Hyderabad: Black boards, rote learning a thing of the past

Hyderabad: Teaching has changed from ‘chalk and talk’ to Information Communication Technology. White boards have replaced black boards, said Prof. Ramana Rao of NIT Warangal, a teacher since 1985. He said the days of one-way lectures had changed.

“Now, learning is more online, through group discussions, tutorials, seminars and brain-storming because knowledge has expanded. Earlier, teachers were only supposed to teach but now their responsibilities have have become mentors,” Prof. Ramana Rao said.

Prof. Tirupati Rao, former Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University, who started teaching in 1976, said, “The main challenge these days is the information explosion on the internet. Students have access to this information. Teachers have to keep themselves up to date. Teachers can’t just teach that they have learnt yesterday because students these days have more information.”He said the information available on the internet was weakening the student-teacher relation and was a big challenge. “The role of a teacher is really important in a student’s life even though technology has developed. A teacher can never be replaced or substituted,” Prof. Tirupati Rao Rao said.

Mr Nagati Narayana, a senior education expert, said, “Quality education is the number one challenge. It should be addressed by teachers with innovative methods. They must accommodate for ICT Information Communication Technology) enabled teaching-learning process.”He said in service training was needed more than pre service training these days. 

“Teachers must be life long students otherwise they cannot compete in the 21st century,” Mr Narayana said. He also said this stress was leading teachers to take to the cane. “The frustrated teachers are forced to hit the students because they are supposed to satisfy the managements and parents. Present generation teachers are struggling with new and critical challenges,” Mr Narayana said.

Prof. Srinivas Acharya, an educationist said, Today students are much smarter than the teacher. Teaching is no more telling, and listening is not learning. Technology intervention is high in engaging the student as students have easy access knowledge portals.’