Early Childhood Education

‘Mathematics Mela’ was an alien and unimaginable word to me before this was held in our school. Generally schools arrange science exhibition or science mela where children display things that take place in day to day life and are also connected with principles of science. These exhibits, or events, are presented from the point of view of science and children participate in it with a lot of enthusiasm. This was my only experience about melas.

Teaching social science in upper primary has its own uniqueness since learners can understand changes in human society through the community around us, by close observations at homes, through newspapers, media etc. A teacher also gets similar experiences from community.

It was the end of the rainy season somewhere in month of September-2016 when I joined one of the biggest not -for- profit organisations in India, the Azim Premji Foundation. It gave a sharp turn to my life. The programme I joined, associateship programme, is mandated with the initial process to understand a government school through observations and facilitations of classes for a year as we needed to work with public school system, developing the teacher capacity more in terms of perspective along with content.

Rarely has a book so perfectly matched its title. The Gentle Man Who Taught Infinity by Sheshagiri KM Rao is one such and what a gentle read it was! Written as a tribute to the mathematics teacher who influenced his life, Sheshagiri Rao has managed to show us with his account just how far reaching a teacher’s influence can be and how this teacher did it, not commandingly or overtly or even intentionally but with his sheer love for the subject he taught and his innate respect for the students he taught.

Adolescence is a time when one tries to understand things like health, development and rights and develops knowledge and skills. It is also a time when one learns to control emotions and maintain relationships in order to prepare for future life. The boys and girls of this age need proper guidance and emotional encouragement.