THE HINDU | MONDAY | MAY 2, 2016

Science & Technology

Between Us

Goalpost

Even as infants,
Rapetosaurus were
formidably
independent, finds
study

Put your creativity caps

on. Things you can do to
make the season special if
you have no mango
tree to climb

Supraja writes about her

love for economics and
maths, and how Torontos
diversity expanded
her horizon

PAGE 2

PAGE 3

PAGE 4

Exam Prep | Admissions | Scholarship alert | Internships | Offbeat careers | Science | Technology | Campusline
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Being student-centric is the key

How can business schools fulfil the needs of different stakeholders and enhance the
teaching-learning process?

B-SCHOOLS
DR. R. GOPAL

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT | A team-building exercise. PHOTO: C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Law school dressing

DEBATE
SAKINA VALSADWALA

CM
YK

The LMS
system
provides the
students
with access
to the
lectures
conducted in
the class at
any time and
place.
Case study: The students are encouraged to
study a given case, analyse
the same and discuss it in
class. The faculty acts as a
facilitator during the case
study analysis.
Virtual enlightenment:
Leaders from the industry
are invited to share their
thoughts with the students. Consequently, sessions are arranged so that
the students can benefit
from the knowledge of
thought leaders, management gurus and industry
experts. The school could
also arrange such sessions
in the areas of wellness,
women
empowerment,
technical issues, and so on.
Simulation exercises:
Business plans are prepared and implemented in
a small way. Simulation exercises are held in the areas of entrepreneurship
management,
financial
management,
marketing
and marketing research
management, and so on.
Learning Management
Systems (LMS): The LMS
system provides the stu-

dents with access to the

lectures conducted in the
class at any time and at
place. Assignments and
discussions, among other
resources, can be obtained
from home or any place.
The only limitation would
be the availability of the
Internet.
Online courses: Students are encouraged to
undertake online courses
which are in their area of
interest and credit is given
for successful completion
of these courses.
National and international conferences: The
students, through the help
of the faculty (who acts as
a facilitator), plan, organise
and implement national
and international conferences. This helps in the
holistic development of
the student.
Live projects: Students
are encouraged to work in
organisations while they
learn the theoretical and
practical aspects of management in the classroom.
These students are encouraged to work in organisations for a period of
three to four months or
one semester. The students are encouraged to
interact with the industry
at least once or twice a
week.
Student participation
in committees: In one of
the B-schools, activities
similar to the ones in the
corporate world are organised. Several committees
are formed and students
are encouraged to take
part in each of them. For
example, students are actively encouraged to participate in committees

such as academic committee, non-academic committee, institutional social responsibility

committee,
industry-institute interaction cell, and so on.
Institute Social Responsibility (ISR): The
objective is to sensitise the
students to the real world.
One of the B-schools in
Mumbai had adopted a village on the outskirts of the
city and helped the women in setting up their own
Soya Ladhu Project. Another group helped the
women to manufacture
TASSAR silk products.
Other projects undertaken
in the area included blood
donation camps, organising cleanliness drive, and
so on.
Placement activities:
Students are encouraged to
become members of the
placement
committee.
With the help of the placement committee, corporates are encouraged to
visit the school. Weak students are given remedial
coaching including training on how to handle interviews, answer questions
such as What do you
want to be in the next 10
years?, What do you intend to do to achieve the
above? and so on.
Thus, becoming studentcentric is essential for any
B-school to succeed. It is
important that the institutes transform themselves
from schools imparting
some knowledge to centres
that
are
student-centric.
The writer is director and
head of department, School
of Management, D.Y. Patil
University, Navi Mumbai.

SCHOLARSHIP ALERT

The Bar Council of India's move to propose a dress code for

law students befitting their profession has been widely
disputed. Students react.

n the 21st century, defining decency and character based on an individuals clothing always
spawns a debate. A concrete and tangible formula
for proper dressing is nonexistent; the way a person decides to cover his or her body
is a personal concern. Nevertheless, most professional
colleges demand a level of
discipline and regimen in
terms of dress code. Leggings and kurta, trousers and
a shirt are the collective
norms of dress code at most
professional institutes in
India.
After years of wearing a
prim and proper uniform in
school, students wish to
wear an attire of their choice
when they enter college and
not be counselled for dress
code. They feel the need to
have a sense of freedom.
While this freedom is not
firmly constrained by many,
the situation in law colleges
will be diferent from here
on.
A circular released by the
Bar Council of India on April
7, recommending that law
colleges across the nation
formulate a dress code which
fits the profession, has led to
a stir among law students.
Though various law colleges already follow a uniform, a recommendation by
the legal body for a preferred dress code has irked
the students. M.V. Abhinaya,
a student of National University of Advanced Law Studies, Kochi, says, As law stu-

recent newspaper
article
indicated
that several business schools in the
country are closing
down. Detailed discussions
with the various stakeholders of the B-schools indicate
that some of the reasons are
lack of students, no placements, inadequate industry
faculties, and so on.
A close analysis of the
reasons cited by diferent
stakeholders of an education institute indicated that
their needs difer.
The top management desires that the institute
should be filled with quality
students, or, at least, there
should be more than breakeven number of students.
The parents desire that the
institute should provide
quality education and help
students as and when required. They also expect it
to take care of students holistic development and be a
parent to them.
The government and the
statutory authorities desire
that all the rules and regulations are met by institutes,
such as the number of computers, faculty, classrooms,
and so on.
The students desire that
the faculty provide them
something more than
what is available in the
books, websites and so on.
Many of the students are not
interested in attending
classes because they feel
that all the information provided by the faculty is available on the Internet. There

is no real value addition.

Additionally, as far as the
students are concerned,
good job opportunities and
placements
are
their
priority.
Discussions with several
industry and corporate
personnel indicate that
while interviewing students, corporate recruiters
look at the following characteristics in students:
Fundamental knowledge
of the subject (approximately
20
per
cent
weightage)
Application knowledge
of the subject (approximately
40
per
cent
weightage)
Holistic development of
the student (approximately
40 per cent weightage)
This indicates that for
the success of any Bschool, the school has to
orient itself to being
student-centric.
Student-centric can be
defined as the process
which ensures that students become the centre
of all activities of the Bschool or any institution of
higher learning. Essentially, it begins with the very
raison detre for the
school, that is, the teaching-learning process.
This aspect can be improved through some of
the following activities:
Reverse teaching: In
this process, the student
either individually, or in a
group, makes a presentation on some relevant topics. The student or student
group is encouraged to
make the presentations
based on a field work, including interviews with
notable persons and so on.

