‘Leveraging new era of digital content a challenge’

The major challenge facing modern pedagogy is the ability to leverage the new era of digital content without losing those on the wrong side of that divide, Professor T Jayaraman of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) said on Friday while addressing heads of schools and colleges atThe Hindu In School 's Principals Conclave.

The conclave was organized with the aim of promoting and celebrating the spirit of education and share knowledge on education in the new age. Speaking on the challenges of education in a new age, Prof Jayaraman said three broad challenges facing the system pertained to pedagogy, institution and the larger environment in which education functions.

In pedagogy, he said, the major challenge was to take on board more quantity of teaching material without sacrificing quality. “The challenge is also to leverage the new era of digital resources without losing those on the wrong side of that divide,” he said.

Speaking of institutional challenges, he said that while it should be ensured that education remained a public good, education institutions should follow modern human resources principals and not see teaching as a noble profession which people would do for very low pay. Prof Jayaraman also spoke of a larger crisis of values where institutions needed to realize that it is important to work toward long term gains. Investment, he said, could not always be measured by immediate deliverables.

Educationist Dr Geetha Mohan, also speaking at the event, said education is a lifelong process of nurturing a child and eliciting the potential that he or she already has. It was very important, she said, that a good principal realizes his or her ability to make or mar the child.

In today's digital age, she added, children have all the information iat their fingertips but they need to be guided. She said a child often knows about the entire world but not enough about him or herself and that is where they need someone wise to guide them.

Principals present spoke on a range of topics and exchanged ideas on how to improve education. The conclave was organized in association with SRM University, a partner in this initiative of holding the meet at 17 centers where The Hindu is published. Envisaged as an opportunity to promote and celebrate the spirit of education, the event is being organized annually.

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