Technology in education is a tool; not a master- Anil Swarup
Pune, April 27, 2019 : ‘‘Technology can bring transformation in education provided we understand the limitations of it. Technology is a tool, but not a substitute for a teacher. We need to find solution on the teacher continuum right from the pre-schools. If teacher himself is not present in the school, what will a digital blackboard do, Said Anil Swarup, former Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, GOI in a programme on Thursday in Pune.
City based Shyamchi Aai Foundation (SAF) had organised a programme of conversation with Anil Swarup with respect to his newly published book- ‘Not Just a Civil Servent’. Arun Wakhlu moderated the programme. Sheetal Bapat, Founder Director, SAF, Bharat Desadla, Founder President, SAF, Sandeep Mahajan Director SAF, Chandrakant Dalvi, Former officer Civil Service, Vishal Solanki, Commissioner of Education, Maharashtra were present among the dignitaries.
Swarup talked about his experience of working for ministry of Labour, ministry of Coal and then in the department of school education. He stressed that instead of worrying and complaining about the things happening around us which are beyond our control, we must concentrate on doing our own job honestly and efficiently.
Swarup said, ‘‘ We are fascinated with the hardware for digitization in education.Then we think about software and last comes the process. It should rather be understanding the process first, then getting software and lastly procuring hardware as required. But the software does not get a place in newspapers, Operation Digital Blackboard makes headlines. It’s a tragedy.’’
Finding solution on the teacher continuum is needed right from the pre-schools. About 25 percent teachers remain absent in schools. In Chhattisgarh we experimented with digital bio-metric attendance of teacher that helped to make them go to the schools. we are fond of what is happening in Finland and England. But if we tell this problem to Finland people, they will not believe that teachers can remain absent on work, said Swarup.
Shyamchi Aai Foundation (SAF) is a research-based, tech-driven not-for-profit organization that works towards empowering adolescents to choose informed career pathways. It works in collaboration with government, corporate and community to build a sustainable, scalable career support ecosystem.
