A couple of days ago, I had the privilege to be part of to an informal discussion (meaning, I was a listener) that was transpiring between a highly respected Professor who leads a prestigious institution and a highly respected IAS officer working at the central level. Their views and opinions were very much note-worthy and I just wanted to share this here.
The Professor was strongly of the opinion that teachers, especially primary school teachers cannot be replaced by technology, and technologies can only be aids or better tools in the hands of a human teacher. He also mentioned that not every one can play the role of a teacher, and even within teachers, not everyone would be able to play that role, say, it will be difficult for a professor to play a role of a primary school teacher.
The Professor was strongly of the opinion that teachers, especially primary school teachers cannot be replaced by technology, and technologies can only be aids or better tools in the hands of a human teacher. He also mentioned that not every one can play the role of a teacher, and even within teachers, not everyone would be able to play that role, say, it will be difficult for a professor to play a role of a primary school teacher.
The professor also mentioned an event where employees of an IT company, who send their kids to a particular school, wanted the school management to teach, the programming language of C++ to their children from the 5th grade onwards!. The professor questioned the necessity for such a move, and said it was absurd and ridiculed the idea to teach more than the required basic math and science for a 5th grade kid!. The professor then spoke to those employees, who were convinced of his reasons and with drew their suggestions to the school management!!.
The IAS officer, part of this conversation, is especially interested in primary education and primary health. He likes to give back something to the society; and believes that technology can aid and enhance the lives of the rural masses. He mentioned an incident where the mother of an post-graduate M.Tech student met a principal of an institution, and said to 'take care' of his son!, which shows the faith that the woman had on the human teacher, and in his view, it is extremely difficult to replace a human teacher with a machine, even for a post-graduate student, and hence felt that these tools will only serve as effective aids for imparting education.
After listening to their views, my thoughts on teaching and technology got strengthened: that technology cannot substitute teaching by a human-faculty, but could only serve as an aid in improving the process of learning by the students. This could be only more true at the primary level, as students at their tender age, not only learn the content/subject but also a whole lot of other things.
After listening to their views, my thoughts on teaching and technology got strengthened: that technology cannot substitute teaching by a human-faculty, but could only serve as an aid in improving the process of learning by the students. This could be only more true at the primary level, as students at their tender age, not only learn the content/subject but also a whole lot of other things.
