumanth Kumar Thapliyal, LDC

as UDC w.e.f. 05-12-2006

• Shri B.R.Tuteja, PA as APC w.e.f. 14-

11-2006

SUPERANNUATIONS

• Shri M.K.Gupta, Lecturer (Selection

Grade), DES & DP retired on

30-10-2006

• Shri Dr. S.S. Raghavan, Professor, R.I.E.

Mysore, retired on 31-12-2006

• Shri S.P.Bhatia, Assistant retired on

31-10-2006

• Shri Harish Chander, Section Officer

retired on 31-10-2006

• Shri Prithavi, Assistant retired on

30-11-2006

Dr. Varada M. Nikalje from the Departmentof Languages presented her views on thepresence of humour in our new textbooks atthe Thursday Forum . Briefly, she traced itspresence in English literature also. She wasinspired to deliver the lecture on this topicby a remark in the report ‘Learning withoutBurden (1993) that Indian textbooks, ingeneral, lack humour. An attempt was madeto address this issue. The first part of thelecture concentrated on the reasons perceivedfor the lack of humour in textbooks, whichare rooted in–

(i) Tradition in Pedagogy: Societalexpectations from schools were limitedto transmission of knowledge andskills from the older to the youngergenerations. Schools continue to beassociated with seriousness andstudy, not laughter.

(ii) Literary Tradition: The definition ofhumour itself has changed over time;it no longer means the oddities ofmanner, but the writer's exploitationof these oddities. Examples from therich fund of literature were discussed,ranging from the Panchtantra toCharles Lamb to Mark Twain.

The second part of the lecture analysedthe textbooks in English published in 2005-06 for Classes I, III, VI, IX and XI. Forinstance in Class III textbook Marigold in thestory The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe,when the shoe jumped on the straw, it broke.The shoe drowned, and the bubble laughedtill it burst.

The kinds of humour ranging from slapstickto irony, as well as their appropriates at variouslevels, were analysed.

In the discussion that followed,Prof. M. Sengupta gave an example of theclassroom situation contributing to curbing ofhumour. Mr. N. Khan illustrated how humourcan be killed by insensitive teaching. Prof. UshaDutta appreciated the examples given regardinghumour in the primary level textbooks.

Humour in Textbooks Staff News


Website : www.ncert.nic.in, E-mail: [email protected] at the Publication Department by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research andTraining, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016, Lasertypeset in-house and printed at Bengal Offset Works,-------------------------

At a lecture recently organised by NCERT, ProfessorShanta Sinha spoke about the battle-like experiencethe poor have to face when they seek school admissionfor their children. Meeting deadlines, providingsatisfactory certificates of birth and residence, andso on, are among the very first requirements anyparent must fulfil in order to put a child in Class I.For a large proportion of the rural population andmigrants to towns and cities, these initial choresprove difficult enough, but the real battle begins whenthe child starts attending school. Professor Sinhashowed with the help of numerous instances drawnfrom her work as the Founder-Director of MVFoundation how scarce is the availability of positivefeelings and support for the Class I child. Many villageschools function with just two teachers and theytend to focus on Class IV and V, leaving the largestClass, which is Class I to shape itself into a smallerClass II cohort by attrition. Class I and II teachersseldom enjoy the high self-esteem and long-termvision necessary for working with 5-6 year olds. Manytextbooks used in our country in Class I and II fail toreflect children’s ways of thinking and imagination.There is a widespread feeling among headmastersand other authorities that Class I is merely apreparation time, not significant in itself.

Educational theory has ample evidence to thecontrary. It is in Class I that the child’s basicattitude towards school as a social institution isformed. Indeed, the first few months spent atschool have a decisive role in shaping the child’swill to take the school seriously as a place whichmeans well. Systemic inability to distinguish littlechildren from older ones, in terms of nature andrequirements, is a major obstacle to Class I reforms.Trained teachers are usually able to regurgitatethe common psychological characteristics ofadolescents but very few have working knowledgeof how a 5-year old thinks and imagines. Thesyllabus of teacher training for the primary stageis usually so generalised that trainees end upgetting no clear idea about this crucial stage ofthe school going child’s mind. They operate on thebasis of a vague notion of stages of development,having little clue about how to relate to a real child.We can hardly blame Class I teachers who perceivethemselves to be at the bottom of the schoolhierarchy and hope to move on.

KRISHNA KUMAR

Thursday Lecture Series

Lectures/Activities organised under ThursdayForum from October 2006 to December 2006–

• Paath Ka Arth Vistar Aur Vishayon KaAntarsambandh by Dr. P.K. Dubey, Deptt.of Languages, NCERT on 19 October 2006.

• Humour: Roots and Routes throughEnglish Language and Literature byDr. Varada M. Nikalje, Deptt. ofLanguages, NCERT on 2 November 2006.

• Film Show on Sant Gyaneshwar on9 November 2006.

• Learning Achievement of Class III byProf. Avtar Singh, Dr. Veer Pal Singh andDr. Santosh Kumar, NCERT on 16November 2006

• National Education Quality Initiative in,South Africa: Its Role in improving theQuality of Education by Prof. Kanjee,A Executive Director, National EducationQuality Initiative, South Africa, on27 November 2006.

• Screening of film show on the Great IndianSchools show, Documentary byMr. Avinash Deshpande Pune, on 30November 2006.

• Progress Maps in CurriculumDevelopment: South African Experienceby Dr. Beatrice Avalos University of Pritoria,South Africa on 1 December 2006.

• Teaching Statistical Inquiry in Schools byProf. Katie M. Makar University ofQueensland, Australia on 21 December2006.

Back Margin

PUBLICATION TEAM

P. Rajakumar Meenakshi Khar

Shveta Uppal Vandana R. Singh

Arun Chitkara

Documents

NCERT’s Concern for Minority Educationncert.nic.in/html/pdf/Publication/newsletter/newslatter_jan07.pdf · National Council of Educational Research and Training ... of Indian history,