By Subir Shukla Teachers: the good vs the bad! At some point or the other in their lives, almost everyone has held the view: ‘If only teachers did their work better, so many problems would be solved…’  Schools would be so much better off, isn’t it? Education would be great and our lives very different as a result; in fact, society itself would change, if only teachers did their work better. People who think thus are, of course, only being ‘nice’. Because there are any number of others who have less ‘nice’ ways of putting it. ‘Bloody... 

Five Ideas for Teachers’ Day: for this year and the next   By Subir Shukla   Teachers’ Day has come! Once again, we’ll have the same old speeches, boring comments and everyone showing so-called ‘respect’ for teachers for one day – then it will all be forgotten till the next year comes around again! For those of us who feel we need to go beyond the usual platitudes, here are a few straightforward suggestions. As always, your responses and further suggestions would be very welcome indeed! 1. Prepare a ‘Teacher Strength Chart’ On a chart,... 

Before teaching: let us answer the question – who Are Our Children? By Subir Shukla If you go to a tailor and ask for a shirt to be stitched, the first thing she will say is – for whom? And she’ll need to measure the person, or the shirt won’t fit. In fact, whether it’s a house being designed, an article being written, an object being created, we usually start with: ‘Who’s it for? What will they do with it? Under what conditions will it be used?’ The answers are usually not very general, since this doesn’t help make decisions. The more...