APRIL - 2007
Strategies for Promoting Peace
Education among SAARC Countries
A consultative meeting was held on 26 and 27 February
2007 under the chairpersonship of Prof. Krishna Kumar,
Director, NCERT to discuss issues related to promotion of
peace education in the SAARC region. The meeting was
attended by eminent educationists, academics, experts on
peace education, and members of the focus group on Peace
Education, and Joint Director, NCERT. Head, DEPFE was
the convener of the meeting.
The members were apprised of the wide-ranging
initiatives, which emerged from the position paper on
education for peace. NCER T’s interest in initiating
programmes which would facilitate sharing of experiences
in the SAARC countries and building shared structures
for promoting peace education in the SAARC region was
highlighted. The members suggested that a region-wise
pool of 8-10 people may be formed, who could monitor the
work in the region. The need for research on conflicts in
the SAARC region was pointed out. The members were of
the opinion that sharing and dissemination of information
is required about what has already been done. This would
involve advocacy, development of database on existing
materials, initiatives, translation of existing materials, case
studies on nature and location of conflicts, etc. The
suggestions included exchange of resource persons/social
scientists and organising an India Chapter on the training
of teachers/development of reading materials/anthologies etc.
Science Talk
CELEBRATION
OF
NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY
National Science Day is observed every year on 28 February
to mark the novel discovery of the Raman Effect by the
great Indian physicist Sir C.V. Raman.
It offers an opportunity to bring issues of science on to
centre stage. Its basic objective is to spread the message of
the importance of science and its applications among
the people.
This year’s theme for National Science Day celebrations
was ‘More Crop per Drop’. The theme’s focus was on efforts
to build an eco-water-literate society that valued water. It
LIFE ETERNAL THROUGH
LEARNING
The intertwined Hansas
symbolise the integration of three
aspects of the work of the
National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT):
(i) Research and Development,
(ii) Training, and (iii) Extension.
The design has been adapted from an
Ashokan period relic of the third
century B.C. found in excavations
near Maske in the Raichur district
of Karnataka.
The motto has been taken from the
Isavasya Upanishad and means
life eternal through learning.
advocated the optimum use of water in all
aspects of human activity and water
conservation by all means.
The Department of Education in Science and
Mathematics, NCER T, on this occasion
arranged for a popular lecture – ‘Making Each
Drop Count’ by Dr. A.K. Singh, Project Director,
Water Technology Centre, Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, New Delhi.
During his deliberations, Dr. A.K. Singh
mentioned that India has the largest irrigated
area in the world having productivity around
2.5 tonne per hectare (t/ha). This productivity
can be raised to 4 t/ha with proper management
of inputs, especially soil and water. Dr. Singh
also discussed methods of reusing and recycling
of waste-water for irrigation without a
detrimental effect on crops and the soil, which
is another aspect that needs to be tackled in a
systematic manner, in addition to the
management of the poor quality of groundwater.
This lecture was attended by several faculty
members of NIE, school teachers from Navyug
School, Cambridge School, Army Public School,
St. Mary’s School and Apeejay School.
To celebrate this day NERIE organised a
meeting under the chairpersonship of Prof. D.S
Bhattacharjee, Principal, NERIE. Science
teachers from different states of the North-East
including faculty members of NERIE were
present. In keeping with the theme ‘More Crop
per Drop’, Prof. M.K. Satapathy (Head
DESM&ICT) delivered a lecture on ‘Sustainable
Agriculture: Water Conservation and Crop
Productivity’.
WORKSHOP
ON
SCIENCE MAGAZINE
A four-day workshop was held from 28 to 31
March 2007 at NERIE, Shillong.
Ten writers from different states of NorthEast attended the workshop. Experts from the
states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu had earlier contributed through
articles. A total of 30 articles were identified in
different areas like conservation of water and
energy, flora and fauna of North-East India,
pollution, global warming, health and nutrition,
aquatic world, disaster management, scientists
of India, scientific invention and discoveries,
medicinal science, oceanography, information
and technology, evolution and existence, planets
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in the solar system, forestry in human life etc. A
draft manuscript of the identified articles were
prepared. The programme was jointly
coordinated by Dr. B. Devi (DCDEVE) and
Dr. Daksha M. Parmar.
JNNSEC-2006 E XHIBITS W IN P RIZES
CHILDREN SCIENCE CONGRESS-2007
IN
Twenty best exhibits selected from the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Science Exhibition for Children2006 held at Pune during 23-26 November 2006
were displayed in the Children Science Congress2007 organised together with the 94th Indian
Science Congress Association Meeting held at
Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil
Nadu, during 3-7 January 2007. Following
exhibits of JNNSEC-2006 received Certificates of
Merit and cash prizes in this Congress.
