Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation, Mumbai – Newsletter for January 2007

Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation, Mumbai – Newsletter for January 2007

Highlights (Oct – Dec 2006)

· The terminal examinations were held for the First Year and Second Year students of our diploma programme in October 2006.

· Roda, Usha Bhatia, Samita Shetty and Usha Iyengar organised a two day orientation to the Diploma in Integrated Education as requested by the CEO of National Education Society. He, alongwith the faculty members of the two colleges – National Education Society, Bhandup and Saraswathi Vidya Bhavan, Dombivli participated in the orientation programme, which was held at our Thane Centre.

v Lectures/Workshops/Training Programmes

· Practice teaching conducted at: Beacon High, Khar, ChildReach, Santacruz and Saraswati Mandir Trust, Dadar.

· A five day special skills training module in education of the visually impaired including training in Braille, was organised at the National Association for the Blind, Dept. of Education, Worli.

· A four day special skills training module in education of the deaf and deaf-blind alongwith training in sign language was organised at the Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deaf-blind, Vashi and Byculla.

· A one day programme on Creativity and Giftedness, was conducted by Ms. Banu Ismail, Psychologist at our Thane Centre.

v RESEARCH / DOCUMENTATION

· Ongoing: Co-relation of factors between learning styles, hemisphericity & multiple intelligences of the D.Ed students.

Preparing questionnaires – school visits/classroom observations.

· To undertake:

– Attribution of factors related to students participation in the D.Ed (integrated) course.

– Evaluation of students on teacher attitude, values & opinion of the D.Ed (Integrated) course, before & after completion of the same.

v WEBSITES OF INTEREST

· www. pitara.com: This is a childrens portal with content for children including activities, games, stories & poems, as well as an on-line magazine.

· www.nurturee.com: This is a site on parenting. It has issues right from prenatal care to growth and development, school years, children with special needs, social skills and a range of other topics connected with parenting.

· www.bbc.co.uk/skillwise: This is a BBC site to help improve skills in English as well as mathematics. It has tutorials, hints and a separate section for interactive games, making learning a lot of fun.

· www.idealbite.com: Website for those who would like to practice eco-living, but dont know how or whom to ask. Has daily tips to make eco-living convenient, fun and inexpensive. Also includes a tip library with past tips.

v PROFESSIONAL INTERACTIONS

Participated in various seminars/workshops/conferences.

· Usha Bhatia and Usha Iyengar attended a two-day review meeting organised by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, (TISS) at NIAS, Bangalore pertaining to the programme in M. A. Education (Elementary).

· Mira Madhavan, Samita Shetty and Lalita Mohan participated in a one-day workshop on EQ parenting, organised by Equip Kids – EQ Institute for Children.

· Usha Bhatia was invited as a judge at the annual S.R.Sethi Interschool English elocution competition for ICSE schools at Marble Arch High school, Mumbai.

· Usha Iyengar attended a seminar on learning disabilities entitled Tata Learning Disability Forum, organised by Tata Interactive Systems.

v HEROES FOREVER

· Though hearing impaired since she was 2 years old, Sangeeta Gala had not given up on her childhood dream of working in films. She got an opportunity when she was chosen as Sign Language Instructor & Asst. Director for the much acclaimed film Black & is looking forward to assisting in other films.

· Jyotindra Mehta, an advisory systems consultant with IBM & presently in the U.S., is writing a how-to guide on an IBM management software product. What is really remarkable is that this is a first for a blind IBMer, but Jyotindra has not let his visual impairment come in the way of his ability to produce results.

· Though discouraged from applying for the IAS entrance, every physically handicapped person who applied has emerged successful. Ravi Arora with low vision and Ulaganathan with mild polio, are among those selected for the IAS in 2005 & are currently training at the Academy.

· Forty seven year old Naresh Jadhav is the Principal of a government school in Hamrapur now. Though he started work as a peon in 1981, his love for teaching impelled him to pursue his studies and he not only completed a D.Ed, but also a B.A and a B.Ed. Inspirational indeed !!

v TAKING STRIDES

· Vandana Karve realised that though there were remedial therapy schools for mentally-challenged children, there seemed to be none for those above 18 years. To fill this need, she started Awhan Palak Sangh in Dadar, a place where mentally challenged adults come together and channelise their energies into productive work.

