Kerala - Thrissur   

Study of mathematics made easy

Staff Reporter

TROUBLE-FREE LEARNING: Trade unionist Vivek Monteiro taking classes at a teachers training programme organised by the Abhay Art Gallery and Counselling Centre in Thrissur on Friday.

THRISSUR: The trade unionist Vivek Monteiro and the Mumbai-based NavNirmiti, supported by him, are trying to disseminate a message: "There is another world of mathematics, which is possible and accessible to all."

Dr. Monteiro was here to take classes in the teachers' training programme organised by the Abhay Art Gallery and Counselling Centre.

Dr. Monteiro's evolution itself is interesting: He took a postgraduate degree in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from the State University of New York in mathematical physics. He was the student of the renowned scientist Richard Feynman and had worked in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Dr. Monteiro, who has made a mark as an eminent scientist and educationist, plunged into trade union movement in 1977 and is now the State Secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions in Maharashtra.

But his insatiable interest in mathematics led to the designing of a comprehensive alternative pedagogy for teaching primary mathematics.

Now, Dr. Monteiro and NavNirmiti are making hectic efforts to make mathematics education easy for students in different parts of the country, though his involvement in the trade union movement continues to be as vigorous as earlier. Though mathematics is considered the language of science, it has been a hard subject for a huge section of students, particularly for those from the lower strata in society. Learning by rote was the most familiar route taken in the case of mathematics education in the conventional system.

But the new system christened `universal active mathematics' establishes that `universalising basic mathematical skills is not an impossible dream but an achievable goal, possible with existing resources — human material,' Dr Monteiro told The Hindu here.

In the conventional system, the child was being forced to learn the rules of mathematics without teaching them where those rules came from. The new system used the universal language of mathematics — the `things-language.' It used the `reality-based content' and activity-based `Do and discover method,' he explained.

Dr. Monteiro said the efforts to impart mathematics education through the new system in several areas in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu during the last three years had proved effective. The system did not replace the existing curriculum but strengthened it to better achieve its targeted outcomes. It was also cost-effective, he argued.

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