1. A S IMPLE L OW C OST H IGH
MULTIPURPOSE IRRIGATION PROJECT
RURAL AREAS
P OTENTIAL
REMOTE
FOR
Name of the School : Kupwara Public
School,
Sogam
Road, Kupwara
Name of the Student : Mr. Bilal Rashi
Khan
Name of the Teacher : Mr. Dipyendu
Mesuaa
2. MATHEMATICAL MODEL
OF THE
LUNGS
Name of the School : Puranchandra
Vidyaniketan,
Hemant Vihar,
Kanpur
Name of the Student : Ms. Medha Mishra
Name of the Teacher : Mrs. Sushma
Jaiswal
NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
The National Steering Committee deliberated on
various activities initiated by NCERT for the
dissemination of NCF-2005 during the one-day
meeting held on 16 March 2007 at NCERT, New
Delhi. The committee reflected on the progress
of review process. It also deliberated on the
shorter version of NCF-2005 (draft). Recognising
the multiple initiatives of various departments
of NCERT and also the effort of States/UTs in
the dissemination of NCF, the committee offered
constructive suggestions for wider participation
across the country.
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
Language and Beyond
TEACHING OF ENGLISH AT THE SECONDARY STAGE
An Orientation Programme of Key Resource
Persons of North-East States in Teaching of
English at Secondary Stage was held at Don
Bosco Youth Centre, Shillong during 5–9 March
2007. Nine participants from various DIETs/
SCER Ts of the North-East attended the
programme. Prof. A.K. Mishra highlighted the
significant themes on language education
according to the NCF-2005. Dr. P. Barua from
Guwahati University discussed in detail the
methods of English language teaching.
Dr. J. Chatterjee, CIEFL, Shillong and Dr. T.K.
Bamon emphasised on reading and listening
skills. The latter also discussed the psychosocial aspect of teaching and learning second
language. Dr. P. Thungam, NEHU, Shillong
brought out an innovative method of teaching
languages through dramatisation method.
Participants were asked to enact their
performance based on a topic chosen by them.
Ms Mellisa Wallang (DLSSAPE) was the
coordinator of the programme.
SIGN LANGUAGE
FOR THE
HEARING IMPAIRED
When it comes to disability, it is all about
changing our attitude towards the disabled...
An Orientation Programme for Special
Education was organised at St. Francis Mount,
Umbir during 19–23 March 2007.
There were 43 participants from all North
Eastern regions. The resource persons were:
Mr. Bikramjit, AYNNIH, Mumbai; Ms. Sona
Choudhury, S&CHH, Shillong; Mr. Carmo
Norohna, Director, Bethany Society, Shillong;
Sr. Merley Tom, Director, Ferrando Speech and
Hearing Centre, Shillong; Prof. U. Konwar, NERIE; and other faculty members of NERIE. There
were two interpreters for sign language; Sr. Sini
Antoney, Ferrando Speech and Hearing Centre,
and Ms Kathleen from USA working at Ferrando.
The programme was inaugurated by the
Minister of Higher and Technical Education
Mr. R.G. Lyngdoh. In his speech, Mr. Lyngdoh
lauded the efforts of NERIE for organising the
programme which, he is confident, would
enhance the methodology in imparting
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
education to children with hearing impairment.
Prof. D.S. Bhattacharjee, Principal, NERIE, in
his speech stated that such a programme
should be carried forward in all the states of the
entire North Eastern region. Prof. U. Konwar
highlighted the significant themes of Inclusive
Education according to the NCF-2005.
Mr. Carmo Norohna also discussed issues of
Inclusive Education and emphasised on the
Right to Education for All.
Sr. Merley cited pathological causes and
consequences of hearing loss in learning
development. She also familiarised the
participants on classroom procedures in
handling deaf students in the classroom and
discussed mainstreaming deaf education. The
programme coordinator presented the History of
Deaf Education in the country and the researches
carried out so far. Dr. S. Devi discussed the
importance of first language in learning the
second language, in this case sign language being
the first language of the hearing impaired. The
rest of the programme was carried out by the
hearing impaired resource persons and
interpreters. The resource persons talked about
the basic Indian sign language known as ‘A-level’.
Four units of this course were completed. In this
programme, a discussion was also made
regarding the variations of sign language in the
North Eastern region in comparison to
mainstream India. The feedback from the
participants received was that some sort of a
research-cum-workshop programme regarding
Deaf Education is still necessary in the NE region.
ORIENTATION PROGRAMME
EDUCATION
ON
MULTILINGUAL
Orientation Programme of State Key
Functionaries in North-East States in promoting
Multilingual Education as Resources of Child’s
Cognitive Development and National Harmony
was held at Don Bosco Youth Centre during 12–
16 March 2007. Twelve participants from
Manipur, Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya
participated. Prof. A.K. Mohanty, J.N.U., Delhi,
focused on the importance of multilingual
education and mother tongue for the cognitive
development of the child. Prof. Ch. Yawanta,
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Manipur University, talked abut linguistic
approaches and methods to tackle the situation
of MLE. Dr. S. Lamare, St. Edmunds College,
Shillong, focused on the importance of
developing MLE in India especially in the NorthEast. Dr. R.K. Brajananda, Human Right
Consultant, talked about the rights of children
and minorities and cited numerous examples
from the North-East. Prof. A.K. Mishra,
DLSSAPE-NERIE, discussed on constructivism
and the National Curriculum Framework 2005
in relation to language education, while Dr. S.C.
