'Children are like clay, we need to mould them'

While educationists talk regularly keep on talking about holistic development in children, Meena Kak, principal of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy and a veteran educationist, makes it a point to practise it in her school stringently.
"In my school, a lot of stress is placed on inculcating moral values. In fact we start it during the school assembly itself where students practise yoga and meditation.These help them to bring out the aggression within themselves," Kak says and adds, "Reading as a habit is gradually waning away but to improve things we have introduced a lot of activities in our school." We have debates in the assembly. Sometimes, we give a poem to all students and select anyone randomly during the school assembly for reciting it. the poem. And we give them grades based on their performance. Then we have 'word for a day' activity where the meaning and usage of a word is written on the board of every classroom. This helps to increase the vocabulary power of students. Teachers also read excerpts from novels in class and accordingly exercises are formulated." We also give books for suggested reading to students and assess them on it. That ensures that students actually read the books."
This Teacher's Day, Kak received the National Award for Teachers 2010 by the President of India, Pratibha Patil. "I have never craved for awards. Perhaps my passion for the profession and love for my
children have culminated into awards. About five years back, I also received an award from CBSE for contribution to education. Fourteen or fifteen educationists from across the county were awarded and I was one of them. Awards definitely provide motivation to excel," says the educationist. Kak said.
Having been in the teaching profession for more than three decades now, Kak feels that education has not changed much over the years. "It is the attitude of students towards learning that has undergone a massive transformation. Earlier, there were not much deviations and the focus of young students was primarily on family and studies. Today, students are much smarter and more confident. They are an intelligent lot, but unfortunately moral values are eroding away. We need to channelize their intelligence in the right direction.
Children are like clay, we need to mould them. Today, the main aim of schools cannot be limited to only imparting education but it should include wholesome development of students," she asserts.
As part of bringing about holistic development, Kak wants to promote sports in a big way in her school to bring about holistic development in students. "We don't have a playground but my students are doing very well in sports, be it in cricket, volleyball, chess or table tennis.They keep on winning laurels for the school at inter-school events. I want more of my children to get exposed to national and international events as these keep them motivated. I also want to introduce archery as it help to increase levels of concentration in students," she said.
Compared to cities like Mumbai or Delhi, Kak finds Kolkata to be quite laidback. "New methodologies of teaching are first introduced in other cities and then in Kolkata. is usually one of the last ones to introduce them. Actually the city still likes following the traditional way of teaching. However new schools are coming up which might bring in latest techniques and methodologies," feels Kak.