FIFTH OF SEPTEMBER

                                       Fifth of September

Every year I am reminded of the importance of this day when Meera calls me up from wherever  she is over the globe. In my mind I don’t feel anything special about the day for quite a few  reasons. Yet when  I did not receive her calls on the fifth of September during the past two years, did I get a little uncomfortable? Yes, to be honest. Today is Onam and as I am very free  I thought I write something, a job that remained suspended for almost three years Today. on the 4^th of September, 2017  I write on teaching and learning my pet topic. Kindly do not expect any sweet Ada Pradhaman. 

“Every Dog has its day”, they say. But I am forced to say that in Kerala the teacher never has his/her day.  If you are shocked I owe you an explanation.  I am talking about a general pattern in Kerala. This is not any region specific or institution specific. Teachers are treated with scant respect. Students pride in belonging to or being loyal to some political dispensation or other. They wax eloquent on their rights and their ability to make anyone kneel before them and are in an eternal fight against some presumed enemy. I would say that they are simply Quixotic. I have never heard any student talking about his/her right to learn or properly taught. Let us not waste time discussing the horrendous campus politics. This bane will continue to haunt the campuses  until some “Avtar “ appears on the academic horizon of Kerala and proclaim “Let Light Be”. I always wonder why the courts do not interfere effectively when such an intervention is so imperative. With no anti-dot for this venom let us leave it and discuss the following which is not beyond our control.

Let me start with stating that even the best college in Kerala may not be working with more than 25% efficiency. This is not simply shocking, it is disastrous to the nation. More explanation is needed here but I postpone it to some later time. Let me come back to the question of efficiency.  Before someone confronts me with statements like “Our college is very disciplined, we have regular classes every day from 10 to 4, our students never bunk classes, we have 100% pass in University examinations  etc, etc bla  bla, let me clarify that I am talking about transforming the student and making them good if not best at least at the national level. To have a better idea of the efficiency I am talking about, let us try to quantify it the following way. The Bible says that a tree is known by the fruits borne by it. And we all know that the "proof of the pudding is in the eating". Let every college prepare a statistics of what happens to their students after graduation or post-graduation. I am sure that this statistics will be heart breaking. Let the NAAC decide on the status of institutions on the basis of this statistics. Let me be very specific. Let me confine myself to teaching and learning Physics.

Even after my retirement I talk to students of various colleges.  The following statistics should not be brushed aside.  In the first year of their BSc at least 80% of the students are  very ambitious and dream of a career in Physics. During their second year they are very confused and they come to the third year with no glitter in their eyes. And at the end of the third year not even 10% of them aspire for  post graduation. This certainly is a moot point.  There might be umpteen reasons. But let us ignore the reasons beyond our control.

Let us find out what happens to those 80% of the students in the first year BSc with gleam and great hope in their eyes. I feel that the syllabus and the mode of examinations play the spoilsport in the beginning itself. No conceptual understanding is needed. In the lab, experiments are too unimaginative to drive home  the theory.   At the higher secondary level the students learn a lot o Physics, after which the BSc curriculum becomes a “thamasha”. I am not advocating stuffing the syllabus with harder things currently taught at the MSc level. The examinations should be such that the conceptual understanding of the student is tested. Along with that the problem solving skills should be tested. In fact  the two are not very much different. For facing such an examination the students will have to read text books of high standards. It is here the teachers fail in their duty.  99% of the teachers use only guide-like books  available in the market. In fact you don’t have to go to the market even. The perennial writers will bring them to your door steps. This way teachers are doing a big disservice. This leads to mass production of ignorance. Instead of igniting the curiosity of the young minds and making them equipped to meet the challenges of knowledge explosion happening in the world, they are converted to damp squibs. This is a criminal waste for the nation. But this has been happening for years and decades now. As long as the concerned bodies like the academic council remain insensitive to this grave problem , nothing drastic can happen. It is here the teacher becomes relevant. The teacher can introduce the students to high standard text books and make them work with them. This is easier said than done. Once the students get a taste of good books, once they start “chewing and digesting them”  thereby igniting their thought process there will be no looking back. Of course, then the teachers will be on tenter-hooks. I am sure that there are a good number of teachers who are willing to enter this new learning process and submit themselves to the stresses and strains of that. The teachers can make learning a pleasure for the students. But attaining the threshold for this is no mean task. Teachers should tell the students, at least the good ones , about the prospects for higher education in India. They should be told about examinations like JAM, JEST and examinations conducted by BARC, DRDO, IISc, TIFR, HRI, IMSc and other reputed Universities. Teachers should provide them with previous year’s question papers and discuss it with them. These are not easy things. Teachers and students should commit themselves to learning Physics the hard way enduring all odds.

Now the flip side of it. Over the years I have talked to large number of students for long hours on this issue. None has paid heeds but I keep talking as I am so sure about what I talk. I am surprised by the reluctance on the part of the students for grabbing  the opportunities that come their way. Having known about students in various parts of India I can, without a moment’s hesitation, state that  students of Kerala are the most hesitant, lazy ones. They are not greedy and are unwilling for real hard work.

If you were my student once and if you are a Physics teacher now kindly do one thing. Instead of sending me customary meaningless teacher’s day messages, commit yourselves  to becoming a teacher with a difference. You can change the destiny of your students. You can rewrite the history of their families.

Our nation needs extra ordinary efforts by teachers for realising the high  goals it has set for itself.
Would you agree on the 25% efficiency I mentioned in the beginning? Please post your comments.