Dr Mrs Arundhati Sardesai is a well known educationist and writer. She is on board of several educational and research institutions and is currently actively engaged in Manavya - a residential care and rehabilitation center of HIV/AIDS affected destitute/orphaned children and women. The reason she is profiled here is that she has been a teacher all her life, in schools and colleges. And she led some teacher education institutes like Raja Shree Shivaraya Pratishthan and Meenatai Thakre D. Ed.College, Pune and worked for adult literacy too. She delivers many talks on AIR Pune, varied public functions and has written articles in Hindi, English and Marathi in journals & magazines.
She has varied educational degrees in Maths to Philosophy and Law, of course always at the top of her class. She has received several awards for her work in education and social work.
How did you get initiated into teaching?
It was the third quarter of an academic year in one of the very reputed Delhi schools when I joined it as a teacher of Mathematics, in place of a young person who was getting married. I had typical regional accents in those days. My students were not very happy as the image of their previous teacher was not matching me. I was trying my best to please them. At the end of that academic year I could not promote two of my class students which made me extremely sad. Even in those days, I was a believer of a Spearman's theory, that 95% students must understand 95% of your teaching, to be a teacher. My truthful tears with those students and their parents changed the picture about me amongst students and fellow teachers. When Indian Air Force posted us out of Delhi after three years, I could not erase the picture of the previous teacher from students' mind but I was successful in carving a good teacher's impression on them. It was carved on the tender minds of my students, that their achievements will be valued along with the higher achievers of the whole class. I never encouraged an excellence of a single person better than the rest when the class was showing average performance. According to me, it is a duty of the highest achiever to make others come on par with him to fight a tough competition with the rest. My own sons were also taught the same thing. That gave wonderful results. All my students realised the value of sharing and genuine competition in all fields.
How did your various social projects happen?
My husband's service in the Air Force gave me umpteen opportunities to see our country, to understand the people, to learn their languages and their regional cultures. This made me teach school-college children at different levels and also in afternoons to run Literacy pursuits for grownups and underprivileged adults. This profession by choice was suiting me fine because change of place never bothered me or my teaching. My work gave me no significant money but immense pleasure. Along with my students I was also progressing in my academic qualifications. My every degree came from different university. In other countries this is considered to be an asset but not in Maharashtra. I had no choice. I was very fond of visiting remotest areas, schools, colleges, universities and types of educational organisations: governmental or private. I stayed with tribes, to learn their arts, to understand their poverty. This helped me a lot while teaching my students in urban India.
What are your other interests?
I have developed many hobbies, to name a few: I am having a good collection of fossils (Himalayan and other), coins (right from Mughal-Shivaji period to the latest commemorative coins made by Reserve Bank of India), I am having First Day covers and Stamps printed by Indian Post Office, crystals and stones I like to gather, I have collected remains of Indus-Chinese-Inca-Mayan and many local civilizations. I have the capsule issues of Times of India (1838 onwards) and the issues of journals of American Freedom. Though I am a total atheist I have wonderful miniature idols of gods and goddesses. I am a regular trekker and do cycling and walking to keep me fit.
What kind of innovations do you do in teaching?
All my treasure is used while teaching or giving lectures on any academic subject or on social issues. I like to use maps while teaching so that people get exact idea about the places they are taken to! The maps can be used in languages, History, Geography, Sociology etc. With this students at any level realise the worth of the person lecturing. My trekking expeditions, photos and videos provide them new inspiration. When I take my students/enthusiast, to different forts in Sahyadri and we clean water tanks, roads and environment, they feel proud to be associated with the hard work. Neither any parents complain nor are they hesitant to send their wards, a boy / a girl with me. Next day of our trek, all of the trekkers come to the college/school as they know that, they will be appreciated in public. The enriching experience like this not only make students learn more but fellow teachers also look forward to learn from a different angle. The teachers are free to do power presentations, use slide projector, tape recorders and CDs while teaching or explaining. The mediocre schools/colleges select mediocre teachers as salaries are paid minimal, there academic facilities are not of very high standard.
What is your experience as a director of a BEd /MEd college?
The students who take admissions are generally the rejects of other colleges. Hence it is a real challenge to bring up these students to the expected level. Sometimes teacher has good knowledge of his own subject but has very poor conversational ability. If we start any special guidance bureau and ask him to join, he gets offended. The college cannot remove such person because he is at least good in his teaching subject when rest are not. The students also have only limited ability to understand the language and the subject he teaches, hence he is voted better. In some colleges students take part in lot many extra -curricular activities occurring every now and then, to prove their worth. It is an ethos of education. It is a pathetic situation, unfortunately we have to face.
When all these things became impossible to carry on, I walked out of my Director's chair. 50-60 students came behind me to remind that it was my class they were waiting for. Otherwise now- a- days in colleges we have to force students to attend, here they were coming behind me thinking I had forgotten to teach them. Wherever I met my students, they show their respect. In fact, many a times they write my name on their marriage invitations to show their gratitude and closeness.
What ails the system today? What can be done?
According to me, when knowledge is doubling today after every eleven hours, everyone has to make some special efforts to please their students instead teachers use their age old class notes to dictate them. Perjury is a common feature even at Master's level. I have seen that someone writes a dissertation on "Traffic density on xyz road", second duplicates the thing by saying on "pqr" road and third on "abc road", and all of them get first class. I sincerely feel that, in higher classes teacher has to work like a light house, just to show the way. Extempore teaching requires lot of knowledge and good vocabulary. Teachers are spoon feeding their students so that neither students complain nor they have to update their knowledge. I have observed that, at the beginning of the year every teacher is eager to see an academic calendar to plan when to take leave. There is no loyalty towards institute or commitment towards students. Teachers have no dignity at politically influenced institutes. Inspections, admissions and teachers appointments are regularly manipulated. In service training and examinations should be conducted regularly for teachers' judgements. The educational shops should be closed.
What is your opinion about home schooling?
It is possible to have home base learning if parents are educated enough and a child is sincere. I have tried self study method on my students at a fourth grade in 1982, which gave me excellent results. Somebody has to monitor the progress. Holistic approach proved to be a great success if there is a good coordination amongst teachers and they have vast knowledge of many fields. The children having above intelligence get bored in normal schools. There is nothing challenging to them. In a class of 80-85 students, teachers have no time for them. From class one, when a teacher should hold the little hands to teach the basic strokes of writing, she writes a board full of contents, in the very first period and 5-6 years old little brains copy that down for the day. There is no teaching, only writing is left.
What are you currently engaged in?
After resigning from my post I am running my social work institutes (I work for the rehabilitation of HIV+ ladies and children, an organisation called MANAVYA) in which I am getting lot of participation from my ex-students, IT engineers and from many sensitive people of different walks of life. I am also teaching the needy and ready to learn people free of charge in their convenient time. This gives me immense happiness. This gives me elixir of life.
There are many devoted teachers working in the field. That is why India is presenting a good image before the world. With your type of efforts when all this devotion will concentrate definitely India will have a bright future. We have to weigh our education on BASIC VALUES.
