Tamil Nadu   

Innovative teachers honoured

CHENNAI: Puppets made of waste materials tell stories and teach mathematical concepts in Meeta Tagoankar’s Mumbai classroom. In his workshop across the city, B.S. Shinde lovingly handcrafts geometry kits, specially designed for visually impaired students.

The two innovative teachers took the top honours at the TCS EducationWorld Teachers Awards, which were distributed by Tata Consultancy Services chief executive S. Ramadorai.

“The culture of innovation in education has to be nurtured from the grassroots as the quality of teaching in the classroom will groom innovative thinkers of tomorrow. The Teachers Award is part of the TCS way of investing in the future,” he said.

“I believe in teaching without textbooks,” says a bubbly Ms. Tagoankar, recently appointed headmistress of the Arya Vidya Mandir School and who won the Best Teacher award in the primary section. “The kids have to discover for themselves, so I use a lot of visual learning methods, including drama and puppets.” For example, a simple crow puppet helps children act out the familiar tale of the wise bird, which drops stones into a half-filled jug to raise the water level. “They are learning drama. They are learning about size and volume, so they are learning maths. And they are having fun, she said.”

Mr. Shinde, who won the award in the secondary section, teaches mathematics to older students at the Saraswati Mandir School. His simple, yet innovative, geometry kit to help students understand two-dimensional geometrical concepts and work out theorems in a practical way is the result of 17 years of after-school research.

A small factory now churns out the kits, 10,000 of which were sold over the last two years.

Mr. Shinde still makes a modified version of the kit by hand. “I have used small pins, raised numbers and other small innovations to help blind students use this kit as well. It will help them ‘visualise’ geometry problems in a unique way…I don’t sell these; I give them away,” he says, slipping from English to Hindi as he becomes more excited about his subject.

Other finalists, culled out from an initial field of 20,000 applicants from across the country, represent the plethora of creativity that exists among India’s educators.

Rijka Khambaty uses graphic organisers and a “clothesline story” to nurture imagination and teach basic concepts to tiny tots. In an era of classroom shootings and increasing violence, Radha Nair has incorporated the buddy system and positive reinforcement techniques to encourage children with aggressive attitudes, behavioural problems and learning difficulties.

Madhavi Sarang led a student project on biotourism, Nageshwar Rao gets students involved in community work and environmental conservation and R.G. Timmapur uses bird-watching to teach English. In a cricket-crazy nation, Vikram Dudhave trains students in fencing and baseball. While both winners received a laptop, the other finalists were given cash awards of Rs. 10,000 each.

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