|| Dr. NAZIR AHMAD GILKAR
Very sad and tragic demise .On learning about his death I was shocked. Yasir Hussain Sherazi was our BBA student . He was running his business in Russia .He was attacked by goons, went into comma and passed away. It was a case of robbery. The body was laid to rest at his ancestral grave yard .I offered condolence to the bereaved family and visited his grave. His father at respectable age was totally broken down. Great loss. May his soul rest in peace. Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme was started at Govt. Degree College Bemina, Srinagar.
The students didn’t accept faculty being with commerce background .They preferred Management faculty. They had an argument . They were demanding. They also had tacit approval of the College Principal supporting their demand. Commerce faculty had no option but to withdraw from BBA classes .Young MBA faculty started transacting BBA curriculum. However , they were conscious of their respective strong and weak academic areas .Commerce education is a hard core discipline as regards accounting, finance and taxation. After a week the boys and girls severely and collectively requested Head of the Department to teach them .He didn’t agree .
The Principal also made a change in his approach. On reluctance by the faculty he requested administrative department for intervention .Director Colleges and special secretary visited the college and BBA classes were then conducted by the faculty with commerce background. The faculty worked smart to come up to the expectations of students .Prof. NA Mahajan ,a disciplinarian and veteran commerce teacher, Prof. Tariq Ahmad Kawoos ( present Director Colleges), Prof. Zahoor Ahmad Chatt (present Chairman JK BOSE) and other faculty members worked together and analyzed contents of each course of study. Appropriate instructional strategies for different units and sub units were worked out.
The focus was to produce leaders to manage their business enterprises. Industry was brought into class room through case studies .Class room was sent to industry through business education study tours (BESTs).Business Club was established, mock board room was set up, Saturday guest lectures were started. Students were empowered .Besides visiting library for consulting books and e-recourses they started purchasing business journals investing their pocket money. Debates and seminars were organized. Students had hand on projects .Computer lab was utilized by students and faculty.
The Business Milieu-department journal was launched. The students in their uniform appeared different on the campus .The Department was abuzz with all curricular and co-curricular activities. The students were motivated and groomed to be prospective entrepreneurs. The preset objective for BBA programme was thus achieved when more and more send outs opted for entrepreneurship. They were equipped with entrepreneurial skills .Yasir Hussain Sherazi- a start-up established his business enterprise . Yasir was always smiling. He had developed a good communication capability.
A creative and adventures entrepreneur he has been. After a decade he met me with same warmth . Always he wanted answers for a variety of questions. . In his death industry lost a promising and successful entrepreneur. The faculty lost a well-nourished and nurtured obedient student. The society lost a well-mannered citizen. The family lost a sole bread winner. His parents had a lot of hopes pinned with him. Alas! Everything has shattered. The single most significant factor determining quality education is teacher quality .
Teaching demands high curriculum management standards ,thus deep subject-matter understanding. Quality teacher at least focus on five essential components : encouraging enthusiasm ,caring attitude , love for learning , developing curiosity , creating differentiation. These components can be select parameters for academic audit as well. A teacher by nature is sensitive and smart. He is sensitive to issues and studies pros and cons. He is always engaged in the process of thinking . He raises a point of order when established norms are flouted .He raises a point of dissent when he is in a position to put forward a strong and convincing counter argument .
He is SMART because his functioning is systematic, he is motivated (rather, self motivated), accountable ,responsive and transparent . An initiative toward academic audit of Govt. run schools was to verify student preparedness before they sit in annual exams and to assess teaching standards ,teaching skills and teacher knowledge base in these schools .
Following three embracing situations emerged to the surprise of ….:
a) After none of the class X students could answer the question, the subject teacher holding MA and B.Ed degrees answered “fossil fuel is a waste collected from households” ;
b) Neither the students nor their science teacher could answer a question on the ten parts of the human digestive system .In this case the teacher held M.Sc and M,Ed degrees ;
c)The students could not even answer how to measure area of a triangle .Their mathematics teacher, a postgraduate could not explain it either .
Again in a glaring example of poor educational standards in Govt. schools ,class 5 students failed to even write a basic mathematics question :25divided by 4 -triggering a strong reaction against teachers .These children could not even write 25 divided 4,not to speak of solving it.
A variety of factors are responsible for this sorry state of affairs in the school system. Here an old student recollects his own school days in order to draw a difference between then and now.
a) Present system sans perpetual monitoring. In his school days Abdul Salam Dhobi used to pay frequent visits to his school at Nowhatta . The TEO used to move class to class and ask different questions to students . A disciplinarian made teachers alert to attend their academic duty . They generally used to attend school minutes before the scheduled time to welcome students.
The Head Master used to be at Nowhatta Chowk to ensure students running toward school in their uniform and participate in prayer sessions . Mohammmad Yousuf Masoodi (HM) conducted English classes and made students remember names of fruit ,vegetables etc . Education Minister GM Sadiq also visited that school and wrote some words on the black board and students read them out . Teachers in every subject checked note books fortnightly and got counter signed by the Head Master;
b)Job participation and job involvement leading to job satisfaction face a disconnect now. The constructs should move on the same trajectory for effective performance .The teachers were involved in the decision-making process as regards school governance . They actively participated to run school affairs being on different committees .
