21 Nov 2017-22 Nov 2017|Noida | Amity campus, Saket
Amity Institute of Education, Delhi organises two-days Orientation Programme theme “In- service teachers/would be teachers on Nonviolent Conflict Resolution and Nonviolent Communication”
Amity Institute of Education, Delhi organised two-days Orientation Programme on the theme “In- service teachers/would be teachers on Nonviolent Conflict Resolution and Nonviolent Communication”, sponsored by Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi at Amity Campus, Saket on November 21-22, 2017
The guests at the Inaugural Session, Dr. Vedbhyas Kundu, Program officer, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi , Prof. T K Thomas, Communication Expert, visiting faculty at Delhi University, New Delhi and Mrs. Mohina Dar, Director, Academics at Amity International and Global Schools were welcomed and felicitated by Dr. Ranjana Bhatia, Principal Cum Director,Amity Institute of Education, Saket, New Delhi.
Dr. Ranjana Bhatia initiated a discussion on the importance of non -violence, particularly in the contemporary times. She won hearts by her knowledge of the current school scenarios and desire to further serve the cause of teaching and student emancipation.
Dr. Vedbhyas Kundu, who has worked with the United Nations as a resource person, elaborated upon the importance of Gandhi Smriti Darshan Samiti and highlighted the working of his organization, which is the largest holder of Gandhiji’s relics in the world. He stressed “Gandhi Smriti Darshan Samiti needs to address contemporary conflicts not only between teachers and students, but among the staff also. There is a need for a Win-Win situation through non- violent communication and mutual respect.:”
Mrs. Mohina Dhar, the founder Principal of Amity International School, Noida, recounted her experiences as the Principal of a leading school and the challenges that she and her staff faced while dealing with particularly difficult children. She juxtaposed non-violence with school scenarios of today’s times and gave practical tips for would be teachers to follow in their coming school experiences.
She propounded her practical experiences and it was reflected that a lot of Gandhian principles were followed in her command as a Principal, which were appreciated not only by the participants, but the honoured guests alike. She outlined the necessity of love and respect in a school system and stressed on the importance of making a connection with the students in the classroom.
She articulated that, “It is necessary to cultivate a climate of peace in the classroom, to initiate a dialogue between students and teachers. There must be 3 components of self empathy, empathy towards others and honest communication in the classroom for successful knowledge transmission in the classroom, as she believed that one must take the responsibilities of their actions themselves.
Ø Technical Session Day – I
The day was divided into two technical sessions taken by Professor T K Thomas,Communication Expert, visiting faculty at Delhi University and Dr. Vedabhyas Kundu, Programme Officer of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi.
Prof. T.K Thomas highlighted upon the need for “emotional bridge building”, helped in the ice breaking sessions and made all participants comfortable with each other.
He conducted various activities during the session and asked the participants to provide their opinions on the ideas of communication and violence, and concluded that communication meant understanding one’s message simply and violence meant hindering the peaceful state of one’s being and making other person uncomfortable, be it physically or mentally. The participants were also asked to make acronym of adjectives for the word TEACHER, which helps the participants to reinforce and reflect on the characteristics of a teacher, in the characteristic style of Gandhiji.
Dr. Vedabhyas Kundu shared an anecdote about a student and teacher conversation which held a deep meaning in its message, “I have nothing to lose but my temper.” He introduced and steered the interaction to various important issues of non-violence and classroom scenarios. He asked the participants to solve the problem of a hypothetical but very relevant situation of students wanting a farewell and disagreeing to each other’s points of view.
While everyone brainstormed over this very small issue and at the same time realized that keeping calm, even in a hypothetical situation, is difficult. He accepted everyone’s point of view and declared that a round table conference with everyone’s opinions on the table and a cost benefit analysis would probably be the best solution to this mind boggling problem, thus creating a Win-Win situation,which Gandhiji so firmly believed in.
The day concluded on a very successful note and it is noteworthy that everyone went home as a more knowledgeable and capable person, calm and ready to deal with the challenges of the classroom, in a non-violent manner. In the immortal words of Professor T. K Thomas, everyone agreed that “students are the guardians of the future that we (teachers) have to safeguard.
Technical Session Day – II
Second day ofthe two-day orientation programme was no less interesting and informative.
Prof. T.K.Thomas spoke about the integration of Gandhian ideals of non-violence into classroom teaching-learning situations, followed by group presentations by pupil-teachers, and a valedictory session to conclude the event.
Discussing the centrality of students in a teaching-learning environment that can help create non-violent communication inside and outside classroom, Prof. Thomas highlighted the importance of five elements – Student-centric, Motivation, Activity,Reinforcement, and Transformation (giving the acronym ‘SMART’).
Prof. Thomas initiated a critical-thinking session which required the participants to consider every-day school situations wherein teachers often act/react unthinkingly, further leading to big-or-small undesirable consequences.
Some of the situations taken up for discussionwere-
Ø Whenstudents disagree on a point made by the teacher.
Ø When teacher doesn’t know the answer to a student’s question.
Ø Whenasked for teacher’s opinion on a ticklish issue.
Ø Whenteacher’s question is greeted with silence.
Ø When a student gets into a personal argumentwith the teacher when asked a direct question.
The participants contributed to the exercise of listing out possible solutions to difficult situations that teachers/pupil-teachers come across on daily basis. The class was divided into small groups to discuss and present their points/solutions before the class. The interaction yielded myriad of solutions based on Gandhian ethics of non-violence and compassion. The solutions used or visualized by the teachers/pupil-teachers were practical approaches that one needs to adopt as a teacher to inculcate positive values, such as love, compassion, empathy, in students and encourage them and our own selves to deal with situations in composed and calm ways to resolve the matter through conciliatory means.
Valedictory Session
The programme concluded with valedictory address by Dr. Ranjana Bhatia, Principal cum Director of Amity Institute of Education, New Delhi expressing her gratitude to the entire team involved in successfully organising the two-day orientation programme for teachers/pupil-teachers.