Students taking up the role of teachers and explaining concepts to their classmates has become a regular mode of learning at the Central University of Punjab.

Vice-chancellor R.P. Tiwari described this as “student as co-instructor pedagogy”, which has been introduced this year to keep students engaged in teaching-learning activities.

“From amongst the students, one will be a co-instructor for a particular concept. The student explains the concept for 15-20 minutes in front of other students. The teacher then takes the lesson forward. Every student gets an opportunity by rotation,” Tiwari told The Telegraph.

The university introduced the model to counter classroom monotony among students, who rely heavily on online platforms to understand concepts.

“There was a time when the teacher used to share information and analysis. Now students get them online. So the classroom activities had to be changed. Now the teachers tell specific students to come prepared on a topic and make a presentation of their understanding. The students are more connected with the topics being taught and the class becomes more immersive,” Tiwari said.

Prof. Pankaj Garg, a faculty member of mathematics at Rajdhani College under Delhi University, said various teaching methodologies had emerged with advances in technology.

“Every teacher uses a different method to make teaching interesting. We explain concepts and call students to solve problems on the board. The experiment of students as co-instructors is good as long as teaching activities are not entirely passed on to students,” Garg said.