Charpak Exchange Programme

This programme, run by the Embassy of
France in India, is designed for exchange students for a period of one to four months (duration of an academic semester) at the bachelors
or masters degree level.
Eligibility: Students who have enrolled in graduation or postgraduation and are not more than
30 years old.
Application: By email
Prizes and rewards: Visa fee, stipend of 615
Euros for 4 months, medical insurance.
Deadline: May 15
Website: http://www.b4s.in/plus/CEP723

Sir Ratan Tata Post-doctoral Fellowship

Dress code regimen. PHOTO K MURALI KUMAR

dents, we are encouraged to

have a viewpoint. It is no
ones business what I wear. I
don't see why students need
to conform to others standards of whats decent. Unlike NUALS, which has a uniform in place, Indian Law
Societys Law College, Pune,
refrains from having compulsory attire. A student of
the institution agrees that a
dress code is necessary for
law colleges. However, she
feels that it shouldnt be implemented in a manner of
regulation. As long as the
dress code requires that students dress modestly, a strict
directive enforcing the wearing of black and white formals is unnecessary she
says.
Highly opinionated in
their outlooks, law students
have been approaching this
regulation in a varied manner. While few believe such
regulations later evolve into
chauvinistic excuses for ra-

pists, some think that a vocation such as law demands

that pupils pay attention to
their apparel. Sneha Pradeep,
a student of School of Excellence in Law, Chennai, feels
that having a dress code inculcates professionalism. In
a field such as law, uniformity and professionalism help,
as they are not inherent in
the students, she says.
The BCI regulation was
implemented a day after an
entire class walked in shorts
at the National Law School,
Bangalore. This act was in retaliation to the alleged sexist
remarks made by a professor
after a female student attended his class wearing shorts.
Sanketh, a student of CRM
Law College, Bengaluru,
says, As there was no dress
code at NLSIU, I dont think
what the girl did is wrong. A
person can wear whatever
he/she thinks is appropriate
because appropriateness is a
relative concept.

London School of Economics invites applications from fellows to engage in social science research on the themes of Economy and Society in
South Asia with focus on growth and inclusion,
climate change and environmental sustainability, social and human security, and so on.
Eligibility: Applicants should hold a PhD in Social Sciences with research experience.
Application: By post or email
Prizes and rewards: Monthly subsistence of
1,500 for eight months, shared work space, travel fare and research materials.
Deadline: May 9
Website: http://www.b4s.in/plus/SRT255

NGS Scholarship (NGSS), Singapore

The NGS Scholarship is awarded to talented
students with an aptitude for innovative, high
calibre PhD research and with a passion for
cross-disciplinary research in science, engineering, computing, and related aspects of medicine.
Eligibility: Graduates with at least 2nd Upper
Honours, or equivalent qualifications can apply.
GRE & TOEFL is compulsory.
Application: Online
Prizes and rewards: Monthly stipend of
S$3,000 up to 4 years of the PhD studies along
with computer, book and conference allowance.
Deadline: May 15
Website: http://www.b4s.in/plus/NSS455
Courtesy: www.buddy4study.com

FEEDBACK
Mail your suggestions and
educationplus@thehindu.co.in

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SNAPSHOTS

Independence comes early

for Rapetosaurus dinosaur
Bone histology and x-ray computer tomography helped study its growth pattern.
the size of the biggest known
specimen, she says.
Using bone histology and xray computer tomography, the
researchers were able to understand the dinosaurs growth pattern. From the compactness of
the bones, the researchers deduced that the bones likely retained their shape as the young
one grew into the adult. Thus
the young ones resembled the
adults to a very close degree, unlike in the case of other dinosaurs like theropods and ornithischians. The authors further
propose that the young ones
must have been independent at
a very early age.

SHUBASHREE DESIKAN
PHOTO: AP

Pesticide sprays link to

health

Using aeroplanes to spray anti-

mosquito pesticides may increase the

risk of autism spectrum disorder and
developmental delays among children,
scientists have found.

tarting from a reasonable size of about 3.5 kg at

birth, a specimen of the
dinosaur Rapetosaurus
krausei shot up to about
40 kg in just about 39-77 days,
when it succumbed to starvation. Kristina Curry Rogers
from Macalester College, U.S.,
and collaborators, who were
studying the fossil remains of a
young one of this species, deduced that the juveniles closely
resembled the adult in shape.
This meant that the young ones
were quite independent at an
early age unlike other species
where young ones enjoyed parental care till they were able to
fend for themselves. The results
were published recently in the
journal Science.

Lines of evidence

Identifying the fossils

FILE PHOTO

Tattoos on the Moon

Nasa research reveals the source of

swirling dark and light patterns on the

moon as due to brawny electric
potentials that could deflect solar wind
particles.

The fossils of these titanosaurs, so called for their huge

size, were originally collected
during the researchers field
seasons in Madagascar, but
were not discovered until they
had been prepared in the lab,
and placed within drawers
along with unidentified fossils
of smaller animals from the
same geological formation. I
was working in those drawers in
search of bones for another research project about growth in
those reptiles, and began finding so many tiny titanosaur
bones, writes Dr Curry Rogers
in an email to this correspondent. In fact, in 2001, along with
Catherine Forster, it was Dr
Curry Rogers who gave this dinosaur its name.
R. krausei is a dinosaur that
used to inhabit the Madagascar
islands about 70 million years

PHOTO: SHIVAJI RAO

Even as an infant the rapetosaurus looks very similar to a fullgrown adult. PHOTO: RAUL MARTIN, KRISTINA CURRY ROGERS

ago. A fully grown Rapetosaurus could measure about 15

metres in length, which is about
two metres longer than a Volvo
bus. The generic name Rapetosaurus itself stands for giant
lizard, suggestive of the fact
that it was among the largest dinosaurs that walked the earth.
While paleontologists knew the
shape and size of this dinosaur
from observations of skeletal remains, until recently, the early

life of these so-called titanosaurs has remained a mystery.

We have lots of adult, subadult, and juvenile Rapetosaurus bones, and these tiny specimens literally look like little
miniatures of the bigger bones
in our sample. We could tell
right away that the skeleton was
from Rapetosaurus, on the basis
of the shapes of bones and the
positions of muscle scars...it was
just from a baby, only 11 per cent

Dr Curry Rogers explains,

We used three lines of evidence
to support this hypothesis [that
the young ones were precociously independent]: (1) bone
proportions stay the same
throughout life, as in modern
precocial animals; (2) under the
microscope, bones show evidence of remodeling, which indicates that bones are being
stressed during locomotion, and
need to repair themselves already this is not seen in other
baby dinosaurs (like Maiasaura,
a duck-billed dinosaur; or Troodon, a theropod dinosaur); and
(3) we looked carefully at the
preserved calcified cartilages at
the ends of long bones these
provide a clue about how bones
growth in length, and their
thickness in baby Rapetosaurus
was very similar to the observed
thicknesses in modern precocial birds. These led the authors to propose that R. krausei
must have been independent of
parental care even at very early
stages in their development.

