Teachers: Shapers of the future

Greetings to the entire teaching fraternity
on the occasion of Teachers’ Day from
The Progressive Teacher.

Teachers’ day has been celebrated in India since 1962 as a tribute to the contribution made by teachers to the society. It is observed on September 5 on which day falls the birthday of the second president of India, Dr S Radhakrishnan, a teacher, scholar, philosopher and diplomat, who was a firm believer that the path of education was the only path of progress.

Since time immemorial the teacher has played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the human race. In our country we have learnt to revere teachers, according to them a position only next to God. Gurus contributed to the overall development of the student’s personality and growth and development of the nation.

Today a teacher’s role in society becomes all the more relevant as we talk of human capital which is an attempt to capture the social, biological, cultural and psychological complexity of the human being. For the balanced growth of a society or country, growth of human capabilities is of foremost importance. So we see that the brief of the Teacher has changed and evolved over time. Education has to be restructured and reconstructed to meet the aspirations of the citizens of the new century. Priorities in education have to be re-organised. Teacher dominated classroom has to give way to teacher-facilitated classroom. Instead of teaching by rote, teachers have to think of ways that children learn by doing and experimentation. So that no child is left behind and every child attains his/her full potential. Instead of competition, students have to be taught team-work, to collaborate with each other. Instead of cut-throat competition, students have to be taught the values of love and compassion so that they become a part of one global ethos. Let us, as teachers strive to mould our students into leaders of thought and action, into agents of proactive social transformation so that we can leave behind us a better and more humane world.

In this issue of The Progressive Teacher, we bring you the usual column on Education Mantra by Ashok Ganguly where he talks about the difference between Educating and Educaring, Ajay Agarwal introduces a new concept in teaching in the Flipped Classroom, Sarita Mathur shares her views on Tao of teaching in Ace It; we bring you a write-up on a workshop by Jenny Mosley, pioneer of Quality Circle Time, Neenu Puri presents her take on Training, Sangita Sawhney introduces us to The New Landscape of App-based Learning, Dr Prabhat Kaushik apprises us of The Importance of Pre School Education, a number of practicing teachers share their classroom experiences; Dr Shayama Chona, a world renowned educationist starts a column on parenting with Caring in the Age of Nuclear Families.

We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences through our columns to help create a new education scenario suited to the 21st century.

Wishing you all a very happy Teachers’ Day,
Rita Wilson
rita@progressiveteacher.in

Rita Wilson has over 40 years of rich experience as educationist including over 30 years of experience in school leadership positions. She is the former Chief Executive and Secretary Council for the ICSE, New Delhi.

She is a consultant to a number of corporate houses and educational institutions. She is serving as a Member of the Board of Governors/Managing Committees of some of the most prestigious schools and colleges of the country.

She has vast exposure to the education systems of Japan, Germany, England, Thailand, Singapore, Sharjah and Dubai. She has initiated, conducted and organised workshops for school teachers and principals all over India

With a B.A. (Hons) English Literature, M.A., M.Phil. (English Literature), B.Ed. to her credit, she has edited two series of English readers and work-books for school children.