During the course of teaching English grammar Mohammad Salem Khan in the 8th class came across an incorrect sentence “It is I who is wrong “. He tried to teach us the correct sentence . But after some minutes he went to Shiban Lal in another class room and retuned very happy and asked students to write correct version of this sentence “It is I who am wrong “. They were not shy to learn .
c)Self motivation is currently a thing of past. Our teachers in the school encouraged students to participate in debates and discussions after Friday prayers. They regulated proceedings and guided students in putting forward arguments . In the morning after prayer sessions world famous personalities’ were discussed with a view to motivate us to learn beyond prescribed syllabus . Syllabus is a tool for education ;whereas education is somewhere else. Prof Saif-u-Din (then principal SP College) on his way to Hazratbal on a Friday en-route to our school interacted with students for a while .
d) Teacher-taught relationship is weakening every passing day. Teachers in the school were accessible ,enthusiastic ,warm and caring and always made themselves available to students . After clearing golden test the school teachers had an interaction with the parents .They executed an undertaking from the parents of all the students who had to appear in Matriculation examination that they will work to ensure students qualify examination in flying colours . My father also put his thumb impression on the format thus executed ;
e) Setting high expectations for all students is missing .The teachers didn’t give up under achievers.They were practical and transacted activity based and application oriented content first to adopt Z 2 A model .There was heavy snow fall at the end of April. Our Urdu teacher Mohmad Yousuf Bhat asked in class to write an essay on” kashmir main bewakat baraf bari “. He dictated and later corrected the text written by every student .Students got opportunity to practice new skills to look issues in a variety ways ;
f) Answer scripts lack meticulous evaluation and a correct award .M L Katru during distributing internal assignments didn’t deliver it to him .Mr Katru re-evaluated it and increased some marks. The task of evaluation was done based on student intrinsic performance in the class room. During teaching the teachers were evaluating students by way of why and how questions perpetually as they had set mission goals to achieve for student academic growth.
The following issues may be taken note of:
1) A teacher has a pivotal position in curriculum management .A teacher performs a dual role in this process as he teaches, examines and evaluates .He continuously learns ,unlearns and relearns . He learns and is examined and evaluated formally as well as informally . He is exposed ,examined and evaluated at least in terms of originality, citations ,impact etc for his publications.
2)A teacher(regular, contractual or apprentice) must not shy away from periodic tests preferably in the context of aforesaid miserable situation. They must accept this demand of society very gladly and in a dignified way . It is a question of their career as well as the future of society .In some countries teachers are required to apply for reissuance of license to prove that they are equipped with requisite skills to teach
3)A teacher may realize that with the passage of time role of Trade Unions has also diminished because of the fact that now there are less and less industrial relations issues to be taken up with employers . Trade Union Movement works on a different paradigm now as is seen across the globe including socialist and communist countries. With the changing role strategies have also changed. To conclude, we owe to our revered teachers who went sleepless in making and shaping our career .They have come up to the expectations of society because they always observed societal norms .
Discussion Points
The following points in the aforesaid context of the case need a deep thought and discussion by the stakeholders in the society:
1)How the serene environment was created by the faculty to groom students into prospective entrepreneurs?
2)What measures need be initiated to improve educational standards in Govt. schools?
3)How the entire education landscape can be transformed by a teacher to lead from the front in this process of change ?
4)For 193 students 17 teachers (1:11.35 teacher-taught ratio) holding graduate and post graduate degrees .With the students failing to answer basic questions salaries of all the teachers withheld found lacking in knowledge of the subject they teach. To enhance the quality of education till a review is conducted ,failing which departmental action for incompetence and negligence shall be initiated .
5) Rehber-e-Taleem fundamentally is apprenticeship programme . To regularize an apprentice after completing a requisite period is put to test-written as well as oral . The applicants for apprenticeship programme undergo a tough process of selection at the induction level too .These apprentices are also members of Employees Union that must never resist the conduct of tests before the regularization in a formal grade. The union activists shall be highly emancipated and visionary as not to work for wage enhancement or fringe benefits alone but for the career growth and development of the members as well .Their sincere efforts will result in academic and professional attainments of a good number of people to get absorbed everywhere.
6) In every discipline there are some fundamental standards to be adhered to .Accordingly there are well trained people to conduct audit in their respective fields of specialization . Chartered accountants are specialized to conduct financial audit. Secretarial audit is conducted by company secretaries. Cost and management audit is done by cost accountants .Medical audit is conducted by physicians and surgeons. Administrative audit is conducted by qualified civil servants. Similarly , for academic audit to be result oriented expert advice of a well known educationist can be utilized. People other than specialists conduct inspection and not audit .
author can be mailed at gilkarna @rediffmail. com
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Kashmir Leader Magazine
