Has the role of a teacher diminished in the present digital age? This is the question on everyone’s mind. Col A Sekhar shares, “The modern teacher has to be a learning curator. Teacher has to become a library for the student. 90 per cent of students do not go beyond the first page of Google search. There is so much misinformation floating around. The role of a teacher has increased and he or she has to validate the information and provide it to the students.”
Col Shekar served for 22 years in the Army and has the distinction of nurturing the highest number of students joining NDA from any School in the country resulting as winner of the Defence Minister’s trophy for sending highest number of officer cadets; Satara and Ajmer. He has definitive views. He states: The world is changing and in the future the Principal will become less important than the Physical Education teacher. The marauding march of obesity would be the reason.
He has been associated with Military Schools, Sainik Schools. He established from scratch a vocational training centre under PPP mode with State and Central Governmental support. Over 8,000 tribal students trained and placed in jobs with a placement success of over 75%. “Having closely interacted with soldiers in extremely adverse climatic and operational conditions developed in me a deep concern for the human being,” he says. This deep concern has manifested in leading schools with empathy coupled with discipline and resilience.
On asking questions
Col Shekar says, “There is a myth among the civilian population that life in the forces is doing left, right, left all day long and partying all through the night. Then another belief that one cannot question. Both are wrong. One is allowed to ask questions and there are discussions but once a decision is taken by the commanding officer it is followed to the T.
When asked how difficult it is for an officer from the Army to transition and take control of a private school, he said, “Passive resistance bothers. But once the staff starts trusting you there is no looking back.” Speaking about the advantage an Army officer has over a civilian to top leadership posts, he says that an officer from the Army starts with a strength. Managements have trust as opposed to a civilian he seem to state ‘let him prove himself’.
There is a lot of talk on the disadvantages of rote learning and most educationists want it out of the system. Col Shekar states: How do you not rote learn multiplication tables, a poem and dates in history. Natural memory remembrance is important and some amount of rote learning has to be brought back.
