Pranav B. Raj on strengthening the education system

 

Pranav B. Raj, Asst Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Pranav B Raj, CMA, M. Com, Assistant Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Post-Graduation in Commerce from Christ University, Bangalore.Graduated in Commerce from NSS College, Chanaganassery. Served KPMG US Audit as an Audit Associate and Capgemini India Pvt Ltd as a Senior Associate. I have also served as a part-time at the Biswas Institute of Management and the Institute for Future Professionals.

Transformation of Education

Education has transformed a lot in recent years. We have seen a paradigm shift in the educational system during the pandemic. The conventional way of facilitating education has radically narrowed down to our fingertips. Anyone can pursue education and gain knowledge through the click of their mobile phone. Education does not only mean formal education, but education for life also. We saw educational institutions like Barefoot College dedicated to sustainable development in every community where poverty exists. They focus on empowering women by providing vocational and educational opportunities that improve their economic mobility.

A teacher, or as we say, a facilitator of education, should not be someone like the character depicted in Pink Floyd's famous album "Another Brick in the Wall," who is obsessed with creating identical droids that know word for word specific definitions or formulas.

The educator should focus on the holistic development of individuals. Developing an individual's intellectual, mental, physical, emotional, and social skills is intended to help meet daily life's demands and challenges.

 

Creating the sway

When you choose the profession of teaching, the decision affects not only your career prospects but also the futures of thousands of individuals. That is a tremendous responsibility you have as a teacher. As studies suggest, teaching is one of the most influential careers. Every teacher should focus on creating a positive influence on the students. 75% of students consider their teachers as mentors. The pieces of advice and reinforcements, both positive and negative, from a teacher will impact the overall development of a student. A student may not remember what you taught, but they will carry the values you showed for the rest of their lives. This is the era of the value-based education system. Make sure you teach in a way that creates a robust learning environment that enhances academic achievement and develops students' social and people skills that last throughout their lives.

 

 

The Artist

A good teacher is a great artist. Through their oratory skills and people skills, they facilitate teaching and encourage academic and personal growth in students. A good teacher should show a high level of emotional intelligence. The moment you step into a class, you should leave all your emotional baggage behind and welcome the class with a great smile. Every student is heterogeneous, and they may act differently in different situations. A teacher should carefully react to various situations; we should not act emotionally. Yes, being human, we have emotions. But when we act out of our feelings, we may colour a white canvas with a blood-red colour. That stain would last a lifetime in their minds. It's also better to have application-level knowledge around their expertise. When you teach capital markets in a class, you should be a person who has at least bought a share or debenture from the open market. How does an IPO work? How to invest in it? How to buy a share? How to sell it? You can easily teach those things when you have hands-on experience.

 

As you explained earlier, a person can gain knowledge in any area they like, thanks to the Internet. Did this reduce the importance of teachers in a student’s life?

Anyone can learn any skill or gain knowledge about anything through the internet. You can get a degree; you can get a postgraduate qualification, or any other qualification. You will get the qualification, but what about the quality? Imagine being a commerce graduate without knowing what the golden rules of accounting are.

A teacher acts as a facilitator of education. There is no more lengthy lecturing; teachers also focus on teaching through various other activities. They conduct debates, discussions, presentations, role plays, and similar classroom activities. This creates more interest in the subject among students. These methods improve knowledge as well as soft skills, team-building skills, and relationship skills among students.

Learning without guidance will be like a ship without a compass. They will roam around, but they can reach their destination with a compass.

 

Change for the better

The education system in our country has improved a lot in recent years.

The inclusion of industry-relevant courses has increased the opportunities for our students. Most universities are removing obsolete subjects and replacing them with market-relevant subjects such as Data Analytics, Knime, Tableau, Power-BI, and so on.If we continue at the same pace, our university will be considered more prestigious than other foreign universities. However, there are still some areas in which we fall short. Our assessment system is still unjustifiable. The student who knows by heart everything will be the topper of the class. This has to change; we should give more weightage to application-level assessment.

Earn money by playing bhai.com (Online Trading Game). Why can’t we give this as an assignment? Students will have hands-on experience in share trading. They can easily learn most of the topics related to the capital market.