The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Teachers told to make learning child centric

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Teachers told to make learning child centric

Special Correspondent

Horattti launches digital library for government schools

WHO IS TEACHING WHOM?: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj S. Horatti explaining the features of a laptop to students at the launch of the digital library facility and GTL software for government schools, in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: While the Government provides the infrastructure for learning, it is a teacher's responsibility to creatively employ them to make the process of learning child centric, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj S. Horatti has said.

He was speaking here on Tuesday after launching the digital library facility and Group Teaching and Learning (GTL) software for government schools developed by the Education Development Centre (EDC) and disseminated through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan project. It is impossible to provide computers to every one of the 73 lakh schoolchildren in the State. So the aim was to use computers and other technological devices for group learning, said Mr. Horatti.

He honoured government school students who demonstrated best learning skills using radio and other technology.

Learning made fun

When the Minister threw the floor open for discussion, teachers who use the group learning facility said it had aided teaching by making learning fun. One of them suggested that radio transmission quality should be improved to avoid interruptions during the broadcast of educational programmes.

M. Madan Gopal, Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, said the image of a government school had vastly improved with the upgrading of infrastructure. The crucial thing now was to improve quality by using the infrastructure in the right way and creating an atmosphere conducive to learning. "Teachers' creative participation is crucial since technology cannot replace them," he said. There was also the need for a mechanism to evaluate the difference technological aids made to the quality of education, Mr. Gopal said.

T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, said budgetary allocation had been made to extend the technology-based teaching initiatives through ISRO'S distance learning programme, Edusat.

Vandita Sharma, country director, Education Development Centre, demonstrated some of the modules of the interactive GTL software. She said there was a proposal to develop software in other languages, as well as an introductory English programme.

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