Never Compromise in Teaching Quality…

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Mathematics is an integral part of life and it’s used everywhere. Recently, Maharashtra State Board introduced two levels of mathematics for Class X SSC board students. One will be regular maths and other will be general maths. The general maths level will be lower than regular maths. It’s not advisable to opt out or to use truncated syllabus for Math in Class X SSC Board Exam.

Availability of such options could make the Parents think that their child may not score well in Maths Class X SSC board exam or even fail in the subject. Due to this fear, they encourage their child to select general Maths. But this means that the child may not be able to choose the science or engineering field for his career. http://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif Even if a child opts for Arts or Commerce, then also he/she will not be taken Maths in Class XI.

The mathematics taught year ago largely focused on teaching student how to perform procedures. Students were required to memorize definitions, formula and rules, and often they applied without any thought. Students were considered good at mathematics if they could “do math” quickly and without any thought. Today we know that for student to be able to use school mathematics outside the classroom, they must understand what they are doing. By understanding, I mean that they know not only how to perform option like long division but [also] why the procedure works and what the result means. This deeper understanding enables students to know when it is appropriate to use what they have learned.

Under the given circumstances, a teacher can play a very important role in clearing away the myths associated with the learning of Maths. The teacher can strive to make the child understand the abstract Mathematical concepts and their applications. To make the subject interesting, a teacher can try to relate a topic with other subjects like History, Art, Music, etc. If a teacher explains the application of Mathematical concepts in day to day life, the student can then understand and remember the concept more easily. The Teacher should teach in such a manner that develops the critical and creative thinking skills of the pupil. Also, the teacher can bring the child up to a certain level of understanding of a Mathematical concept, after which it’s up to a child to perform well or even crack the subject. For that, a child has to work on the subject with hard work – constantly and continuously.

For that, the Teacher has to foster such an environment in the class. I can think of a good old story that very well fits in here.

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?” “No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.” The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work. “Where are you going to install the idol?”

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. “If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”

Like the sculptor of this story, it is the Teacher’s responsibility to practice excellence which will consequently improve the quality of teaching Mathematics.

Never compromise in Quality is indeed the need of hour.

School Trip to Sardar Sarovar Dam

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14th September 2009

An early morning it was than usual. There were news that the 6.82 million cubic metres concrete filled ‘object’ was overflowing! You could make about 3 Eiffel Towers sleep in a row to be as long as this concrete ‘object’! It did come as a refreshing and pleasant surprise after all that hard work the AVM Bhoolkus had put in for their CMTs. Even at such a short notice, Fuvaji and Hareshbhai arranged for the permissions and the transport for the entire school to visit the place. Thus begun the journey to the much talked about, very promising, very educative, third highest concrete dam of India – the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

The 8 luxury buses and a supply tempo altogether accommodating 380 students, 20 teachers, the entire hostel staff and cafeteria staff made their first stop at the Gumandev Hanumanji Mandir. After having darshan in the mandir, the entire troupe had their breakfast in the spacious compound of the temple. There was a lot of excitement in the students as they boarded their respective buses for the onwards journey to Kevadia Colony. Parambhai, Fuvaji’s secretary was busy arranging for the school’s visit at the dam taking care of the formal procedures with help from Shri Maheshbhai Thakkar, our Ambrish devotee involved with the project.

Upon arrival at the reception site, students of Classes 1 to 6 were taken to Dam View Point 1 where there was a breath-taking view of the entire 1.2 km dam structure. They were accompanied by teachers, didis and an expert guide to enlighten them about this engineering marvel of India. Due to heavy rains in the Madhya Pradesh area, the accumulated water was overflowing from the dam reservoir. It was truly a unique opportunity to see such an action. The roaring sound of the overflowing water could be heard quite distinctly at the view point which was almost 1 km away from the dam! They were then taken to the Dam View Point 1 which provides a very close view of the dam and the river bed power house. (Visit http://www.sardarsarovardam.org/tourism/visit_places.htm for the chief places to visit at this project site)

Meanwhile, students of Classes 7, 8, 9 and 10 visited the Model Room and Interpretation Centre which had a model of the dam besides detailed information about the entire project right since its inception. The students keenly studied the model of the entire project, model of the dam, all the pictures and the statistical data about the project. They gained appreciation of the social and environmental implications of dams and got chance to look into the functioning of government projects of such a massive scale. Some inquisitive minds proactively asked questions to gain further understanding of the project and many even took pictures of the exhibition. The seniors then made their way to Dam View Point 1 to witness the grandeur of the dam. They had discussion about the mind-boggling statistics of the dam. (Visit http://www.sardarsarovardam.org/dam_reservoir.htm# for a few surprises yourself!)

Due to security related restrictions, only Classes 8, 9 and 10 students were able to visit the River Bed Power House generation section. The expert guide revealed some startling facts about the site.
For example,

  • Each of the 6 turbines in the power house weight 690 metric tonnes!
  • The mountain was drilled to make space of 214 m length, 23 m width and 76 m depth to accommodate the turbines!
  • The electricity generated there was transmitted to the switch yard using big thick stainless steel plates!
  • 1200 MW power generated could provide electricity to about 75 lakh (7.5 million) families!

The students took keen interest in learning the facts and understanding how the entire process worked. It turned out to be a highly educative and thought-provoking visit via the long tunnel to this wonder world created inside a mountain!

All the students then visited Dam View Point 3 which gave a very close view of the dam and the power house. The journey to the starting point was equally exciting despite the hot sun and the empty stomachs. The visitors came across beautiful natural landscapes and artificial lakes along the way. Freshly prepared hot lunch awaited the hungry young enthusiasts at the Jalaram Eye Hospital, just a few kilometres away from the Dam Reception Site.

