A day at Yeleswaram

Today I was invited by the Salesian Sisters (FMAs) at Yeleswaram to animate their school teacher for a day. This was the second time I had a chance to interact with the Salesian Sisters in their own setting (the first being at Auxilium school, Secunderabad when I got a chance to interact with their past pupils). There were nearly 18 teachers (both gents and ladies) and a bit surprisingly poor in English. So I had to adapt my whole 'english' content to their understanding and rationale. Besides quite a few of them looked like kids!

All the same, I should acknowledge that the experience was great. Among the few things I shared with them, mostly Salesian educative tips, I was happy to bring out the following points through their own querries and the context of their understanding:

• Education is not so much about helping the students give the right answers. It is more about helping them formulate the right questions. (The answers to these questions will be passionately sought by them and in this process bring about a transformation in society).
• Rather than prevent children saying them always what not to do, offer them possibilities of alternatives of doing something instead of what you do not want them to do. The analogy that came to my mind was that of a stream. None can really block the water for long. Sometime or the other it is bound to break the dam and flood the place. Rather channel the water in the direction you want it.
• Having the basic question (or rather the answer to that question) clear: What am I a teacher for?