technology in classrooms - myths

let me organize my thoughts on recent visit to Chattisgarh for teacher training (technology in classroom). there are so many assumptions about technology:

• it can transform our educational system,


• it makes child remember quickly,


• it helps children to score more marks, and


• it is impossible for the rural government teacher to use technology in classrooms


• rural children do not make any sense of technology


• computers would replace teachers

as hear these assumptions, i wonder, teachers have many assumptions. and i am here to demystify their thoughts. i am here to introduce technology but that's a long journey. i need to work a strategy to unlearn. let me try to address the above assumptions, one by one.

certainly, technology would transform our educational system. it can reduce 30% of the workload of the educational functionaries, trying to work with numbers, manually, when computers can ease their work. saved 30% of our educational functionaries' can be well utilized for suporting our teachers. this means that 1/3rd of our educational functionaries' time is gone! one can increase work efficiency by 30% without spending on either good HR training or bombarding with HR theories! great idea, but how to do? there are 5.5 million teachers and equal number of functionaries, how do i reach each and every one.

i donot agree that technology can make children memorize quickly to reproduce/vomit in the rotten exams. yes, it helps child to grasp concepts quickly and child can concretize issue, abstract in the classroom. to some extent, it may help child to score better marks, where is the scope to express child's imagination in the current examination system (asking children to write in 100/200/300 words).

I donot agree that rural government teachers cannot handle technology. let me ask you, is not teaching a technology? then who says our teachers cannot. believe them, support them and behold! no one can stand in front of our teachers, who are handling children with various backgrounds (sometime child is hungry!). can anyone manage this, without any capable training. give them a perspective about technology and do not introduce it as a program. 1970: radio, 1980: TV, 1990: Computers, 2000: LCD projectors, 2010: mobile phone, 2020: robots, this would not work. give them a perspective on education-learning-technology, alas! each teacher would be unique. how do i do this to all my 5.5 million teachers. is anyone listening to this?

how can one say that rural children cannot handle technology, what's happening to electric pump at the borewell, TV remote, mobile phone, radio. did anyone give training to handle these. all children learn, pace may be vary. create opportunities, all children are capable of doing.

never ever, computers can bring human interface.

training teacher trainer - immediate priority!

why is that i always feel uncomfortable with the teacher training? may be trainings are really shobby. it so happened, i was leading discussion on teacher training with few 'reputed', 'known' resourceful trainers on quality of training.

listen, all the training is good. you know, teacher don't follow what's said in the training hall. i was thinking, why blame teachers! when activity based teaching is taught through lecture. surprised. this is what happens. and discussion went on . so if training content was good, then why none of them follow. we have been doing training for decades, how come fault would be in training or content. problem is with perception and attitude of not changing with the times. i did not feel like leaving till i am convinced. so i asked, what if teachers don't understand what you teachers. no, that doesnot happen, teachers are very clever. teacher follow, if someone is after them to do.

so, who is that who can follow up training. the administrative structure that is meant for. oh! someone traines and someonelse follows up. there is no follow up, i heard with a bang. administrators don't do their job! they have somany schools, so they don't follow up at schools.
i heard someone saying,

rule no. 1: teachers should visit schools
rule no. 2: visited teacher should attend and be in class
rule no. 3: teacher in the classroom has to teacher, no option

so back to square one, problem is with teacher!!!

but i was told, problem is with administrators. that's a part of problem. teacher trainers also lack skills to train. someone said, there are 20 days of training, me and teacher is paid for it. so what's big deal in training. training model is prepared at the state level by someone. almost one decade old training modules, who cares. who bells tha cat? and bigger question, who is the cat and who would tie the bell. when was last time teacher trainers received any sort of training in knowledge of their area, skill of delivering the training, stature of a trainer? hope i would be able to address these issues at the earliest. because these were my yesterday's agenda and i don't have time. energy and initiative, yes i can do it. resources, someone would come to my rescue when required.
there are solutions, we'll discuss over a period of time.
am i sounding too satiristic? tomorrow about a 'good school' and a 'good teacher'

what ails to

why aren't we able to influence elementary education. today we see mushrooming of schools and colleges in the cities. is any one realizing what's happening in the villages. schools have no children! why does village parent send sibling to schools, certainly for better future. what if future is uncertain and crippled by lack of facilities.
it is been 60 years, we are still where we were? we used to blame british for the lack of support for elementary education. now, whom should a parent blame? is any one listening?
yes, we have been through the government schooling but we are in better position. oh! things were different, then. why and where does gap exists?
let us look at spending on the schools, schools are with material and matter (building), few without! each government schools (primary, 1-5 class), irrepespective of enrollment, gets about Rs. 5000 (school grant), Rs. 5000 (maintenance grant), Rs. 500 (TLM grant), about 2k+ for drinking water, sanitation and what not.
every year, Rs. 3000 is spent on each child for educating (mind you, literacy skill) and aghast! not all children of class 4 can read class 2 or 3 text book. leave alone other non academic orientation.
i will also try to speak on teacher training, classroom practices, all in the context of government schools...