Roy, DLSSAPE, spoke on TLM. Participants
were asked to elaborate on specific state
problems and suggestions were offered through
an interactive process. Dr. Ch. Sarajubala Devi
was the coordinator of the programme.
MANUAL FOR BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN HOME
LANGUAGE AND SCHOOL LANGUAGE
A four-day workshop was organised to develop
the manual at the elementary stage at NERIEShillong, during 26–29 March 2007. Resource
persons included faculty members from
Shillong College, Mother Angelis School, Tura,
DIET, Sohra, the Principal of Upper Primary
Government School, Jayantia Hills, Shillong and
Prof. M.S. Ningomba from Manipur. Internal
resource persons included Prof. A.K. Mishra,
DLSSAPE; Ms Mellissa Wallang, Dr. Ch.
Sarajubala Devi, DLSSAPE; Mr. Bijoykumar,
DCDEVE and two JPFs from NERIE. The
resource persons analysed the textbooks
(English) used by the Meghalaya Board, listed
vocabularies and glossed in Khasi and Garo.
They also analysed grammatical structures
included in the lesson. The coordinators will try
out the manual in some selected schools of
Meghalya before finalising the manual.
RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH
LANGUAGE IN NORTH-EAST
A four -day workshop was held to develop
resource materials for the elementary stage, at
the North East Regional Language Centre,
Guwahati, from 5–8 February 2007. The
workshop was attended by sixteen master
trainers belonging to DIETs/SCERTs of Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and some
teachers from Assam. Prof. A.K. Mishra and
Dr. Sima Saigal, DLSSAPE were the coordinators.
Guidance and Counselling
CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME
A programme was organised from 14–16 March
2007 at NIE campus, NCERT, New Delhi to
(i) enable the key personnel in guidance and
counselling perform leadership, support and
supervisory functions for strengthening
guidance activities in their states, (ii) provide
them a common platform for sharing their
experiences with respect to implementation of
the guidance programme. Fifteen participants
including Directors, Assistant Directors of State
level guidance agencies/SIEs/SCERTs, Dist.
counsellors, counsellors incharge and other KPR
in guidance and counselling attended the
programme. The participants were from eight
4
northern states including Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Bihar, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi,
and Rajasthan. They were exposed to different
areas of guidance and counselling with reference
to NCF 2005, an overview of guidance and
counselling services in the country, effective
guidance practices in participating states,
current issues such as academic stress, career
information, child sex abuse, disaster
management and HIV/AIDS addressed by
government and non-government organisations
and the counselling skills/practices. Later
action plans were prepared by the participants
suitable for their respecture states
for implementation.
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
DIPLOMA COURSE IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING
The Department of Educational Psychology and
Foundations of Education, NCERT, New Delhi
offered a six months Diploma course for
teachers, teacher educators, and untrained
guidance personnel from the State Education
Departments within the country as well as in
the SAARC and other Asian countries. The
course was based on ‘Teacher as a Counsellor’model as teachers have a special role to play to
counsel and guide students. However, they need
professional orientation and training. The course
aims to empower teachers to be a guide and a
mentor rather than only an expert. It is expected
to bring about changes in the attitudes and
perceptions of teachers and their ways of
interacting with students. This year the course
was offered from 12 September 2006 to 12
March 2007. Thirty-six teachers attended the
course of which seven were deputed by the
Government of Bhutan, five by the Government
of Sri Lanka and twenty-four from other parts
of the country.
The course consisted of core components in
guidance and counselling processes and
procedures, major principles and perspectives
of human adjustment and career development,
their application in counselling, psychological
assessment and appraisal, and the use of career
information in guidance and counselling
practices. Guest lectures and workshops on
inculcating counselling skills were also arranged
by way of enrichment in the course content. The
trainees were taken to field trips and on an
educational tour to Mumbai where they visited
a number of professional organisations.Cultural
meets were organised to encourage the sharing
of experiences amongst different countries.
Women’s Studies
REPRESENTING INDIAN WOMEN 1875-1947
A VISUAL DOCUMENTARY
DECLINING SEX RATIO (FEMALE FOETICIDE)
CONCERNS AND STRATEGIES
The Department of Women’s Studies, NCERT,
in collaboration with the Centre for Women’s
Development Studies and RIE, Mysore organised
an exhibition at RIE whose focus was on
underlying narrative of representing ‘Indian
Women 1875-1947 – A Visual Documentary’
which covered over 250 visuals. The archival
photographs based on the theme were not only
a visual treat but helped in understanding the
country’s multifaceted history.
The Department of Women’s Studies, NCERT
organised a three-day National Consultation
on Declining Sex Ratio (Female Foeticide) –
Concerns and Strategies, at the NIE Campus
from 28 February to 2 March 2007 in which
52 social scientists, educationists, doctors,
policy planners and administrators, media
persons, advocates, religious leaders, NGOs
and activists deliberated on varied perspectives
of female foeticide.
