The art of teaching

In Sesame street (TV series) Lily Tomlin once said that,"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework."

But when its comes to India, the same thing can not be said. If you visits one of the schools in rural India, you will found out that majority of the students are not attending the classes. If they are attending the classes then the teachers are not properly teaching them. Sometimes the schools do not have the proper infrastructure required for teaching. So how can we expect our kids to be excellent in everything?  There is a old Buddhist proverb which goes like this,"If a seed of a lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly."

Now the Government is taking a lot of actions through the Sarva Siksha Avijana, but the resources that the government is providing, the schools are not properly utilizing. Most of the time the teachers are not inspiring which affects the children. William Arthur Ward, the author of the book "Fountains of faith" wrote that,"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." The teacher in the rural India don't even tell.

In our school visits we try to teach the students in a fun way which make teaching more likable. Here are some pictures.

Make them understand

Involve them in the process

Tell something new

We went to two schools to teach them about cleanliness as well as hygienic practices. We used power point presentations to teach the kids. may be the schools don't have these resources but one can also teach with pictures and a smile. If a teacher is not involved with the students, if he can't connect with them then the teaching process is worthless.

 The American intellectual, Gilbert Highet said the following word which shows how important is a smiling face of a teacher.

 "A very wise old teacher once said: "I consider a day's teaching wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh." He meant that when people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, master and pupils, jailer and prisoners. They become a single group of human beings enjoying its existence.

We are free

"Every child comes with the message that god is not yet discouraged of man."These are the words of Rabindranath Tagore. You will find so many great thinkers who have said many things about the children. Garrison Keillor once said that,"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting,our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted."

When we decided that we will be doing a inter school competition on August 15th , these words were there in our minds. We conducted four competitions,i.e., debate, drawing, essay writing and song. The themes of all the competitions were independence day. Some 50 participants from 5 schools participated which was a good number as we thought that most of the students will not come due to the outbreak of swine flu. But we were wrong.

We are the champions

Zig Ziglar is his book" The little book of big quotes" stated that,"our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future" So one thing is sure its we who will build their future so that they can build our future.

The future of our nation

Eleanor Roosevelt's words are coming to my mind at this point of time,"the future belongs to those who believes in their beauty of their dreams." And the dreams of these children is unquestionably beautiful.

  We are the train

"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children." The above words of Mahatma Gandhi can be reflected in the above picture.

Roja, Swati and Mala from Patikota UPS

Zig Ziglar once said that,"Children go where their is excitement. They stay where their is love." Certainly there was love in CSREM today.We started our event with drawing competition.The theme of the competition was Independence day.

A participant from Gaurachandra UPS

Patikota boys

I did not understand why all of them started drawing the Indian national flag. some 30 students participated in the drawing competition from class 4, 5 and 6.

Harsha from CPS

The song competition was a absolute treat. just enjoy this four lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

God sent his singers upon earth

With songs of sadness and of mirth,

That they might touch the hearts of men,

And bring them back to heaven again.

Wonder kid from R.Sitapur

 This boy from R. Sitapur UPS is a wonder kid. When he came to the stage before starting the song, he said that, "If I commit any mistake, please forgive me." And the song which followed was absolute pleasure.

Such songs have power to quiet

The restless pulse of care,

And come like the benediction

That follows after prayer.

I am not nervous

He won the first prize and our guest of honor Director sir asked him to sing the song again. Haim Ginnot, a teacher and a child psychologist said that, "If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others." I am damn sure this kid will go up if he chooses singing as a career.Some photos of other participant are below,

What to draw!

This little boy from CPS won the first prize.

The Great Indian Flag

participant from Patikota UPS

 The essay writing, debate competitions were held in both English as well as Oriya. As students from both Government and private schools were participating we did not consider Language as a criterion, but confidence, presentation of Facts and figures, presentation of supporting information , conclusion were taken into consideration. And while all of us were thinking that the students from Centurion Public School will take all the prizes, the students from R. Sitapur UPS surprised us completely as they won majority of prizes. 

I won........

Wow, I won too

Prof. Patro sir sharing some thoughts

There is a korean pro verb which goes like this,"no matter how perfect one is, there will always be imperfection with in it."  Some might feel that today's event was not a perfect one , but we will look into that and in future rectify those mistakes. Thank you for reading. Please give your valuable suggestions.

Independence day

On 15th August we are going to celebrate the independence day. It will be our 63rd one. But in reality we don't even understand what independence is. Are we using this independence in the right way for which our fore fathers fought for hundreds of years with the British. If we are, then why our country is not a progressive one. Hu Shih, the former ambassador of China to USA once said that, "a group of slaves will never make a liberal and progressive country;such a country can be made  of independent-minded and free thinking people." 

The proud Indian Flag

Aren't we free thinking people! well the whole world, for thousands of years believed that Indians are the most free minded people in the whole World.