Care for your gut

101 species of spiders found in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary

Your food intake affects your

K. S. SUDHI

intestinal bacteria and, in turn, your

health. Researchers report in Science
that yoghurt or buttermilk increases
their diversity while whole milk or highcalorie diet decreases it.

PHOTO: K. MEECH (IFA/UH)/CFHT/ESO

Unique rocky comet from

Oort cloud

Astronomers report in Science

Advances on finding a rocky likely made

of inner Solar System material from the
time of Earths formation, preserved in
the Oort Cloud far from the Sun for
billions of years.

esearchers recently
spotted 101 species of
spiders belonging to
65 genera from
Chinnar Wildlife
Sanctuary in Idukki, Kerala,
when documenting spider
diversity in the Sanctuary.
The spider population from
the sanctuary accounted for
6.98 per cent of the Indian
spider species.
Lycosidae, better known as
wolf spiders and with
excellent eyesight and agile
movements, were the
dominant species in the
sanctuary. The researchers
encountered multiple web
cast in the sanctuary and
spotted as many as 10 species
of Araneidae. These orbweaver spiders cast their
carefully knitted web in
gardens, fields, and forests
and wait for the prey to walk
in. The documentation,
which was carried out by
C.K. Adarsh and P.O Nameer
of the Centre for Wildlife
Sciences of the College of

One of the spiders, known as Gea subarmata, found at

Chinnar. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Forestry, Kerala Agricultural

University, Kerala, was
published in the Journal of
Threatened Taxa.
The spiders were surveyed
in bushes, tree trunks, ferns,
forest floor, foliage and
grasslands and were
handpicked for
documentation.
Two endemic genera of

Indian spiders
Annandaliella and
Neoheterophrictus were
identified during the study.
Also, seven feeding guilds of
spiders namely orb-weavers,
stalkers, ground runners,
foliage runners, sheet-web
builders, space-web builders,
and ambushers were
identified. The report of

Latrodectus hasselti from

Chinnar is the first record of
the species from Kerala.
There are only very few
reports on the occurrence of
L. hasselti in other parts of
India.
Spiders perform important
ecological services by
functioning as predators in
nature. They feed on other
insects and even small
vertebrates. The loss of
spiders could lead to
ecosystem imbalances. Little
has been understood about
the spiders of India,
especially that of the
Western Ghats, they pointed
out.
The world of spiders is
often shrouded in mystery,
and much misunderstanding
has been woven around
them. There are popular
misconceptions that all
spiders are poisonous
creatures. But, in reality, a
very few spiders are
poisonous and harmful to
human beings, the
researchers pointed out,
quoting earlier studies.

Never again another Chernobyl

he nuclear industry
would like to forget
April 26, 1986, the day
the worst nuclear disaster hit the world.
Ironically, the Chernobyl accident occurred when an experiment to improve the reactor safety system went
terribly wrong. The operators wanted to find out
whether an electrical system
they made by using the kinetic energy of the slowing turbo-generator, could provide
enough electrical power to
operate the emergency
equipment and the core cooling water circulating pumps
until the diesel emergency
power supply kicks in.
Writing in The Guardian
on April1, 2016 Dr David Robert Grimes, a scientist at Oxford University, aptly noted
that the mixture of flawed
design, disabled redundanCM
YK

cies and a tragic disregard for

experimental protocol all
feature heavily in the blueprint of the disaster.
A massive steam explosion
blew the 1,000-ton top steel
case through the roof of the
reactor building. A second
explosion threw out burning
fragments of nuclear fuel and
graphite starting fires at five
locations on the roof made of
bitumen!
The unprepared and unprotected firemen became
the first victims of the accident. Investigators estimated
that about six tonnes of uranium dioxide fuel and solid
fission products including
many
radio-nuclides
escaped.

Health effects
The authentic report of the
United Nations Scientific
Committee on the Efects of

Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR-2008) published in

2011 stated that 28 out of 134
heavily exposed plant staf
and emergency workers died
due to radiation exposure.
Further 19 of the survivors
died by 2006. They died due
to various reasons, usually
not associated with radiation
exposure.
Among
the
several
hundred thousands of recovery workers, apart from an indication for an increase in the
incidence of leukemia and
cataracts among those who
received higher doses, there
is no evidence of health effects attributable to radiation
exposure, UNSCEAR noted.
Since authorities did not
initiate prompt countermeasures against contamination
of milk with iodine 131, some
members of the general public received large doses to

their thyroid; this led to a

substantial fraction of the
more than 6,000 thyroid cancers observed to date among
people who were children
and adolescents in April 1986
(15 of them died by 2005).
To date, there has been no
persuasive evidence of any
other health efect in the general population that can be
attributed to radiation exposure, UNSCEAR concluded.
In NucNet Chernobyl Fact
File, NucNet, a global nuclear news agency updated the
grisly details of the disaster
this month.
Authorities
evacuated
about 45,000 inhabitants of
Pripyat, the nearby town, on
April 27, never to return; the
town remains how it was left.
Later they resettled 210,000
people into less contaminated areas, The accident resulted in the radioactive contam-

A view of the sarcophagus that covers the destroyed

reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. PHOTO: REUTERS

ination of 18,000 square

kilometre of agricultural
land, of which people could
no longer farm 2,640 square
kilometre.

Present status
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted
that since 1986, radiation

levels in the environment

have fallen by a factor of several hundred, due to natural
processes and counter-measures and most of the land
contaminated with radio-nuclides has been made safe
and returned to economic activity. Except in areas very
close to the stricken reactor,