RARE PHOTOGRAPHS
•
•
•
•
•
ON
Visualising the family
The learning experience
The worlds beyond
The national movement
Towards the Midnight Hour
There were four panels on specific women–
noted social reformer, Pandita Ramabai, two early
women photographers – Debaleena Mazumdar and
Annapurna Dutta, a pioneering doctor, Dwarkabai
Kamlabar and school teacher, Sarah Massey.
The exhibition was inaugurated by
Prof. Rameswari Varma, member of the focus
group on ‘Gender Issues in Education’ and the
Chief Guest was Shri T.S. Satyan, photographer.
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
FOCUS
ON
• Female Foeticide – Key Factors in Declining
Sex: A Critical Analysis
• The Legal Angle: Acts and Gaps and
Suggested Action Points
• The Medical Angle: Ethics, Reality and
Intervention Strategies
• The Social Angle: Efforts, Interventions and
Futuristic Strategies
• The Education Angle: Reality and Possibility
• Role of Media: A Critical Analysis and
Possible Interventions
• The Political Angle: Interventions and
Commitments
• The Religious Angle: Facts and Acts
5
A brain storming session was also held to
identify the future course of action.
ACTION POINTS THAT EMERGED FROM THE CONSULTATION
Need to form a consortium for preventing
incidences of female foeticide by involving
persons from different dimensions of this
problem to carry the issue forward and take
suitable actions and debate on different
religions from the gender perspective with a
view to critically analyse what they preach.
• The government should set targets for
correcting the declining child sex ratio.
• The sex ratio at birth and gender
differentials in infant mortality rate
(IMR)should be included as health and
gender parity indicators.
• Auditing of ultra sound clinics (sonographic
centres) has also been recommended.
• The government should ensure that private
as well as government channels allocate
some time for telecasting relevant messages/
programmes.
Professor Poonam Agrawal participated in
a two-day (16-17 March 2007) National
Seminar Seminar on ‘Female Infanticide :
Contemporary Scenario, Issues and Challenges’
and presented a paper on ‘Female Foeticide – a
Critical Assessment of the Problem and the
Probable Corrective Measures’ organised by the
Centre for Women’s Studies and Development,
Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Professor
Agrawal also participated in a National Seminar
on ‘Women’s Studies in 21st Century-Various
Paradigms’ from 27–28 March 2007, organised
by the Centre for Women’s Studies and
Development, Banaras Hindu University, and
presented a paper on ‘Making Women
Linguistically Visible’. She also chaired one session.
Book Shelf
ARTS EDUCATION
A Resource Book for Teachers (Class IX) has been
brought out by the Council recently, which is meant
for the teachers of arts at secondary stage. The book
focuses on concepts of visual and performing arts
to be learnt by students in Class IX.
UNITS
OF THE
RESOURCE BOOK
• Unit I on visual arts.
• Unit II on Indian music, both vocal and
instrumental.
• Unit III on theatre arts.
• Unit IV relates to the origin of dance in India,
theory and techniques common to Indian
dance forms etc.
• Unit V of the resource book has been
developed to make the teachers more aware
so that they can disseminate this
information among the students.
There are certain areas of arts which will be
dealt with in the resource book for Class X. This
resource book for the arts teachers gives some
guidelines and expects the teachers to expand
these ideas with their professional skills and
teaching experience by utilising available
resources.
Library
A Meeting of Senior Library Professionals from
our constituent libraries at five Regional
Institutes of Education at Ajmer, Bhopal,
Bhubneshwar, Mysore and Shillong; Pandit
Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of
Vocational Education (PSSCIVE) at Bhopal;
media libraries of Central Institute of
Educational Technology (CIET), New Delhi was
held at RIE, Mysore during 11–12 January 2007.
One of the objective of the meeting was how
best we can share our resources and the need
for taking appropriate steps to improve services
in all the constituent libraries of NCERT. The
annual meeting of the professional staff of NIE
6
and its constituent libraries will help in
exchanging views of mutual interest and
standardising the procedures and practices in
all the Libraries. There is need to identify the
role of Library Staff as knowledge managers.
Fourteen library professionals of NIE and its
constituent libraries participated in the meeting.
FOCUS
• The meeting reviewed the progress made so
far on the National Resource Centre of
Education (NRCE) and decided to activate
the implementation of all in-house activities
of automation.
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
• It was agreed that for sharing e-resources
NCERT consortium may be initiated.
• It was decided that all the libraries may plan
and design library website and link to DLDI.
• The academic role of the libraries was also
emphasised and agreed that short-term inservice training programmes for Librarians/
Incharge Librarians of SCERTs, SIEs and
DIETs may be organised by DLDI and RIEs.
The detailed discussions on the important
issues related to modernisations of NIE and its
Constituent Libraries for sharing of resources
through NCER T Consortium followed by
presentation /demo of LibSys, Informatics India
Ltd., Techfocuz, and Global Information System
Pvt. Ltd. have updated their knowledge and
enriched the professional skills of participants.
