Education is not just a classroom affair but goes beyond that. A team of 16 American teachers of elementary, middle and secondary schools visited the city to survey local schools and develop new methods of education back home.

Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) was the stopover for the team (picture by Anindya Shankar Ray) on Day II. The team was on a four-day tour that started from July 11. The programme would contemplate the scope of education beyond classrooms.

“Education in India is more classroom-based,” remarked Amanda Clapp of Cullowhee Valley School. Everyone present at the seminar, including the coordinators and the director of BITM, Jayanta Sthanapati, agreed that more non-formal education is required to improve the education system in both countries. “Taking them out of claustrophobic classrooms will make learning fun and help broaden their perspective,” agreed all.

Mark Skelton, a teacher at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, New York, spoke about the way his students were involved in water sampling at the local Bronx river. “They even use self-made boats. This direct approach helps them learn better,” said Skelton.

Agreed Clapp: “I involve my students in monitoring the water quality of the local watershed area. The state department works on the data. Practical handling teaches more than theoretical learning can ever do.”

Shirley Jou of Alexander Rose Elementary shared her experience with non-English speaking students. “They are more sensitive. So I use figures and models of planets while teaching astronomy.” Field trips and frequent visits to museums make learning interesting beyond the classroom, agreed all.

The team, having met delegates from NCERT at New Delhi, also stopped over at other cities, including Varanasi, Chennai, Kochi and Mumbai.

Dibyajyoti Chaudhuri

Bollywood fixation

Educationist Noel Nyss felicitates Neil O’Brien at The Frank Anthony Public School’s music quiz on July 14. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

Is India obsessed with Bollywood? This was the subject of this year’s L.N. Birla inter-institutional debate.

The east-zone finals of the debate, in its eighth year, was held on July 11 at Vidya Mandir auditorium. Fourteen schools and colleges participated in the event, with separate sessions for the school and college teams. The participating schools included La Martiniere School for Boys (LMB), Lakshmipat Singhania Academy (LSA), Hill Top School (Jamshedpur), DAV Public School (Bhubaneswar) and Birla High School for Boys. The judges were Kunal Padhi, Samarjeet Guha, and Veena Lakhumalani.

With Bollywood as the subject of contention, the fight was bound to get interesting. Rishab Surana of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy said: “In spite of a girlish appearance, Aamir Khan is one of the most popular heroes in the country. What can you call this except obsession?” Siddhant Issar of LMB remarked: “In India, where so many live below the poverty line, who has time to ponder on what John Abraham has for lunch?”

The other part of the show had a total of seven colleges including Calcutta Medical College, Jadavpur University (JU), Heramba Chandra College, Presidency College, NUJS, Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society.

The participants seemed unable to remark on anything save the ‘Abhi-Ash wedding’. But Anirban Majumdar of JU chose to walk a different path: “It is sad that Bachchan’s farmer issue is given more preference by the media compared to the Orissa hunger tragedy,” he said.

“Does India mean only a glittering glamour world that Bollywood portrays it to be?” questioned Amit Bhauwala, a student of Calcutta Medical College, whereas Manbeer Singh Patra of Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society, speaking for the motion, frequently broke into Himesh Reshamiyya numbers to illustrate his point.

The judges chose La Martiniere School for Boys and NUJS as the champions in the school and college sections respectively, while Vinayak Banerjee of LSA and Sakshi Arora of Presidency College were chosen the best speakers. The winners will represent the east zone in the national finals to be held in mid-November.

Shayan Acharya,
Journalism and Mass Communication, Jaipuria College

The Diary

A Night to Mourn

As she was so frail,
Could she have
Shortened the span of the night?
Outside the semi-dark room,
Where the gloomy sky,
Pitch dark in hue
Was measuring the uncertainty of time?
Inside the room
The lady, pale and fair,
Remained uncertain of where she was.

When will the ray of hope
Light up the sky,
Making an outcaste of the spell of horror?
Can he breathe till the end?
She thought.
She neared his heart, her senses registering every beat.
It still beats, she felt assured.

But it was a stormy night.
A sudden gust of wind made her shiver.
The lamp broke, flames leaped,
She jumped, reaching out to protect him.
The tongues of fire would have taken him,
If they had not extinguished themselves.

As the first colour of dawn painted the horizon
She came near to him:
Did his heart beat yet?
She couldn’t assure herself this time.

A cry rang out,
Increasing in intensity with the first light of a new day.

Soumya Sinha,
B.P. Poddar Institute of Management &Technology