Mrs. Anjana Prakash
Principal, Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri (West), Mumbai
“We do not believe in rote learning, instead we adopt such methods of teaching where a student’s involvement is more. We try to evoke interest in curriculum among the students”
What is your vision for quality education in Hansraj Morarji Public School?
Hansraj Morarji Public School is an institution which provides an enabling environment to its children to develop holistically. We believe in providing quality education to our students, for this we provide them the latest technology like computers with Internet facilities, Audio-Visual room with LCD projector to make teaching-learning more effective and interesting too.
In April this year, we also started a Junior college, which provides Science and commerce streams and has reserved seats for shoolchildren passing out of 10th standard.
Please tell us about the curriculum and learning methodology followed in the school.
We follow the Maharashtra State Board curriculum in our school. Apart from the curriculum, many other activities like Maths Club, Drama Club, Green Brigade Environment Club etc are a part of the student life at our school. We also won the ‘Green School Awards’ in the year 1996.
We do not believe in rote learning, instead we adopt such methods of teaching where a student’s involvement is more. We try to evoke interest in curriculum among the students, due to which learning becomes easier. For this we equip our teachers with the latest technology in teaching which makes the learning process easier.
What major challenges did you encounter while integrating ICT in education in your school?
A major hurdle which we faced is lack of knowledge among the teachers’ in this field. As such their involvement in IT usage was seen less. Teachers may find the conventional method of teaching easier than technology mediated education due to lack of expertise in this field. As the teachers may find it time consuming and more difficult to use it for expressing themselves, there may be a shortfall in communication between teachers and students.
The school management should also realise the importance of ICT in education so that relevant training programmes can be organised for teachers and adequate fund allotted for this purpose.
What are the initiatives taken up by your school for integrating ICT in school education?
ICT has been incorporated in our school sysytem for the benefit of teachers and students alike and they are using it to full capacity. We organise supervised training programmes for our staff to educate them on the proper use of internet. Teachers are encouraged to use ICT in their classroom teaching, do more research on their respective subjects through Internet and also assist students in usig it for their projects and class assignments. We have also started an inter-house competition on making projects on power points using Internet facility under the guidance of teachers.
How do you build teachers’ capacity in rendering technology mediated education?
Our teachers are encouraged to participate in various training programmes to enhance their knowledge in ICT use. We encourage them to take part in various inter-school competitions where the use of Internet becomes a must; this brings awareness among the teachers of growing importance of ICT in education. We also send them to various workshops to build awareness among them.
How do you see public-private partnership for enhancing proper use of technologies in school education?
I would vouch for the PPP model as private companies are better equipped to train teachers in the use of latest technologies owing to their research and advance knowledge in this field.