ORIENTATION PROGRAMME
NORTH EASTERN REGION
FOR
LIBRARIANS
OF
methodology followed for the training
programme was lectures by experts in field,
presentation by participants, group work, and
interactive and participatory activities. A
package consisting of twelve papers on the
subjects discussed in the training was given to
each participant as instructional material.
The participants evinced keen interest in the
library and information management techniques
and took active part in practical exercises in
library classification and cataloguing. They
were very much interested in learning the
computer basics and library software for
creating standard catalogue records for the
books. They felt confident and better equipped
to manage libraries and provide better services
to the users. They evaluated the programme as
highly useful.
CAPACITY BUILDING OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
The objective of the orientation-cum-inservice MODERNISE SCHOOL LIBRARIES
training to the Librarians/Incharge Librarians
of SCERTs, SIEs and DIETs of North Eastern
Region was to sharpen and up-date LIS
professional’s skill and knowledge and to equip
participants with adequate practical knowledge
to develop model libraries using the latest
technology within the limited resources. It was
also to create a forum for interaction among
library and information professionals and to
keep abreast of the latest developments in the
fields of information science and related IT
applications.
Twenty-eight library professionals and paraprofessionals attended the five-day training
programme.
TOPICS COVERED
Library Rules, Collection Development,
Processing of Books, Maintenance and
Binding of Periodicals, Organisation of
Knowledge such as classification, cataloguing,
indexing, abstracting, and metadata, Design
and Developing Instructional Programmes
Appropriate to the Identified Needs of Users.
The participants were introduced to
computer applications to libraries. Theory and
practicals were arranged on classification and
cataloguing, developing a bibliographic
database using WINSIS. A visit to RDIC, North
Eastern Council Library was also arranged. The
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
TO
The first Activity Planning Meeting of the Expert
Group inviting regional coordinators before
conducting five days training programme on
‘Capacity Building of School Librarians to
Modernise School Libraries’ at RIEs was held
from 7 to 8 March 2007 at DLDI, NCERT.
The objective of the meeting was identification
of the target group for the programme, need
assessment of the target group through
survery, designing of the questionnaire and
discussion on the topics to be included in the
training programme.
In this meeting the target group for the
programme was identified and the topics for
different modules of the course material were
finalised.
DERPP SEMINAR
ON
ACTION RESEARCH
A three-day State Level Seminar on Action
Research was organised in collaboration with
SCERT, Assam and SSA, Assam from 30 March
to 1 April 2007, at Guwahati. In this Seminar
30 field practitioners including primary school
teachers from three districts of Assam besides a
few DIET and SCERT faculty shared their
findings of action research. These action
researches were completed under NCERT’s
capacity building project and were read out in
7
Boro, Assamesse, Bengali and English. The
Seminar was a culmination of a two-year project
that the Department of Educational Research
and Policy Perspectives (DERPP) of NCERT took
up as a capacity building initiative in action
research among elementary school teachers and
other field functionaries of Assam. Inspired by
the success of the project, the Department, in
collaboration with MSCERT, Pune, has taken
up a similar capacity building project in action
research among elementary school practitioners
of Maharashtra.
NCERT Doctoral
Fellowships
NCERT has invited applications for the award
of 10 NCERT Doctoral Fellowships in the field
of education and other disciplines directly
related to education. The fellowships are
intended for young aspirants to pursue
doctoral work in a recognised university or
research institution. The fellowships will be
given in the priority areas emerging from the
concerns expressed in the National
Curriculum Framework 2005. These are
Education of the Disadvantaged, Classroom
Processes and Practices, Curricular Areas,
Education for Peace and Psychological
Development of Children.
The fellows selected will receive a
fellowship of Rs 8,000 per month and
Rs 10,000 as annual contingency grant for a
maximum period of 3 years. An information
brochure with the application format has been
developed and the same is available on
NCERT’s website.
Achievements
•
BHARTIYA CHHAPACHITRA KALA
AADI SE AADHUNIK KAL TAK –
Dr. Sunil Kumar has been
awarded National Award
(Second Prize) by the All India
Council
of
Technical
Education, MHRD, New Delhi for his book
‘Bhartiya Chhapachitra Kala Aadi se
Aadhunik Kal Tak’ under Technical
Textbook Award 2005-2006 category.
•
•
AWARD – Smt. Rekha Agarwal has been
awarded the National Award for
Outstanding Effort in Science &
Technology Communication through
Books and Magazines for the year 2006.
The award consists of a cash prize of
Rs 1,00,000 as part of National Science
Day Celebration. The award is for her
contribution as a science writer, columnist,
broadcaster and litterateur.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE – A book published
by Shri Meganathan, Lecturer is a
collection of poems written over a decade
on people, events and happenings that
stirred his life and thoughts. Through
forty-one poems on varied themes from
nature to education, politics, love, pains,
this book attempts to provoke readers to
contemplate on the ideas and themes it
presents. Some of the poems have been
published by leading magazines and
journals. The title of the book bears the
title of one of the poems. The book has been
reviewed by literary journals, magazines
and newspapers.
