The teachers of Sri Sivananda Balalaya had a very interesting interactive session with Dr. Ponnavaikko, Vice Chancellor of Bharathidasan University. What was unique about the session was that it happened in the august Syndicate Hall of the University. The theme for interaction was "The Teacher for Youth Development in the Present Day Contest."
The Vice Chancellor set the tone of interaction by making a seminal observation that what a country needed was good people and it was the teacher, besides the mother, who can shape the child into a good person and a useful citizen. He quoted from "Nannool" that a teacher was like the earth, a balance, a mountain and a flower, to say that a teacher should be bountiful, impartial, stand out tall in a crowd and be lovable. He stressed that education especially at the earlier stage should be through mother tongue so that the children understand and learn, instead of memorise and reproduce. He felt that the mindset of the prarents should chage from marks - oriented education to value - oriented education. The teachers raised some relevant points for which the Vice Chancellor gave convincing replies.
On the whole it was a very useful session for the teachers, a finale of the academic year 2009.