An extra egg cell is released during ovulation, fertilised by

two different sperms, forming two embryos. PHOTO: REUTERS

The genetics behind

fraternal twinning
NANDITA JAYARAJ

wo genes that afect a

womans likelihood of
giving birth to twins
have been identified
in a new study published in American Journal of
Human Genetics. This could
have implications for fertility
research and help predict
how women will respond to
treatments for infertility.
Identical, or monozygotic
(MZ), twins occur at a fairly
stable frequency of 3 to 4 per
1,000 births all around the
world. In contrast, the occurrence of fraternal, or dizygotic (DZ) twins (non-identical
twins) varies wildly across
diferent kinds of populations
only 6 per 1,000 in Asia but
40 per 1,000 in Africa. Older
mothers are four times more
likely to have non-identical
twins than younger ones; taller, heavier women who
smoke and have family history of twinning are also reportedly more prone to having
fraternal twins. All of this
lends to the long-held suspicion that there exist genetic
factors that afect a womans
susceptibility to give birth to
fraternal twins.
Usually, ovulation involves
the maturation and release of
exactly one egg, called the
single dominant follicle.
This chosen egg, if fertilised
by a sperm cell, can lead to a
pregnancy. The result of this
is a fused cell called the zygote which then develops into
an embryo. Very rarely, the
zygote divides early on into
two and each one develops into an individual embryo, ending up in identical twins. In
the case of non-identical or
fraternal twins, an extra egg
cell is released during ovulation, opening the possibility
of both getting fertilised by
two diferent sperms and the
formation of two non-identical embryos.
Before they arrived at the
two genes, the scientists
combed through the entire
genomes of 1,980 mothers of
non-identical twins and 12,953
control subjects (mothers
with no non-identical twins).
They found 30 spots that
seemed to be linked with
twinning and kept narrowing
down. Two genetic variants,
one near FSHB gene and the
second one in SMAD3 gene
showed a statistically signifiincrease in doses were low,
often within natural background radiation present
everywhere.
About 2,500 workers are
assembling at site a humongous 36,000-ton new containment shell (cost $2.45 billion) 350-foot high and
500-foot long with a design
life of 100 years. This marvellous piece of engineering will
be slid over the stricken reactor and the old shelter
(sarcophagus).
The Chernobyl accident
forced Russia to eliminate
the deficiencies that caused
the accident in 15 similar reactors. There are no such deficient reactors operating in
any country.
A study led by Prof. J. T.
Smith, University of Portsmouth, U.K. has revealed
abundant wild life populations at Chernobyl (Current
Biology, October 5, 2015).
Chernobyl led to a leap
forward in global cooperation on nuclear safety. Countries with nuclear power be-

cant association, said Hamdi

Mbarek from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, who led
the study, in an email to me.
Mothers who had one specific variant of the FSHB gene
were more likely to have given birth to non-identical
twins. This variant is linked to
increased production of follicle stimulating hormone
(FSH), leading to more than
one egg maturing and consequently multiple ovulation.
The second, SMAD3, likely
afects how the ovaries respond to FSH. Mothers of
non-identical twins were significantly more likely to carry
a variant of SMAD3 which
makes her ovaries more sensitive to the same amount of
FSH.

Lessons from past

failures
Eforts to characterise the
genes that contribute to nonidentical twinning in humans
had been largely unsuccessful
until this study. But these failures did not go in vain. They
taught us that non-identical
twinning in humans is a polygenic trait and that much
more powerful genome-wide
association studies (like this
one) are required to find the
genes which may ofer insights for new treatments,
said Mbarek.
He added that rigorous selection of their cohort mothers to make sure none received any kind of fertility
treatment was also a crucial
factor for enabling these
results.
The scientists stress that
their findings are probably
just the beginning. There is a
very clear suggestion and indication that more loci are
contributing, said co-author
Dorret Boomsma in a press
release.
Knowing ones predisposition to multiple births can be
very useful in the light of risks
like premature birth associated with twinning. Mbarek
added that future studies into
SMAD3, the totally new candidate for twinning, may ofer
a novel avenue for fertility
treatments, particularly in
women who poorly respond
to ovarian stimulation and also help in prevention of premature ovarian ageing.
(Nandita Jayaraj is a
freelancer based in Bengaluru.)

gan sharing information and

experience in a way they never had before. The IAEAs
mandate on nuclear safety
was enhanced. IAEA Safety
Standards were expanded,
Mr. Yukiya Amano, the Director General, IAEA stated
on April 26.
He listed other notable developments: IAEA adopted
important international legal
instruments including the
Convention on Nuclear Safety; the agency set up an international coordinated response system, with the
IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre at its heart and
an IAEA peer-review system
which involves the deployment of international teams
of experts to advise countries
on the operational safety of
their nuclear reactors or the
efectiveness of their regulatory system.
K.S. PARTHASARATHY
ksparth@yahoo.co.uk
(The writer is a former
Secretary of the Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board.)
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Summer surprise

BON APPETIT

Put your creativity caps on. Things you can do to make the season special if you have no mango tree to climb.

There is a rich
source of
world
literature and
unique films
which can
expand your
horizon.

BETWEEN US
ANURADHA SHYAM

caling the heights of a

mango tree, endless days
of time not being partitioned by classes, playing
board games with a bevy
of cousins and lazy summer siestas. For most of us, this might not
be the fabric of our own summertime memories.
Many of our summers are
spent in apartment complexes,
watching endless hours of television or shuttling between one
summer camp and the next. A few
days spent at our native place
might be a luxury.
Creativity, however, knows no
bounds and perhaps there are
ways we can weave a fabric of
memory based on the reality of
the lives we lead. Here are a few
ideas to help you get started.

Caring for others

Know your neighbourhood

Gather a group of likeminded
friends and create a project to
know the history of your neighbourhood.
Interview your neighbours or
talk to senior citizens who might
have interesting tales to tell you
about the area you call home.
You might just discover that
your own neighbourhood is more
than a maze of concrete buildings. One group of youngsters decided to create a booklet on their
residential area, highlighting stories and myths and unique
achievements of their residents.
Many of us are proficient in world
history but may be ignorant about
landmarks in our own backyards!

NATURE TRAIL | Enjoy each moment. PHOTO: M. A. SRIRAM

Nature

Books and films

You might be surprised to find

the variety of birds and animals
that inhabit urban spaces. All you
need is a pair of binoculars to spot
the amazing variety of species
nestled in the most unlikely places. The Internet is a rich source of
blogs that capture the enthusiasm
of urban explorers. They have
discovered migratory birds,
amazing insects and bugs and for
those who love their reptiles,
monitor lizards and snakes. Yes, it
is an urban jungle out there!

There is a rich source of world

literature and unique films which
can expand your knowledge
horizons.
If you have been on a constant
diet of popular literature, why not
dive into traditional Russian folktales or mythologies from other
countries? One might also like to
look at stories from various regional languages. If you cannot
read the original work, many publishers ofer excellent translations. A summer of discovering

the richness of Malayalam literature was an unforgettable experience. It gives one a fresh perspective on various styles and cultural
references.
Popular cinema often follows a
similar format. Try viewing films
such as, Bicycle Thieves (Italian)
or 7 Samurai (Japanese) which
are refreshingly original and often lead you to multiple viewings,
each viewing leading to a deeper
meaning. Often these films do not
provide you a Happy ever after
ending, but merely leave you to
decipher your own meanings.

You need not join as a volunteer in an organisation to experience the joy of helping others.
Look around your neighbourhood and see the various ways by
which you can get involved. One
residential complex had an initiative where youngsters collected
old textbooks and distributed
them to needy students.
It could be even as simple as
helping a family coping with terminal illness to do their weekly
shopping.
The key is to find out the most
urgent need and then see how
one could manage resources to
help efectively.
At the end of the day, the joy of
forgetting our insular needs and
thinking about someone else is
priceless. Summer holidays are a
wonderful way to slow down and
enjoy the moments of doing nothing. In our frenzied lives, holidays
ofer a respite.
Put your creativity caps on and
think of all the ways you can make
your summer special. Enjoy the
summertime surprises in store
for you.