Resource Support Initiative for Research within NCERT
Promotion of educational research and research
based policy perspectives for qualitative
improvement in school education are important
concerns of NCERT. This concern has to be
addressed by the NCER T faculty through
conduct of need-based researches on a regular
basis. This, therefore, requires the younger
colleagues to rise to the occasion and give
attention to research activities within NCERT.
With this objective the Department of Educational
Research and Policy Perspectives organised a
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five-day orientation programme for creating
and nurturing a culture of research through
capacity building of new faculty members of
NCER T. The programme was held at RIE
Mysore from 16-20 January 2007 and was
attended by 27 NCER T faculty members
drawn from different constituent units. A
seminar is proposed to be organised towards
the end of 2007-08 for sharing of experiences
after the participants carry out research as
a follow up.
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
Abstracts and Publications
C H A N G E IN C O N C E P T U A L S T R U C T U R E IN
L EARNING R EFLECTION AND R EFRACTION
THROUGH CONCEPT MAPPING
This experimental study was conducted at RIE
Ajmer during 2005-2006. The paper based on
the findings of the above study was presented
by Dr. Shashi Prabha at Indian Science
Congress Association in January 2007
at Chidambaram.
In recent times, Concept Mapping has
emerged as a powerful tool in science education
research in the domain of understanding
learners conceptual understanding (Good,
Novak and Wandersee 1990, Markham, Mintzes
and Jones 1994, Wandersee, Mintzes and Novak
1994, Rye, Rubba 1998). The purpose of the
present study is to investigate the change in the
conceptual structures pertaining to reflection
and refraction of light through concept mapping
at Class X level.
To achieve this goal randomised
experimental group (43 students) and control
group (43 students) pretest to post-test
experimental design was applied. Scores of
achievement tests were taken as a measure of
conceptual change of the students. Box plots
were used to summarise the distribution of
achievement. ANOVA test done on the groups
provided a support to the hypothesis that prior
knowledge with the concepts of reflection and
refraction of light remaining same, students
subjected to the treatment showed higher
achievement as compared with the students
experiencing conventional teaching. The
previous group found themselves better
equipped with the applications of the above
concepts. On the basis of these findings it is
concluded that Concept Mapping can be used
as one of the instructional strategies to bring
the intended conceptual change.
UNDERSTANDING THE SOCI-CULTURAL
EXPERIENCES OF PAHARI FOLK – Mily Roy
Anand, Indian Folklore Research Journal, Vol.3
Number 6.
Most generalisations about North Indian society
and culture are in reality generalisations about
the Indo-Gangetic plains. The Central
Himalayan region comprising Kumaon and
Garhwal (now known as Uttaranchal) has largely
been neglected or ignored due to lack of
information or indifference on the part of
scholars towards this region. From early times,
geographical factors have played a key role in
shaping the history and culture of this region.
Another factor which contributed towards the
culture of Uttaranchal is the waves of migration
to this region from the Gangetic plains, Punjab
and Rajasthan particularly in the medieval
period. The impact of these migrations can be
seen in the religious and socio-cultural practices
of the people of Kumaon and Garhwal. This is
particularly evident in the rich folklore of
Uttaranchal, which throws a vivid light on the
social and cultural conditions of this region.
PUBLICATIONS
•
•
OF
NE-RIE FACULTY
Dr. Tulika Dey, Lecturer, DEREDM
published a research paper entitled
‘Structure and Geochemistry of Metabasites
from Chandrapur-Narengi area of Guwahati
City, Kamrup District, Assam’ in the Bulletin
of the Indian Geologists Association Vol. 39
(1,2) pp. 29-39. ISSN: 0379-5098.
Published article ‘Joyful Learning’ in the
Sentinel Melange, Guwahati, Assam, Vol
XX1V, No. 14, p.1, 25 February 2007.
Briefs
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR PROMOTING RESEARCH S.S.A’ was held at NERIE Shillong from 5 to 9
March 2007. State and district level
ACTIVITIES
A five-day programme on ‘Capacity Building for
State and District Level Functionaries of N-E
States in Promoting Research Activities under
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
functionaries of S.S.A from Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland
participated. Various aspects of research
(focusing action research) such as need and
9
importance, types, identification of research
problems, listing out of objectives, formulation
of hypothesis, development of research tools,
data collection and analysis, presentation of
data and report writing were discussed, and
exercised thoroughly through lecture followed
by group presentation. The programme was
jointly coordinated by Dr. B. Devi (DCDEVE) and
Mr. T. Newmei (DEREDM).
•
PROMOTING EFFECTIVE READING AND WRITING
SKILLS AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL
An orientation programme for Key Resource
Persons of North East States was held at Don
Bosco Youth Centre, Shillong from 5–9 March
2007. It was attended by twenty-six master
trainers belonging to various DIETs/SCERTs of
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Sikkim and some school teachers from
Assam and Meghalaya. The programme was
coordinated by Prof. A.K. Mishra, DLSSAPE.
•
FACULTY NEWS – NE-RIE
•
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•
10
Dr. Sarajubala Devi (DLSSAPE) and Mr.