· Uncle Free Coaching Class started off accidentally, as the watchman of a building in Jogeshwari requested 64 year old Ashraf to tutor his son. Soon this spread to free tutoring of children of sweepers, plumbers, gardeners, maids etc. – all first generation learners who can now aim to live a life less ordinary thanks to Uncle Ashraf!

· Pashupati Nath, a former director with several companies, has a dream to mould underprivileged children into self-reliant individuals. He runs a programme for children from the slums called Leaders of Tomorrow to teach public speaking, time management and mind control, which really does wonders for the childrens self-esteem & confidence.

· The S.W. Railways has introduced a 4 seater battery operated car on a trial basis at the Bangalore railway station to ferry physically challenged commuters. Special ramps to facilitate vehicle movement have also been provided. Small steps maybe, but at least in the right direction!!

v CONCERNS

· NCERT has prepared a manual to help schools self–assess how well they are equipped to handle children with special needs. This is part of their effort to develop a learning environment using a child-centred rather than a curriculum-centred approach. This manual is expected to be circulated among all the states soon.

· The future generation seems to have a very stressed-out present with the burden of expectations taking a severe toll on children. Psychological problems are being reported in very many schools today with increase in performance-anxiety, trauma or even school-phobia in extreme cases.

· Recognising the demand for English medium education with English being seen as a language that symbolises access to power and opportunity, the BMC Education department is planning to start 84 new English medium schools from the next academic year.

· Since the state had to temporarily withdraw baseline tests due to a lot of protest, it looked for other ways to keeps tabs on quality of education imparted in state-run and private aided schools. The latest is a squad paying surprise visits to schools to verify if tests are conducted properly as well as to check assessed papers.

· The Supreme Court has suggested that stringent norms are in place for selecting evaluators for the board examinations as it felt that arbitrariness in awarding marks could make or mar careers.

· The state civic authorities plan to set up a Private Partnership Cell in the BMC office to facilitate NGOs wanting to provide aid to municipal schools.

· A recent statewide check conducted by education inspectors has revealed a large discrepancy in the enrolment figures of children shown on school records and the actual number of students.

· There seems to be a difference in the way parents view pre-school education nowadays. The trend has changed from pre-schools run by the neighbourhood aunty to sleek, professionally managed brands promising value-added learning to kids in the early childhood phase. Fees are high, but parents seem willing to invest a lot more in the formative years of their children.

v OVERHEARD

· A survey in 2003 by the US Dept. of Education showed that home schooling was on the rise with a 29% increase in children educated at home. A new trend now that is legal in the U.S. is unschooling, where children educated at home are allowed to freely explore their worlds unencumbered by curriculum or textbooks.

· Mumbai presents stark differences in living conditions from the highrises of Cuffe Parade to the slums of Dharavi. This also seems to be reflected in the educational system now. Around 50% of the children are being educated free at BMC schools and less than 0.17% of the remaining are at the 5 IB schools in the city, but paying fees almost equivalent to the BMCs entire annual education budget for infrastructure!!

· Statistics seem to show that presently English is a foreign language in half the primary schools in central London. More and more pupils are from ethnic minorities due to the increase in immigrant population.

· The Maharashtra government plans to make teaching of Marathi compulsory in all ICSE and CBSE schools. Many principals feel that some schools should remain as nationwide institutions since they have many student admissions based on job transfer of parents. However legal experts are of the opinion that the state could have a say even in a national syllabus, when it comes to the regions language.

v RESOURCES REQUIRED

· Lecturers :

Eligibility – M.A./ B.A. (Psychology / Sp.Ed) with B.Ed / M.Ed & 5 years teaching experience.

· Sr. Accountant (part time): with knowledge of statutory and tax matters as well as budgeting, preferably pertaining to a voluntary organisation. Retired persons welcome.

v FUTURE PLANS

· The Foundation plans to develop this centre into an INSTITUTE OF INTEGRATED EDUCATION with

A Demonstration School

A Teacher Education College

A Research and Documentation Unit and

A Resource cum Pedagogy Centre

ANY SUPPORT IN LOCATING LAND IN NAVI MUMBAI WOULD BE APPRECIATED

NEWSLETTER

The Rite Step

Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation

Reg. No. E-17693. No. 19 January 2007

To,

Correspondence at:

C/o 2/24 Nanik Niwas,

Warden Rd., Mumbai 400036

Tel: 23696596 / 66648768

Email: rite@vsnl.net; ritestep@gmail.com

Website: www.riteeducation.org