The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Teaching not mechanical process: Barnala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 25, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Teaching not mechanical process: Barnala

Staff Reporter

Governor inaugurates Exnora's Teach Reach programme targeting slum children Inaugurates Exnora's Teach Reach programme targeting slum children

CHENNAI: Teachers should not regard education as a mechanical process, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said on Wednesday. "The job of a teacher is more or less creative. ... [Education] must be considered a living process vibrant with life. It should integrate the person with his environment and give him a total perspective and a global outlook. Learning begins the minute you are born and should continue till the end. Education should be related to our environment, " the Governor, who inaugurated Exnora International's Teach Reach programme on Wednesday.

Programmes such as Teach Reach would motivate "young children living in slums to strive towards a better environment," he said. Educating the poor can eradicate child labour and pave the way for progress. "Countries that take care of the weak and the needy alone progress with negligible social upheavals." Mr. Barnala said: "Self-discipline and self-control are prerequisites for perfection. Children are under too much pressure at school" because of the rise in standard of education and increased syllabi.

Lauding Exnora's efforts, he said the tuition centres would make a "silent revolution" in the education of the poor and the needy. He said he was confident that the programme, aimed at development of largely first-generation school-goers, would increase its student strength by next year.

Mr. Barnala gave away the first Prakruti Ratna Award to persons and organisations that extended financial support to Exnora for its environmental projects such as zero solid and liquid waste management, tree planting, water bodies restoration and propagating environmental message.

A. Chandramouli, general manager of Indian Overseas Bank lauded the services of the non-government organisation.

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