By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 20 Dec: A two day Global Conference for Teachers and Principals under the aegis of Principals’ Progressive Schools’ Association got underway on Wednesday morning at The Pestle Weed School.
Leading educators, teachers and Principals from the Doon Valley and 18 states converged for a transformative event centred around the theme “Designing Strategies for Success in Education.”
The Conference was initiated with the reading out of an appreciative message sent by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for the conduct of such an innovative themed conference. He sent his best wishes to Dr Prem Kashyap, National President, PPSA for the grand success of the Conference.
The Chief Guest of the event was Dr Durgesh Pant, Director General, UCOST Uttarakhand, he was accompanied with his spouse Dr Reema Pant, Professor and Director, Idea Innovation and Environment, Graphic Era University. He said that such groundbreaking Conferences for brainstorming ideas is the need of the hour to provide a dynamic platform for educational leaders to exchange innovative ideas, share best practices and collaborate on designing strategies that will shape the future of education globally as education is no longer teacher centric and has become blend of technology with traditional methods. The special guest was Dr Rakesh Kumar Shah, IFS, Former Principal, Chief Conservator of Forests.The Resource persons for the day were Professor (Dr) Harish Chaudhary, Department of Management Studies, IIT New Delhi, G Balasubramanian, former Director, Academic CBSE, Dr Vandana Singh, Founder & Chairperson, RS Foundation, RP Devgan, President, Learning Forward India, Anya Kashyap, Director, Trilingual Academy, Singapore, Sadhvi Pragya Bharti, spiritual leader and co-founder, Sambhav International Foundation.
The resource persons, eminent educators in their respective domains, guided the participating to delve into innovative teaching methods, incorporating technology, experiential learning, and diverse pedagogical approaches to enhance student engagement and understanding.
The first session was started by Prof Dr Harish Chaudhary with the topic “ Unlocking the Potential of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Leaning” he emphasized on the positive and negative aspects of the Artificial Intelligence and said that NEP emphasizes on Critical Thinking & Creative Thinking but Machines can’t do such thinking so we need to make the balance.
The Second Session addressed by G Balasubramanian. For the topic “Experiential Learning” emphasised on the need to do to learn and experience anything. He gave the example of the Ship and said that “A Ship in harbor is safe but that is not what it meant for”. He said that life is all about experimenting and experiencing. We start experiencing from the hug of the mother. Language Learning also occurs through experiential inputs. Experiential leads to learning ability and creativity and that make a fulfilled learner.
The third session was address by Dr Vandana Singh, the topic of the session was Emotional Empowerment. “The Center of the Universe”. Dr Singh started session by taking the line from Upanishad “अहम ब्रह्मास्मि” which means I am the universe and universe is me she emphasized on the self-love which leads to finding yourself and which is the beginning of all wisdom.
The fourth session was address by RP Devgan. The topic of the session was “How empathy and emotional intelligence can be reflected in classroom pedagogy”. Devgan said that children should learn about caring and sharing and should become good human beings. He categorically said that behind every child’s problem is an adult so we need to ponder. Reflective thinking is the need of hour to become good role models for our students.
The fifth session which was most interactive session of the day was addressed by Anya Kashyap, Director, Trilingual Academy, Singapore. The topic of the session was “ Dynamic Learning: Unleashing the Power of Kinesthetic Education for Academic Excellence and Students Well-being. She emphasized on the importance of students’ physical movement in the class. She said that students can also learn through play. She distributed handouts to involve the participating teachers and the energy witnessed was boundless.
The Sixth Session was addressed by Sadhvi Pragya Bharati. The topic of the session was “Everyday Leardership” wherein she emphasised on the need for teachers to be happy within to create happy students. In today’s challenging times when happiness is equated with materialism students are ultimately feeling left out at the end of the day surrounded just by materialistic things. We need to have an empathetic and compassionate approach towards our younger generation.
The first day ended with participating teachers taking with them many new, innovative approaches, strategies and above all thought provoking ideas to inculcate in their everyday teaching.