Mark Twain, The American author believed that,"India is , the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition, our most valuable and instructive materials in the history of man are measured in India only."

Rising to the top

In the words of Albert Einstein,"We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."

Former Chinese ambassador to USA Hu Shih once mentioned that,"Indian conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border."

Is n't it the proof of how Indians were culturally, economically open minded for the last thousands of years. so what is the problem now?

Why we are not what we were before? Does anyone got any answers. Lets start a series of posts on this issue.

 Rabindra Nath Tagore in his epic poem Geetanjali wrote about the awakening of the people of India which is as follows,

"Where the mind is without fear 
and the head is held high; 
Where knowledge is free; 

Where the world has not been 
broken up into fragments by 
narrow domestic walls; 

Where words come out from 
the depth of truth; 
Where tireless striving stretches 
its arms towards perfection; 

Where the clear stream of reason 
has not lost its way into the dreary 
desert sand of dead habit; 

Where the mind is lead forward by thee 
into ever-widening thought and action- 
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, 
let my country awake."

Thank you. We will post the answers to this post in the next post.

Mumbai oil spill crisis: calamity is man's true touchstone

A disaster happened and we all are witness to this . 
 As Times of India puts it,"A foreign ship which collided with another vessel about 10 km off Mumbai harbor tilted further spilling oil  for the 3rd day today as navy and coast guard made hectic effort to contain the leak."

 IBN Live puts the disaster like this," the oil spill has already spread over an area of 25 square kilometers and the hazardous chemicals and pesticides may affect about 200 species of marine life. Mangrovesoff Navi Mumbai are in danger of being destroyed and the debris caused by the collision of ships may pose navigational problems."

Drowning in the ocean

MSC Chitra drowning

What can we do at this particular juncture. Those who say, nothing, are the people who are avoiding their responssibilities. So what can we really do!

 If you are living near the affected area, help in cleaning the capital areas. The people of South Korea did this during Taean oil spill. So why can't we?

If you are living far away like me  help in creating awareness about this issue, raise funds, and you can surely help in spreading the message, so that this type of environmental disasters can be avoided in future.

people cleaning the coast of Taean

people helping in Taean oil spill

Oil spills are not new to the world. The most disastrous one was Taean oil spill in 2007. Strong waves and unexpected wind directions caused the spill to expand beyond expectations and destroyed the coastal areas of South Korea. The Indian merchant naval officers who were working for the Hebei Spirit were jailed by the South Korean government even though it was the Samsung company's drifting barge was responsible for the collision.
Well that was a different issue. The point was that in South Korean people did not sit idle after the disaster. The oil spill followed wide public outcry. Celebrities participated in cleaning the coastal areas. Even Pop concerts were held to raise funds.  If they can do it, then why can't we. I am damn sure that we will overcome this disaster. An English author Colin Wilson once said that,"The average man is conformist, accepting, miseries and disasters with stoicism of a cow standing in the rain."

Awareness is empowering

If you are creating awareness but at the same time not transforming it into action then it is meaningless. The aim of Ahwahan is creating awareness about various social problems. One of the problem is hygienic practices in villages.To promote hygiene in the villages the first thing that we need to do is to teach the children what it really is. The adults can't change the habits that they are accustomed with for the last so many years. So the best way to create awareness is to teach the children. Thats what we thought of while planing  for the school visits. Last Friday we decided that it will be better for us to start the awareness campaign from our own backward i.e.,Centurion Public School. It might not be a village school,but we did not had any other options as this week was packed with classes and workshops. Thirteen of us with our laptops and posters went to Centurion Public School to teach them about cleanliness.Here are some pictures.

Prayer class in CPS

This is the picture of  standard-4 students while their prayer session is going on. It was one of the most inspiring moment for us that day.

Starting the class on hygienic practices

When you are with children then stay away from boring theory oriented teaching methodology. So we decided that  we will teach them with the help of cartoon and picture presentation.

Yes they are listening

We divided ourselves into four groups and then went to the classes. The first thing that the children did was saying good morning to us with their smiling faces. Moments like this one can never forget. Some anonymous person once said that a child's smile is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. And the coincidence is that, it was a cloudy day.

Ask a question?

Albert Einstein once said that,"the important thing is not to stop questioning.Curiosity has its own reason for existence." May be the students are aware about it. Grade-5 students asking questions about environment is unbelievable.

We missed the Projectors

Showing the children Meena (the UNICEF girl) became a wrong decision as we have limited laptops and no projectors. But still children were able to understand the message that we want to deliver. How, well they are answering all the questions.

why i am not a grade-5 student?

If the teaching method is unique and friendly, children will get attentive. But thats the problem with teachers in India. Do teachers in government schools are friendly. Well, the answer is no. I remember, during a field project when we went to a school one of the student was cleaning the bike of the teacher instead of playing. That kid might be of 10 years of age.So the school is promoting child labor (indirectly).Thats the reality out here.