After the lunch, the next stop was at the Rajpipla Palace Resort where the students saw a small exhibition of various items used by the royal family there. After relaxing for some while in the lawns outside the resort, in the evening, the buses headed back to Ankleshwar where an AVM Bhoolku’s parents had arranged for dinner for the entire school.

Undoubtedly, it had been an exciting as well as a tiring day for all. The house masters, didis and the accompanying teachers did a commendable job guiding the students and being with them all the time. Finally, the journey back to our alma mater begun and before late all arrived safe and sound to another marvel of the world – the Atmiya Vidya Mandir.

Teacher’s Day Celebration

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12th September 2009

History in a way is the story of a few men and women who made their mark in this world in various ways. The legacy they left behind has attracted a subjective discussion in the course of time, nonetheless, it is a treasure trove for us. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is one such person who made an indelible mark in the world. He was a great philosopher who bridged the gap between Indian and Western spiritual philosophies. He went on to become the second President of India and was known to tactfully use spiritual Sanskrit verses or quotes from the Bible during the heated sessions of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States – Parliament of India), which calmed everyone down and made it look more like a family gathering! His contribution to the field of education in India is very well acknowledged by the celebration of the 5th of September, his birthday, as the Teacher’s Day in India. Due to the CMTs this memorable day was celebrated on the 12th of September here at Atmiya Vidya Mandir. The morning assembly witnessed the presence of our mentor Rajubhai Dharaiya, our Student Principal for the day Anand V Patel (Standard 10) and the Student Teachers for the day. Rajubhai spoke about the significance of Teacher’s Day and about the qualities of Dr Radhakrishnan. Anand gave the Principal’s speech for the event. It was an inspiring start of the day already and got all the more inspirational by another event. Anand V, the Principal Student for the day, began his day at Yogesh Sir’s office by getting blessings from the Thakorji and the Principal’s Chair in the office. The Student Teachers ran all the school activities – teaching, sports, library and inspiring “their students”. The toppers of Classes 7, 8, 9 and 10 served the roles of various teaching and non-teaching staff members. Furthermore, an entertainment-packed evening was put up collectively by students of Classes 9 and 10. In the presence of Pujya Fuvaji, Hareshbhai, entire school staff and hostel staff, this evening was managed entirely by the students in the school’s basketball-tennis courts. After the opening prayers, the elders performed Thakorji’s pujan. The Student Teachers then performed pujan of the entire staff amidst a lot of excitement of all the students present. During the pujan ceremony, one could sense a lot of mutual respect between the staff members and the students, something that has been very much a part of the AVM culture since the beginning. The event anchors – Jay Tailor and Sarveshwar started off the event in style by singing Jane Kyun accompanied by frequent claps of the audience. Atmiya K conveyed the gratitude on behalf of all the students to all the teachers in a very heart touching speech. He also mentioned about the uniqueness of the students at AVM. His poem was especially touching: Wonderful Teacher With a special gift for learning And with a heart that deeply cares, You add a lot of love To everything you share, And even though You mean a lot, You’ll never know how much, For you helped To change the world Through every life you touched. You sparked the creativity In the students whom you taught, And helped them strive for goals That could not be bought, You are such a special teacher That no words can truly tell However much you’re valued For the work you do so well. A short comedy skit depicting a classroom situation was performed by Class 9 students followed by another humorous depiction of a real-life situation in a Mumbai local train by Sarthak, Rushy, Siddharth and Samyak. A short candle mimic was then presented by Siddharth. Following that was another comic mimicry of a News Reporter by Bhadra and Siddharth. Finally, the ultimate comedy show was put up by Bhadra and Rushy playing the roles of Munnabhai and Circuit who are on their visit to the USA. All these were very well received by the audience. Sarthak Jariwala and Vivek J Patel were the Executive Organisers of the whole event. They were the key decision makers and co-ordinators in the management of all the items of the function and did a pretty impressive job, especially considering that they only had one day to prepare for all this! The students then presented every single teaching/non-teaching staff member with greeting cards for the occasion. The students of Class 9 and 10 had prepared these cards themselves using their creativity in art and craft, whilst the card content clearly reflected their spirituality. They had expressed the individual qualities they liked of all the staff members in these cards. It was truly inspirational for the staff. The students then interviewed Renuka Madam and Saumya Madam asking them about their personal achievements and their experience of working at AVM. It was our beloved Paras Sir’s birthday on the 5th of September. Taking the opportunity of this event, the students of Class 10 had collectively prepared a special Happy Birthday card for him with a message from each of them conveying their feelings towards him. The versatility of the senior class was seen in these messages that Paras Sir read out. Some of them were very moving (“You have been like a father to us.”), some very naughty (“You are notorious.”) and some even more adventurous (“You are the James Bond of our School.”)! Towards the end of the evening, Pujya Fuvaji gave a concluding speech in the manner of a student which was highly appealing to the varied audience from the students of Class 1 to the senior most people present. During the entire evening, Krunal Vakil (Std 10) and Raj G Patel (Std 7) enthusiastically received the phone calls from the students’ parents informing them about the event and requesting them to call back the next day. Arjun Mama and the cafeteria staff had prepared a delicious Punjabi feast for everyone after the dramatic evening. This event also coincided the time of arrival of Param Pujya Swamiji in Mumbai (8:25 PM, 12th September 2009) from His videsh vicharan. The students rejoiced upon getting the news and were motivated to put behind all the obstacles they had and march onwards towards an even better all-round performance.