K.H. Bijoykumar (DCDEVE) attended
the programme ‘Problems and the
possibilities of translation of scientific and
technical terminologies in the eastern
languages of India ( Manipuri, Assamese,
and Bodo)’, at State Central Library,
Shillong from 18 to 20 February 2007.
The programme was organised by
Commission for Scientific and Technical
Terminologies and Central Hindi Institute.
Dr. N.C Ojha (DEREDM) participated in the
UGC sponsored National Seminar on ‘Youth
and reconstruction of the nation’ held at
Barkatullah University, Bhopal, M.P from 11
to 12 January 2007.
Dr. A.C Borah (DESM&ICT) attended
workshop on e-learning from 24 to 26
February 2007, organised by Commonwealth
of Learning and Central Institute of
Education, Delhi University at CIE,
Delhi University.
Prof. A. K Mishra (DLSSAPE) attended a
National Workshop on ‘Multilingual
Education for Tribal Areas under SSA’
organised by Department of School
Education and Literacy, MHRD, Government
•
of India at New Delhi on 14 to 15 February,
and made a presentation on ‘Scope
for multilingual education in North
Eastern States’.
A five-day programme on ‘Orientation of
State Functionaries on Quality Education’
was held from 26 to 30 March 2007 at
NERIE-NCERT, Shillong. The programme
was attended by 23 DIET lecturers from
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
External resource persons were
Mr. D.K Ryntathiang, Fr. P. D. Johny, Mr.
Dilip Barua and Dr. V. Kharmawphlang.
Internal resource persons included Prof J.P.
Bagchi, Dr. N.C. Ojha, Dr. F.G. Dkhar
(DEREDM) and Dr. S.C. Roy (DLSSAPE). The
programme was jointly coordinated by Dr.
F.G. Dkhar and Prof. J.P. Bagchi.
A five-day ‘Workshop-cum-Training on
Textbook Writing for Potential Textbook
Writers’ was held at Agartala (Tripura) from
12 to 16 March 2007. The main objective
of the programme was to provide necessary
knowledge and skills to produce quality
textbooks. Twenty-two participants from
different DIETs and SCERTs of Tripura,
Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur
attended the workshop. Dr. N.C Ojha and
Prof. J.P Bagchi (DEREDM) jointly
coordinated the programme.
A five-day training programme entitled
‘Training of Key Resource Persons in
Understanding and use of Education
Technology’ was held at Guwahati from 19
to 23 March 2007. Ten DIET faculties from
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram,
Meghalaya and Assam and six school
teachers from Assam attended the
programme. The external resource
persons for the programme were
Prof. P.K Bhattacharjee, CIET, NCERT, Mr.
Dharani Saikia, Centre for Environment
Education (CEE) Guwahati, Dr. Hrishikesh
Baruah, Arya Vidyapeth College, Guwahati
and Mr. K.K. Deka, MI&B, Guwahati.
Internal resource persons were Dr. T. Dey,
Prof. J.P. Bagchi, Dr. N.C. Ojha (DEREDM)
and Dr. A.K. Garg (DESM&ICT). The
programme achieved its objective in
familiarising the KRPs with the idea and
logic behind implementation of Education
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
•
•
Technology in schools. Extensive
discussions and hands-on-experiences were
given to the participants in the field of
science, mathematics and social sciences. Dr.
Tulika Dey and Prof. J.P. Bagchi (DEREDM)
jointly coordinated the programme.
A training programme entitled ‘Workshop
cum Training Programme on Environmental
Education as Disaster Management for
Elementary Teacher Educators of North
Eastern States’ was held at Kaliabor-Assam
in March 2007. Prof. M.K Satpathy
(DESM&ICT) was the coordinator of the
programme.
A four-day workshop on ‘Development of
Local Specific Materials to Supplement
Teaching-Learning of History at Secondary
Stage in the North-Eastern States’ was
organised at NERIE-NCERT, Shillong from
21 to 24 March 2007. The workshop
discussed on materials, strategies and
methodology to be incorporated in
preparation of the teachers handbook, where
snippets of North East history will be
integrated with national and global
developments as included in the main text.
Twelve resource persons from the
universities of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur,
Tripura and Meghalaya attended the
workshop, along with some college lecturers
and school teachers. The programme was
coordinated by Dr. Sima Saigal (DLSSAPE).
related to curricular areas, national concerns
and systemic reforms during the interaction
sessions. Participants’ queries and reflective
interactions indicated their curiosity to know
more about NCF-2005.
FOREIGN DELEGATIONS
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•
Staff News
SUPERANNUATIONS
•
ORIENTATION OF T EACHER E DUCATORS ON •
NCF-2005 THROUGH EDUSAT NETWORK
Curriculum Group organised an orientation
programme on NCF-2005 for teacher educators
through EDUSAT network from 18 January to
9 February 2007. Approximately 4,000
elementary and secondary level teacher
educators from Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh,
Chattishgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,
Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal
and West Bengal participated in the programme.