I know all the answers

Mark twain once said that,"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know. But these children surely knew all the answers. May be it's the method of teaching which is making studying for them as fun as playing.

poster for clean hands

One funny incident happened on that day, when one of my friend was explaining about cleaning of hands, one of the students said that our hands are already clean( yeah they are smart, I told you so) So do you know what my friend did? Well he rubbed his hands on floor and said that now they are not. Its an innovative approach. The teacher should not force the children into learning something. It should come from within.

I was not lying

The sun really came on that cloudy day. May be the god was looking at us that day and telling us keep it up guys. I can remember James Mathew Barrie's words which goes like this,"Those who brings sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves  ."  Lets spread this sunshine to everyone and everywhere.

We are the mountains

Just look at the pics below. These are the mountains near  our college campus.

Rainy mountains

Sky touches the mountains in CSREM

Have you seen something like this.It can't be explained how beautiful these mountains are. They are big, strong and are present in this world for thousands of years.

They are the undecaying monuments of this world(In the word's of Nathaniel Hawthorne). No matter how many earthquakes came but still these mountains are standing there without caring for the natural disasters.

The reason for mentioning all these things about mountains is to show that even though our plan for today failed does not mean that we will be sitting idle for the rest of our life. The rain might be our enemy today, but we are also not free from faults. We committed some stupid mistakes, like not getting permission from two schools beforehand, not preparing ourselves for rain. But now we are better prepared. We will be going to Centurion public School on 6th of august in Four groups. From tomorrow onwards we got packed schedules till Monday, but still we are making some time on morning hours to visit the CPS( Centurion Public School). On Friday we got classes from 9.30 AM and the school opens at 8AM. It will be better to visit the school from 8AM. This way we can attend the classes on time. From next week onwards we will be visiting schools in villages which are near to our college.

American inspirational and motivational speaker once said that,"you don't have to get it perfect- you just have to get it going. Babies don't walk the first time they try, but eventually they do." We are taking our first steps now.

Robert Collier the author of books like "The secret of ages" once said that,"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to you aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance."

Some more pictures of the beautiful mountains ....

Walls meets mountains in CSREM

the men who stares at the goats

the tree of life

Thats all for today. In the end just one more quote from Nathaniel Branden,"The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." We will be starting our awareness campaign from the day after tomorrow. Lets see whether the people are accepting it or. If they are not, then we will work even harder and bring the required change.

Clean the campus: the real story

Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. "Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness."

Frankly speaking we don't know whether the above words of John Wesley are true or not , but  one thing is sure this campaign helped us in having an idea about what exactly working in a team means. From an early childhood we have heard about "United we stand, Divided we fall." Now we can say that we are one and all. When we started the campaign there were 5 students and within the next 5 minutes there were 25 of them cleaning the campus. For us it was a great achievement as we never expected this many students to come. Baha'u'llah, the great Iranian Philosopher   once said that, "So powerful the light of unity, it can light up the whole world" and we are confident about lighting the whole world through this new weapon that we have accomplished. 

So  now its the picture time.Just look at the pics that we have taken while cleaning the campus.hey guys forgot to say one more thing. today our motto was,"I am not an environmentalist. I am an Earth warrior."

The volunteers for the campaign

At 6.45 am-only 5 guys

Some 10 students came at 7am including 4 girls. but when we started working other guys came forward and joined us. There is an old English saying which goes like this, "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst." We have only prepared for the worst that and decided that even if less people turn out, we will go with our plan. But 30 volunteers is an amazing number for a starting a campaign from a batch strength of 60.

Tahaniyat sweeping the bushes

Cleaning the backyard of hostel (me, Ramu and Sangram)

Do you know guys how many garbages we collected? lets have some pictures.

Dustbin:before the campaign

Filling the dustbin

Abra ka dabra: its full

The tractor came to collect the garbages

Prof. Reji

So thats the end of the campaign. we are going to clean the campus every Monday morning. Till now we did not thought any name for this event. So you can give a suggestion in this matter.

From Wednesday we will start our Awareness campaign on hygienic practices in schools. So wish us good luck. Thank You. Have a good day.

Cleaning the campus

"Be the change you wish to see."


Ahwahan was started with the aim of bringing changes around the surroundings of Paralakhemundi. The above quote by Gandhiji says that If you want to see change elsewhere, then first initiate the change within yourself. We will be focusing on hygienic practices in the villages under various programs under Ahwahan. So we decided that first we will start small events like starting a campaign on cleaning the campus of our college.

Vision : Campus cleanliness
Mission: Involve maximum number of students to maintain cleanliness of the campus
Objective: To make our college campus pollution free
Rationale: We clean our homes why not college campuses
Venue: CSREM college campus
Strategy:
               1. Talking to the students
               2. Organizing events on campus cleanliness
               3. Canteen awareness
               4. By placing dustbins
               5. By the technique of Gandhigiri / Social embarrassment