WHAT'S NEW
M.A. Community Radio
programme
University of Lincoln, U.K.,
has invited applications for its
one-year M.A. Community Radio programme. Students with a
bachelors degree and a minimum grade of 60 per cent are eligible to apply. Students also
need an IELTS score of 7.0 with
no less than 6.5 in each element,
or equivalent.
Global postgraduate scholarship worth 2,000 is available
for all applicants who meet the
entry requirements. International Alumni Scholarship
worth 2,000 is also available
for all self-funding international
students who have previously
studied
an
undergraduate
course at the university and are
progressing onto a postgraduate
course. Student can avail only
CM
YK

Email:
upendrankye@gmail.com

one of these scholarships. The

application deadline is May 15.
For
details,
visit
http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/
home/course/mhmacrs.

RMIT University
scholarships
Australia-based RMIT University has announced three
merit-based scholarships for all
current and commencing international students across all
fields of study in the following
categories: Science, Engineering and Health Scholarships
(undergraduate), Global Leaders Scholarships (postgraduate)
and Science Engineering and
Health Scholarships (postgraduate). The limited scholarships
will be open to Indian students
and will be applicable for the July 2016 intake. The application
deadline is May 31. For details,
visit http://www1.rmit.edu.au/
scholarships/international

Water Drink Reminder

Summer is a time when we sweat a lot
and our body gets dehydrated. So,
remembering to drink water is important.
This is where the Water Drink Reminder
app comes to the rescue. The simple app
will remind you at regular intervals that
you drink water to keep yourself hydrated.
When you open the app for the first time, it
asks you to enter your weight and sleeping
pattern, based on which it suggests a
drinking target. You can also check your
weekly, monthly and yearly report. (http://bit.ly/1rGZg5x)

Goodreads
This amazing, handy app is the Facebook
of books. It can help you find suggestions on
which books to read or how good a book is.
In addition to all this, you can like books,
review them and also see which friend liked
which book. You can also add status updates
and page number updates for the books you
are currently reading, use the barcode
scanner to scan all of your books onto your
Goodreads shelves, and much more. (http://
bit.ly/1QGxQAO)

Salad Recipes FREE

Caesars salad, fried goats cheese and
pomegranate salad sounds delectable
right? They are. And, a necessity too, as
the ingredients keep you healthy during
the summer. Salad Recipes app takes you
step by step through the process of
making various salads. This includes the
shopping list, extra suggestions, a planner,
and so on, which makes the work easier.
One can choose from various categories
such as salad with fruits, high calcium
salads, seasonal salads, among others. (http://
bit.ly/1rH06PI)

Well worth it

S. UPENDRAN
Who told you that Id quit
tennis? I got back in the saddle
two months ago.
I think Ill need some rest. Ill
get back in the saddle after a
couple of weeks.
Native speakers of English also refer to the seat on the motorcycle and bicycle as saddle.
How is the word caterwaul
pronounced? (R Tiwari, Bhopal)
The first and third syllables
are pronounced like the words
cat and wall respectively. The
er in the second sounds like
the a in china. The word is
pronounced CAT-e-wall with
the stress on the first syllable.
According to one theory, the
word comes from the German
katerwaulen meaning to cry
like a cat.
The word can be used with
both animals and human beings. When you caterwaul, you
shriek loudly like a cat that is in
distress it is a very unpleasant sound. In everyday contexts, the word can also be used
to mean to complain about
something rather loudly.
Ive stopped watching the
news on TV. Im sick and tired
of listening to the constant caterwauling of our politicians.
Is there such a word as
backfriend? (BL Laxman,
Chennai)
My initial reaction was to say
no, but a few dictionaries do
list the word. Those that do, label it archaic. The word is no
longer in use. In the past, backfriend was used to refer to
someone who pretended to be
your friend, but who was in fact
your enemy. He was someone
who was secretly working
against you.
***
In Westerns, you were permitted to kiss your horse but
never your girl. Gary Cooper

ummer is when you can kick back and enjoy for a while.
Exams are over, nobody will ask you to go out, thanks
to the sweltering heat, and you can laze around as
much as you want. But, lets not forget the dehydration,
headaches and sun burns that come with this season. Here
are some apps to help you stay fit and have some fun.

Do share your summertime ideas

at: lifeplus590@gmail.com

KNOW YOUR ENGLISH

What is the difference between
envelope and envelop? (L
Kamana, Chennai)
Envelope is a noun and envelop is a verb. The two words
are pronounced very diferently. The first syllable of the noun
is pronounced like the en in
pen, ten and hen, while the
last syllable rhymes with
slope, cope and hope. One
way of pronouncing this word
is EN-ve-lope with the stress
on the first syllable. An envelope is what we in India call a
cover we usually put documents, cards, invitations, etc. in
it.
Im looking for an envelope
to put these documents in.
In the case of the verb, the
first syllable is pronounced like
the in in pin, chin and tin
and the following e like the e
in set and bet. The vowel in
the final syllable sounds like
the a in china. The word, in
this case, is pronounced in-VElep with the stress on the second syllable. It means to cover
or
surround
something
completely.
Within a matter of seconds,
the fire had enveloped the
house.
What is the meaning of back in
the saddle? (Madhusudhan
Rao, Bangalore)
For most of us who grew up
watching Hollywood Westerns,
when we hear this expression,
we immediately remember the
cowboy on his horse.
A saddle, as you probably
know, is the leather seat that a
rider puts on a horses back
when he wishes to ride the animal.
A rider who is in the saddle
has total control of the animal;
it will do whatever he wants it
to. When someone is back in
the saddle, he resumes an activity that he had temporarily
given up.

SARTHAK SARASWAT

Students at MDIS talk about how the institute is

helping them achieve their dreams.
R. SUJATHA

I
MDIS: spotlight on India
R. SUJATHA

anagement Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), a notfor-profit professional

institute of learning,
has identified five cities, including Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata to
market their courses. The aim is to
encourage students form well-todo families to study in a reputed
institution closer home.
The institute, which celebrated
its 60th anniversary recently, has
already tied up with Vels University in Chennai to ofer a few
courses.
More than 160 students have
taken up programmes in tourism,
hospitality and international business. Students study a part of the
course in the parent institution
and the rest at MDIS to earn their
degree.
Ahead of the ceremony, MDIS
secretary general R. Theyvendran

M.Sc. Sustainable
Architecture programme
Sheield School of Architecture (SSoA) has invited applications for its M.Sc. Sustainable
Architecture
Studies
programme.
The one-year full-time course
equips students with a comprehensive knowledge of sustainable architecture and the techniques involved. Students who
have a three-year bachelors degree with a minimum of 60 per
cent or first class from a reputable university will be eligible
to apply.
Students are required to provide copies of their portfolio.
IELTS (or an equivalent) with a
score of 6.5 (with no component
less than 6.0) is required. The
application deadline is June 24.
For
details,
visit
http://www.sheield.ac.uk/
international/countries/
asia/south-asia/india/entry.