Altogether 59 experts drawn from the faculty
of NCERT, National Streering Committee and
National Focus Groups interacted with the
participants. The experts delved deep into
specifics of recommendations and key ideas
NCERT NEWS/April-2007
A six-member Chinese delegation visited
NCERT on 2 February 2007 to learn about
the Indian school system and for
establishing future cooperation with Indian
educational organisations. The delegation
exchanged information about the education
systems in the two countries.
A high level six-member South African
delegation visited the NCERT on 15 February
2007. The delegation interacted with the
NCERT faculty in specific areas viz., rural
education, district management and
administration and education in
mathematics, science and technology.
A three-member Tanzanian delegation
visited NCERT on 22 February 2007 and
had detailed interaction particularly on
primary education.
•
•
Shri Sat Ram, Senior Helper retired on
28-02-07.
Shri Prakash Singh, Security Guard retired
on 28-02-07.
Smt. Harbheji, Safaiwali retired on
28-02-07.
Shri Rattan Singh, Packer retired on
31-03-07.
APPOINTMENTS
•
•
Shri Amitabh Kumar has been appointed as
Marketing Executive in Publication
Department on 26-12-06.
Shri Raj Kumar, Peon, has been appointed
as Junior Accoutant on 08-02-07.
OBITUARY
NCERT condoles the death of Shri Ram Kumar,
Safwaiwala who passed away on 27-02-07.
11
Thursday Lecture Forum
Back Margin
The following lectures were organised by DERPP
under the Thursday Lecture Series.
Forty years ago, the Kothari Commission had
imagined that universities would some day
develop a sense of responsibility towards school
education.
In its legendary report, the Commission had
recommended that universities should regularly
provide in-service training to teachers of
elementary and secondary schools. Hardly
anyone remembers this recommendation today.
During the long summer break the vast
campuses of universities and colleges bear a
desolate look. After the examination is over in
April, these campuses go to sleep in locked
rooms, symptomising a vast wastage of
infrastructure and other resources.
The more industrious among university
faculty find summer assignments in universities
overseas. During the summer break, American
and European universities run courses for people
who cannot study in regular programmes. Many
of these summer students are school teachers and
citizens employed in different walks of life.
Campuses are abuzz with activity, and libraries
are thrown open to the summer crowd of parttime, adult students.
If Kothari’s recomendation is resurrected
today, the first step would be to give a summer
ticket for college and university libraries to school
teachers. The city of Delhi alone would suddenly
have about eighty libraries to offer to its school
teachers. For them, it would be a rare chance to
see books, journals and magazines. And if
colleges decided to offer summer courses for
primary and secondary teachers, the age-old
complaint that university teachers make would
become unnecessary. The complaint is that
graduate students don't have skills and
knowledge that school children were expected to
have once upon a time.
Such nostalgic thoughts add to the cynicism
and inertia we see all around us. If institutions
of higher education take an active interest in
updating school teachers, the quality of higher
education will greatly improve within a few
years. Professor Gopal Guru, who chaired
NCERT’s National Focus Group on the teaching
of social sciences, made this point when someone
asked him why he was spending so much time
on matters pertaining to school education. He
said that his efforts will improve the quality of
his own post-graduate students in a few years.
• “Review of Primary Education in England” by
Prof. Robin Alexander, University of Cambridge,
UK on 25 January 2007.
• “Research in the Integration of Technology in
Education” by Prof. M.A. Siddiqui, JMI,
New Delhi on 8 February 2007.
• “Inclusive Education for the Future” by
Prof. Dipak Lahiri, Council of Schools,
Stockholm, Sweden on 15 February 2007.
• “Educating Children at High Altitudes” by
Ms. Gargi Banerji, Director, Ritika Project on
22 Feburary 2007.
• “ The Reflective Teacher -Organisation of InService Training of the Teachers” by
Prof. D.D. Yadav, DTEE, NCERT, New Delhi on
1 March 2007.
• “Relevance of Gandhi in Today’s Education” by
Prof. C.V.Venugopal (Retd.), Kar nataka
University, Dharwad on 22 March 2007.
SLOGAN
FOR
POSTER SERIES
NCERT plans to develop an education based poster
series. The NCERT faculty and staff are invited to
contribute slogans for the same. A committee
would then select appropriate slogans and use
them for these posters. The themes can focus on
retaining children in schools, encouraging literacy,
gender sensitivity among school children, activity
based learning, multi-lingualism, integration of
arts and cultural traditions into education,
learning among children with special needs, etc.
The slogans may be sent to Dr. Jyotsna Tiwari,
Department of Education in Arts and Aesthetics
(DEAA), NCERT, New Delhi.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A CONTEST.
Publication Team
P. Rajakumar
Shabnam Sinha
Shveta Uppal
Meenakshi Khar
Arun Chitkara
Design: Kalyan Banerjee
Website : www.ncert.nic.in, E-mail: publica@nda.
vsnl.net.in
Published at the Publication Department by the Secretary,
National Council of Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016. Lasertypeset inhouse and printed at Gita Offset Printers, C-90, Okhla
Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi 110 020.
12
KRISHNA KUMAR
NCERT NEWS/April-2007