Katy Narielwala
Co-ordinator, Junior section, Loyola School

She has redefined teaching in her 31 years at Loyola and shaped innumerable futures. As an educationist Katy Narielwala has grown and has helped her students grow up to become fine individuals.

Learning the fun way...

Has been my mantra of successful teaching. I introduced Science A Process Approach (SAPA), an American concept of teaching science for junior classes, from kindergarten to Class V. Under this programme, students conduct experiments, draw inference and learn various concepts of science without any rote memory.

My experiments with education...

Were many. For students of Class I, I started a novel programme, “Ways to Drama”, where I gave students a topic and they would enact it on the spot. This helped them learn to converse in English fluently and at the same time use proper vocabulary. While teaching history in Class VII there was this chapter on co-operative societies. So I formed a co-operative society in class too. The society collected money, which was used for charity.

Practical solutions...

Are the keys to effective learning. Being mainly a mathematics teacher, whenever I begin with a new topic in maths, I give the class some practical assignment. For instance, I ask my students to measure the basketball court and so on.

The education system...

Is by and large ineffective today. Teachers rush through the syllabus and even before a student has learnt the fundamentals of a concept, they have to move over to the next topic. I wish we were given more time to dwell on a topic.

Newer concepts...

Like vocational courses should be introduced in the syllabus so that students develop the concept of earn while your learn. Moreover speech-training and creative-writing are certain areas where Indian students always lag behind and invariably fail. This is because reading has taken a back seat for them. It is disheartening to see kids unaware of characters like Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and Pinochhio.

Personal equation...

Of a teacher with a student is most important. Unless you take care to know a child, it is always difficult to handle him. As a teacher, No child is a problem child for me.

Values instilled...

In children always reap rich dividends. Many of my students have become successful lawyers, doctors and engineers. When we visit them for some work they feel it’s their duty to help us in their own little ways for all that we have done for them.

Sweta Dutta