Focus is on
Coimbatore,
Bengaluru,
Mumbai, New
Delhi and
Kolkata.
said, We have a hostel for 1,700
students. In Singapore we have a
population of only five million.
We would like to tap into a possible two lakh students from
India.
Students are encouraged to
spread the work about the courses through social media, and
they would be financially rewarded. A private institute,
MDIS does not receive any government funding. We make
money and plough it back into
the institute. We have ploughed
in two million dollars in scholarships and business, he added.

f you have the will, you will find a

way. And this is exactly what the
Indian students at the
Management Development
Institute of Singapore (MDIS)
have done. They have chosen to build
a career by taking up courses at the
institute, despite the cost or distance
from home.
The
coursework
ofers them
fewer holidays
compared to
Indian colleges
just a twoweek annual
break with
another weeks
vacation
during the
year. But the
students feel it Mudit Gogia
is worth
studying at the institute.
Mudit Gogia from New Delhi had
been experimenting until he found a
course close to his heart. After Class
XII, he joined a hotel management
course at Oberois Trident Hotel in
Jaipur.
I learnt as I trained, he recalled
his experience. But within months
the crazy working hours and an
indeterminate future turned him of.
However, he found his experience
there useful when he chose an
advanced diploma in Mass
Communication at MDIS. My mom
chose this institute as it is closer
home, he says.
In the three months that he has
been at the institute, he has learnt the
nuances of advertising and writing a
press release, he says.
For Gayatri Gopalan, a B.Sc.
(Hons) in Biomedical Science
student from Thiruvananthapuram,

it was career
choice that
prompted her
to join MDIS.
Daughter of a
driver and a
shopping
mall
assistant, she
has taken a
loan of Rs. 30
lakh. I am
confident of
landing a job
here to repay
the loan, she
says.
Prerna Jain
When
Arpit Goel of Panipat chose B.Sc.
(Hons) in Marketing at the
government college there, his path
was set. He is now pursuing MBA in
International Marketing at MDIS, a
programme that would prepare him
to join his dads export business.
For some, education at MDIS is a
chance to build a career in
entrepreneurship.
Vignesh M., from Chennai, chose
to specialise in fashion marketing
and branding. Alumnus of APL
Global, Thoraipakkam, his interest
lies in luxury branding.
But Prerna Jain from Kolkata is
keen on opening a financial
consultancy firm after her degree in
MBA Banking and Finance.
Having done her math, she says a
similar course in India would set her
back by two years, whereas at MDIS,
she can finish the course in a year for
the same cost.
She has just five more months to
go before completing the courses.
With the institutes promise of
lifelong learning, these students are
setting a trend of their own back
home.
The writer was in Singapore on the
invitation of MDIS.

Big history scholarship

Macquarie Universitys MOOC courses are a big draw.
KATHAKALI NANDI

ollowing the instant popularity of the Big History

MOOC programme by
Australias Macquarie University on the online learning platform Coursera, the university is now ofering a Big History
International Student Undergraduate Scholarship.
The scholarship can be availed
by students of classes XI and XII
and independent learners. The
Big History course is Macquarie
Universitys first ever MOOC programme and within three months,
more than 11,000 students from
across 100 countries have enrolled
for it. Indian students in this
course constitute 5.9 per cent of
the total number of enrolled stu-

Macquarie University

dents and fare third in line after

the U.S. and China.
The scholarship is available only to international students who

have completed the Big History

Connecting Knowledge MOOC
programme through Coursera
and who have applied for any undergraduate course at the Macquarie University. Students have
to verify the completion of the
course by obtaining a certificate
and registering their interest in
the Macquarie University Big History International Student Undergraduate Scholarship at http://
mq.edu.au/intl/bighistory. This is
available to all international students who apply for any undergraduate course at Macquarie
University.
The scholarships will cover full
tuition fee which can extend up to
50,000 AUD per year for an undergraduate degree lasting for threefour years. The first scholarship

will be awarded in July. The application deadline is June 30 and all

applications sent after that will be
considered
for
the
2017
scholarship.
The Big History Connecting
Knowledge is a six-week introductory course that teaches students to think critically and
change the way one understands
the world. It provides students a
new framework to evaluate and
approach problems in fundamentally new ways. It brings together
insights and evidence from several disciplines into a single, understandable story. Supported by Bill
Gates, the course is an epic transdisciplinary journey through 13.8
billion years starting at the Big
Bang and travelling through time
all the way into the future.
ND-X

NOIDA/DELHI

04 EducationPlus

THE HINDU | MONDAY | MAY 2, 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Practice
pays

All of us may
not aspire to
become a
genius, but
theres no
reason why
we should
not try to
aim for the
best.

It is what turns interest, purpose and

hope into something real.

BACKPACKER'S
GUIDE
USHA RAMAN

ou may have heard

that old saying about
how genius is ninetynine per cent perspiration and only one
per cent inspiration. And you
may have dismissed it as an
empty statement designed to
make you work harder than
you want to. All those people
who seem to produce masterpieces or breakthrough research or innovations so effortlessly, they must have
something special going on,
right? That special quality
which must be inbuilt
must count for more than one
per cent? And, thinking this
way, we absolve ourselves of
the need to spend hours perspiring, sweating it out to
produce something that is really, really good, assuming
that only those with that special quality (definitely worth
much more than one per
cent) can meet those
standards.
All of us may not aspire to
become a genius, but theres
no reason we should not try
to aim for the best that we can
produce. And there are no
short cuts to excellence. Research by psychologist Angela Duckworth at the University
of
Pennsylvania
(http://angeladuck-

worth.com) that examines

what contributes to success
in fields such as sports, arts
and science suggests that
four key ingredients interest, purpose, practice and
hope make up what she
calls grit. This is what
makes people stick with
something long enough and
hard enough to become really
good at it. Duckworths findings and other research in
this area were discussed on a
podcast titled The Power and
Problem of Grit hosted by social science reporter Shankar
Vedantam
(http://www.npr.org/2016/
04/04/472162167/the-power
-and-problem-of-grit).
While each of the four factors contributes in significant
ways to success in a field,
what interested me most was
the notion of practice that
ninety-nine per cent of genius referred to earlier. Other
researchers, who have examined practice, talk about different kinds of practice.
Were all familiar with repetitive practice that allows us to
memorise rules and relationships, such as the multiplication tables, so that we can apply them eiciently. But more
important is what is called
deliberate practice (a term
coined by K Anders Ericsson,
a professor at the University
of Florida). Deliberate practice requires us to first identify our weaknesses or areas
that require improvement,
and then do what is necessary

PICTURE PERFECT | No shortcut to excellence. PHOTO: AFP

to take us to the next level. So

rather than simply go through
a standard practice routine,
this means you think carefully about where you need to
focus and spend time deliberately strengthening
that. In a 2007 article in Harvard Business Review, Ericsson and his co-researchers
noted that in fields such as
sports or arts, one would

Twin trails in Toronto

SUPRAJA VADLAMANI writes about her love for
economics and maths, and how Torontos diversity
expanded her horizon.

