Better teacher-student rapport in colleges stressed

VILLUPURAM: College teachers should not go about their task mechanically but act with circumspection to tap the potential of students so as to mould them into all-round personalities, according to Mamota Das, resource person and Principal of Achariya College of Education, Puducherry.

She was speaking at a two-day workshop on ‘Testing and evaluation' held at Theivanai Ammal College for Women, Villupuram, designated as regional field unit (RFU) of the National Testing Service-India (A Central scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development).

Ms. Das said the National Testing Service-India had been periodically organising orientation programmes for college teachers through the RFU to set teaching, testing and evaluation practices on the right mode.

Only through developing the analytical acumen, students could go beyond the confines of the subjects and begin to reflect, review and apply the concepts in real-life situations.

Ms. Das said it did not mean that the syllabus ought to be overhauled but the full import of the contents ought to be brought out, with extra-curricular and extramural activities thrown in.

In this context, she said the examination paper setting should not blindly follow the syllabus and if done so it would encourage only recall and reproduction and not comprehension and critical thinking. These skills could be imparted among students through establishing better rapport and through giving them assignments and conducting series of seminars and quiz programmes.

She dismissed the theory that additional components would overburden the students; instead, these would facilitate better appreciation of the subjects. The education system could not be bereft of social and moral values. It should take proper cognisance of the value system and provide for it in the curriculum, Ms. Das added.

Principal Kasthuri Bai Dhanasekaran said the present evaluation system was intended to test the cognitive domain and knowledge acquisition, rather than whetting analytical thinking.

The Indian Institutes of Management were focusing on developing the psycho-motor abilities of the students as required by the industry.