It was the IAS final Interview, I was just 24 yrs and was sitting in front of the interview board. I was young and wanted to join civil services to bring about a change in the field of education and finance , but what happened their changed my life for ever,
Chairman: Mr. Nethrapal, you have written that you want to work in the field of education, let me ask you one question, Can we provide Quality education to masses? Can you provide me some strategies for achieving the same.
Chairman: Mr. Nethrapal, you have written that you want to work in the field of education, let me ask you one question, Can we provide Quality education to masses? Can you provide me some strategies for achieving the same.
I was perplexed their and was not able to give a satisfactory answer. This was the first time I realized that talking was easy, but implementing the same was a different game altogether. Quality Education vs. Mass Education started hovering my mind and this started my journey in to the world of educational models and philosophies. Many policy makers, argue that they don't have resources like money, teachers etc to improve the quality of education. But these are all excuses and what they lack is imagination. The basic question is “Are we looking at the education model from the child’s perspective? Is our curriculum child centric? In a nutshell, is the child at the center of focus in our educational models?” Unfortunately, our education models never understand the child needs and customize the program according to his or her requirements. This is were we discovered the one-on-one education model which puts the child at the center of education.
The traditional educational model is a 80:1 model. Usually there are 40 to 60 students and there is a teacher standing near the board and teaching. Just ask this basic question.” There are 40 different students and thus there will be 40 different learning speed. So those students whose learning speed can match up to the teaching speed of the teachers will be able to grasp the subject , while others will be left behind.” This is were the concept of “ one student, one teacher, one skill” came to our mind. According to this strategy, one teacher will concentrate on one child and will focus on one skill at a time. For example, if the kid is learning addition, he will not be allowed to move to the next skills like multiplication and division unless he has mastered the entire syllabus. Since it is a one on one education models, the teacher can customize the learning models and teaching speed according to the learning speed of the child. Now look at the beauty of this model,
Let me take a fourth standard student, Abhilash. In her recent examination, she had scored very less marks in math. Now the question is how will I make her score well in the next exams. You ask the same question to any teacher, policy makers etc, each will give different answers, but they will never understand what is going on in the child’s mind. This were our model is different from others. The first step is understand the skill gaps of the child. If the child is not able to do a long multiplication problem like 123 x 345 it can be because of multiple reasons.
1. In Class 4, she might not be able to catch with the teaching speed, but she has been exceptional student in the previous classes. In this case, the child may require slower teaching , she may require different learning models and learning styles.
2. The child has not learnt the basic skills in Class 2 and Class 3. She is not able to do long multiplication problems because of poor multiplication tables and addition skills. In this case, the child skill gaps from Class 2 and Class 3 must be plugged.
The second reason, usually , is not considered in our education system and our system never creates an opportunity to plug this skill gaps due to many reasons like non-identification of skill gaps, higher teacher-student ratio, bad teaching tools, outdated learning models etc. This is were IOTA comes to the child’s rescue. The first step here s it will understand the child’s requirement and customize the program according to his needs, If she does not know multiplication tables, the first focus of the program is to make her well versed in this skill. Note that the system assumes that “ Every child can learn with time” Since time is given, it creates a hope for many students to concentrate on their weaknesses and plug it completely. This is were our education model becomes child centric and breaks the traditional one way educational model.
As a result of this education model, weak students will become average and average students will exceptional. At the end, IOTA Math strives to make every child a genius so that they ready for the competitive world.
Article written by M.S.Nethrapal, the founder of IOTA in the year 2005
The traditional educational model is a 80:1 model. Usually there are 40 to 60 students and there is a teacher standing near the board and teaching. Just ask this basic question.” There are 40 different students and thus there will be 40 different learning speed. So those students whose learning speed can match up to the teaching speed of the teachers will be able to grasp the subject , while others will be left behind.” This is were the concept of “ one student, one teacher, one skill” came to our mind. According to this strategy, one teacher will concentrate on one child and will focus on one skill at a time. For example, if the kid is learning addition, he will not be allowed to move to the next skills like multiplication and division unless he has mastered the entire syllabus. Since it is a one on one education models, the teacher can customize the learning models and teaching speed according to the learning speed of the child. Now look at the beauty of this model,
Let me take a fourth standard student, Abhilash. In her recent examination, she had scored very less marks in math. Now the question is how will I make her score well in the next exams. You ask the same question to any teacher, policy makers etc, each will give different answers, but they will never understand what is going on in the child’s mind. This were our model is different from others. The first step is understand the skill gaps of the child. If the child is not able to do a long multiplication problem like 123 x 345 it can be because of multiple reasons.
1. In Class 4, she might not be able to catch with the teaching speed, but she has been exceptional student in the previous classes. In this case, the child may require slower teaching , she may require different learning models and learning styles.
2. The child has not learnt the basic skills in Class 2 and Class 3. She is not able to do long multiplication problems because of poor multiplication tables and addition skills. In this case, the child skill gaps from Class 2 and Class 3 must be plugged.
The second reason, usually , is not considered in our education system and our system never creates an opportunity to plug this skill gaps due to many reasons like non-identification of skill gaps, higher teacher-student ratio, bad teaching tools, outdated learning models etc. This is were IOTA comes to the child’s rescue. The first step here s it will understand the child’s requirement and customize the program according to his needs, If she does not know multiplication tables, the first focus of the program is to make her well versed in this skill. Note that the system assumes that “ Every child can learn with time” Since time is given, it creates a hope for many students to concentrate on their weaknesses and plug it completely. This is were our education model becomes child centric and breaks the traditional one way educational model.
As a result of this education model, weak students will become average and average students will exceptional. At the end, IOTA Math strives to make every child a genius so that they ready for the competitive world.
Article written by M.S.Nethrapal, the founder of IOTA in the year 2005