SCERT’s 3-Day Workshop Discusses Importance of Reporting Education

Media and Education should function like hand in glove: Prof Nasir Mirza

Farooq Shah

SRINAGAR: “If you won’t tell your story, who else will,” Nasir Mirza, ex professor, Media Education and Research Centre (MERC), University of Kashmir, told a gathering comprising teacher educators drawn from various District Institutes of Education Research and Training (DIET) at a three-day workshop here today.

 “In a super competitive market-driven world, it’s important that you equip yourselves with the requisite skill and expertise to narrate your tales,” Prof Mirza said. “No one else has a responsibility to do it on your behalf.”

The workshop which was organised by the Media Wing of the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Kashmir, was also attended by Dr Ruheela Hassan Sheikh, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Muzaffar Ahmad Shah, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Traffic, Srinagar and Zarif Ahmad Zarif, a noted satirist, poet and historian.

Farooq Shah, who is the media in-charge at the SCERT, had conceived the workshop to train the teacher educators on the essentials of media reporting with regard to the Education.

Education and Media, Prof Mirza said, must function hand in glove to achieve the broader objective of transforming the behaviour of a society by enriching the thoughts of its members with knowledge, wisdom and responsibility.

 “Firstly you must treat your workplace as sacred as a place of pilgrimage or a shrine because you earn your livelihood from it,” he remarked. “Secondly, you must build your workplace stories as honestly as possible to let the larger world know about your hard work and commitment.”

Prof Mirza, while describing the media as ‘the most precious gift of the twentieth century to the twenty first’, said all stakeholders must endorse your hard work to understand the importance of the task borne by the teachers.

 “The culture of taking out magazines and newsletters has not only to be renewed in the educational institutions but supported well by the newest forms of technology viz., social media, podcasts, videocasts etc,” he said. “Because the costs associated with such activities are minimal, you should leave no stone unturned to make the maximum use of such facilities.”

Dr Ruheela Hassan, while appreciating teachers for contributing to education through radio programs, underlined the importance of radio education and urged the participants to learn the fundamental skills involving the use of television, radio and internet in the field of education.

 “Radio is as important a tool as other means of mass communication to disseminate awareness especially to the far off places where internet connectivity is an issue,” Dr Hassan said. “During natural calamities, viz., earthquakes, floods etc, radio becomes the only tool to rely on.”

Prof Mirza, while giving the example of “Mann Ki Baat” seconded Dr Hassan in her assertion that radio still occupied a significant role despite the availability of all the latest technologies of communication.

The workshop included a segment wherein a panel discussion was arranged as an example for the participants to report on. Muzaffar Ahmad Shah, SSP Traffic, Srinagar, Dr Rabia Mughal, senior academic officer, SCERT, Farooq Shah, coordinator of the workshop, Javed Kirmani, in-charge radio programs, SCERT, Dr Shabnam, HOD, Education in Languages, talked about the traffic scenario of the city in the discussion. Some participants filmed the discussion on their mobile phones while others wrote notes on their diaries. 

The coordinator screened news articles directly from their source while explaining them in the light of 5Ws1H and the inverted pyramid scheme. Later, the coordinator explained all the terms in the glossary of journalism.

Zarif Ahmad Zarif, who was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony, said the teachers have got to adorn their nature with the virtues of truthfulness, honesty and objectivity.

 “All these virtues—truthfulness, honesty and objectivity—are the hallmark of journalism and must not be let go while reporting on education,” Zarif said. “Praise from the audience is the biggest award to a teacher.”

Ghulam Mohammad Rather, teacher educator, SCERT, recited a poem to end the program.