Supraja Vadlamani

numbers is my hobby. Yes,

you read that right. Math is
therapeutic for me. When
people would write the
name of their celebrity
crush with a heart next to
it, Id do the same but my
heart would be next to
Calculus (I really did put
hearts next to Diferentiation every time I studied it.
Im not kidding).
Along with my studies, I
worked with a major global retail chain for almost a
year. Working in such a
fast-paced environment
while having to ensure the
smooth functioning of the
store helped me learn a lot.
You could call it a
micro-economy.
I was also ailiated with
student clubs such as the
Indian Cultural Association (ICA) and the Badminton Club. I made a lot
of new friends though
these clubs, and had experiences that I wouldnt
trade for any other. Ive always been inclined towards music; ICA gave me
the perfect platform to
share this passion.
Do you love playing

WASSUP
MSc, MSc Tech Admission at NITs
Online applications are invited for the Centralised Counselling for M.Sc. / M.Sc. (Tech)
admissions (CCMN 2016) to 15 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and two Centrally-funded technical institutes in the country.
Online registration facilities are provided up
to May 27, 3 p.m. on www.ccmn.in. IIT-JAM
score-qualified candidates are eligible to apply. Registration fee is Rs. 2,000. Seat allocation is based on the qualified valid score in
JAM 2016 and academic eligibility requirement. The minimum eligibility condition in
terms of CGPA or percentage of marks for all
participating institutes is 60 per cent or 6.5
CPGA (SC/ST/PH candidates need only 55
per cent or 6.0 CGPA).
CCMN 2016 also ofers counselling for nonJAM candidates through Institute Spot AdCM
YK

dent, or as someone who has

just entered a field of work,
one often comes up against
problems or issues that challenge our capabilities or
knowledge. Sometimes these
challenges throw up shortcomings in our training or
education, or are just new situations that we have never
thought to prepare for. We
should look at these as oppor-

Marketing Intern at InteleAnts

Virtual Workforce
Category: Marketing
Location: Chennai
Stipend: Rs. 2,000 4,000/month
Eligibility: All MBA / PGDM students
Website: http://bit.ly/Twenty19TH562

SME Statistics Intern at Evelyn

Learning

tunities to identify areas of

improvement that could benefit from deliberate practice.
It may not need 10,000 hours,
but certainly some dedicated
time. Its important to note
that this is not the generalised, comprehensive kind of
study that we usually engage
in but a focused, specific, targeted activity that hones a
particular skill or knowledge
gap that we have identified.
Deliberate practice is usually not fun, although it is rewarding in the long run. It
takes you out of your comfort
zone and forces you to confront something that you are
not good at so that you can
start to get better at it. Musicians who dedicate hours to
master a single note and
sportspersons who sweat
over the perfect stroke may
be more familiar with it, but
theres no reason we cant apply it to other, more mundane
fields of activity as well.
Deliberate practice is an
essential part of Angela
Duckworths idea of grit. It is
in fact what turns the other
three ingredients interest,
purpose and hope into
something real. And even if
genius is not within our
grasp, this sort of deliberate,
sustained practice can make
us the best that we can be.

Category: Content Writing/ Journalism

Location: Delhi
Stipend: Rs. 12,000/month
Eligibility: All students
Website: http://bit.ly/Twenty19TH563

Content and Social Media Marketing

Intern at PaperToStone
Category: Marketing
Location: Bangalore
Stipend: Rs. 10,000/month
Eligibility: All students
Website: http://bit.ly/Twenty19TH564

PHP-MySQL Developer at GKB Labs

Category: Software
Location: Work from home
Stipend: Rs. 5,000 20,000/month
Eligibility: Computer Science / IT
Website: http://bit.ly/Twenty19TH565
Courtesy: www.twenty19.com

WRITE TO US
The Hindu Education Plus invites Indian students in
foreign universities to share their experience about the
campus, quality of education, city life and adapting to
changes abroad. The article should not be more than
500 words. Send three diferent pictures of yourself
(one solo, two on the campus) of minimum 2MB size to
goalpost@thehindu.co.in

READ ONLINE

The author teaches at the

University of Hyderabad and
edits Teacher Plus. Email:
usha.bpgll@gmail.com

Did you know that the best of Education Plus is also

available online? To read more articles, visit
www.thehindu.com/education

To learn is to play
In a result-oriented and competitive world, how do we reclaim the sheer joy of learning?

THINK

The prime goal

before a
student today is
to score high in
the annual
examination.
This prevents
him/her from
enjoying the
learning
experience.

VALSON THAMPU

GOALPOST
ntil recently, I
was pursuing a
specialised honours programme
in financial and
business economics at
York University, Toronto.
However, I wanted more
mathematics, so I changed
my programme to honours
in economics with a minor
in mathematics, since that
would be the perfect combination of the two disciplines.
I was delighted to have
this opportunity to change
my mind. When I joined
the university, I had a fiveyear plan. Two years into
that five-year period, I already changed my major,
added another subject to
my degree, and have diferent ambitions. Heres the
scoop: I dont regret any
part of it, at all. My professors and the university
have prepared me for the
bigger challenges in life.
If you are wondering
why I am so much in love
with economics, you could
hold economist Steven D.
Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner accountable. They are the authors
of the Freakonomics series. If I were to become famous someday, I would
most definitely cite them
as my influences. Game
Theory is just one of the
many reasons why I have
such a huge appetite for
Economics. I remember
the thrill when I first studied the Great Depression.
Of course, crunching

need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to reach an expert level of performance.

So, youre thinking, how
does this apply to those of us
who dont really aspire to reach international levels of
performance in sports or
classical arts? Is deliberate
practice even relevant for
success in academics, or business? I think it is. As a stu-

INTERNSHIPS

sports? There is an array of

clubs that you can join, and
also the intramurals where
you compete against different colleges in the University for a championship. It can be very
competitive and fun. If all
else fails, you can also start
your own club. Oh! Also, if
youre a gym enthusiast,
the annual membership at
the fabulous gymnasium is
$15 (yeah, I couldnt believe it at first either).
Before I sign of, let me
say something about Toronto. I came here after living in India, Australia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, and
Singapore. When I moved
from Mumbai to Toronto, I
was in awe of the diversity
here. I learnt about culture
and heritage of more ethnicities than I could ever
hope to learn from textbooks. This is why I greatly identify with this city;
the people here have the
warmth that continuosly
assure of your choice of
destination.
The writer is pursuing her
undergraduate studies at
York University, Toronto.

mission (ISA). Candidates who have a valid

JAM 2016 score but disqualified due to minimum qualifying marks or those who have
failed to clear the JAM 2016 or those who have
not appeared for JAM 2016 are eligible to register after July 1 for ISA. Visit www.ccmn.in
for more details.

MSc, M.Phil at IIITM-K

The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala (IIITM-K),
Thiruvananthapuram, has invited online applications for admission to its MSc and MPhil
courses in Computer Science for 2016-17.
Bachelor degree holders in any branch of Science / Engineering/ Technology with mathematics as a subject of study with a minimum
score of 60 per cent marks or CGPA of 6.5 are
eligible to apply for MSc courses. Selection is
through an admission test to be held on June
12. Visit www.iiitmk.ac.in/admission for more
details.
Compiled by Gopakumar Karakonam

o we really want to unburden learning and make it

an enjoyable experience?
Here is a thought. How
about reorienting learning on the pattern of play? Playing,
unlike the current way of learning,
does not burden a child. It involves
strenuous eforts and patient labour, yet, no student ever complains about it. One can never have
enough of playing.
Burden, in the learning context,
is not wholly quantitative. We keep
piling knowledge on students,
quantity on quantity. We pity them
on this very count. This pitying
prevents us from understanding
and mitigating the problem. And,
nothing has improved in half-acentury. The problem has become
worse.
Burden is a modern epidemic.
Not only children, everyone is burdened. We slur over our burdened
existence, believing this to be a
plight that we are doomed to
endure.
What is the most significant
thing about a child at play? It is that
she is fully engaged with her primary goal. For her, playing is the
thing; it need not lead to anything
beyond. She does not play to impress anyone or to be rewarded.
Now, consider a diferent situation. A child is made to do elaborate preparations to play. She is told
that if she works at it better than everyone else, she would be able to
play after a year. This work will
burden her, for whom playing is
primary, and preparing, secondary.
Professional or competitive
sport is a contradiction in terms.
Sports as a profession is work, not
play. Professional players have one
foot in the primary and the other in
the proximate goal. The primary
goal is to enjoy playing. The proximate goal is to impress the team
managers and to retain ones place
in the team. The fact remains, still,
that only a player who is fully into
the joy of playing can excel professionally, too. Anyone playing under
the obligation to excel and to produce magical results under fear of
being fired, will feel choked and
burdened.

What burdens a child is that she is

shut out from the exhilaration of the
primary goal, which is to enjoy
learning. There is a world of diference between studying, say, mathematics for the joy of it, and learning
the same to top the list. Marks can
never be the primary goal of learning. Growth is the primary goal.
Whatever relates to growth is
joyful.
Ironically, a demonic pattern of
playing is at work in the present
practice of learning. War and hunting are games, too. The essence of
both is to outwit the other. This may
result in trophies, not in growth.
Learning as playing is learning as
education for peace. All education,
as Maria Montessori said, is education for peace.
The prime goal before a student
today is to score high in the annual
examination. This prevents him/
her from enjoying the learning experience. It does an even greater
harm. It persuades the student that
nothing one does has any intrinsic
value. Everything is to be valued
only as instruments. This has serious consequences on the personality development and values-formation of students. If most people
today think of their fellow human
beings as tools to be used, we only
have to blame our idea of education
for it.
Sadly, for teachers including

those in higher education teaching is not a vocation any more. John

Dewey provides a relevant illustration in his work titled, Democracy
and Education. You hitch a horse to
a carriage. The horse draws it, say,
over a distance of twenty kilometres. At the end of the journey, it
is given fodder and water. This is
routine. So, the horse comes to associate the work it does with a particular reward, which is all that matters to it. It is not aware of
participating in a socially useful activity. Teachers who go to work only
to earn a monthly salary are no
diferent.
The point we are arguing is not
that students should have more
time to play at school, but that their
learning experience should be
more like playing. Philosophy was
play a free play of ideas, accessible to all who cared for it. Socrates
was a stonecutter. Philosophy became a ponderous burden when it
became professional work. Instances can be multiplied.
Work and play are two contrary
paradigms. A paradigm is a shaping
principle, which holds in pattern
the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. So,
learning as play calls for a shift in
foundation.
A complete revamping of the
educational establishment is a long
haul, a veritable revolution. It will
take time. But teachers dont have to

wait for a new heaven and a new

earth. They can initiate mini revolutions in their classrooms right
away.
For that to happen, teachers need
to do the following:
Master their subjects and the art
of teaching. Mastery of anything expresses as playfulness in handling.
Clumsiness indicates the opposite.
Novak Djokovich, though a professional, plays tennis and not work
tennis.
Attain optimum oneness with
students. On the court, the players
become one through the game.
That is so even when they fight
hard. The match is impossible without each other. The tougher the
fight, the greater their mutual respect and bonding.
The willingness to give their all to
the task at hand and to seek perfection through the classes taken. This
incremental perfection, not salary,
is their greatest reward.
The skill to maintain an ambience of happiness in the classroom,
much like what players do in a
stadium.
If children feel choked with tension on the eve of examinations, if
they go to school and come back
looking cheerless and burdened, if
the sun of happiness has set over
the landscape of childhood because
of learning, surely it is an atrocity
that screams for redressal. It is a
crime to sweep it under the carpet.
The writer is former principal of St.
Stephens College, Delhi, and the
founding member of the National
Commission for Minority Educational
Education. Email:
vthampu@gmail.com

Online platform for teaching-learning

AISHWARYA RAGHU KASHYAP
The internet is a vast space,
rich in knowledge and resources. It is also a dark
place where information is
not filtered and not always
student-friendly.
India Grid for Learning,
launched by INGEGNO, is
an education marketplace

and Identity Access Management (IAM) platform in

India, that aims at creating a
seamless
synchronised
teaching and learning experience for educators, institutions and schools. It provides an ecosystem ofering
content and technological
solutions for education corporate and public enterpris-

es for technology-enabled
learning and teaching experiences in India.
The IGFL will also be a
platform for new generation
writers whose work is not
accepted by mainstream
publishers. India Grid will
also provide an opportunity
for Indian and global content owners and education-

al technology companies to
showcase their oferings to
the diversified Indian market. It will be a platform for
writers in rural areas to
publish their work. There
are no tools available at present to track the competency, dropout rates, and so on.
IGFL will not only be a platform to monitor the pro-

gress a student has made

but also suggest efective
methods to choose courses
over a period of time, says
Venu Prasad, CEO of INGEGNO Transmedia.
IGFL hopes to enable private network technologyenabled classrooms in
about 85,000 schools by
2021.

ND-X