80 teachers prepared 380 radio classes during Covid lockdown in 2021: Official
Farooq Shah
SRINAGAR: Around the time schools in Kashmir were closed due to the covid-19 lockdown, some eighty teachers from all the districts of the valley took up the mantle of responsibility in their hands and set the gears and pulleys of the education machinery into motion making the impossible possible. In a span of four months during this year, All India Radio (AIR) broadcast some 380 radio classes prepared by these teachers.
Javid Hussain
Kirmani, who organised a three-day orientation program on teaching through
electronic media at the State Council of Education Research and Training
(SCERT) Srinagar, informed a gathering of resource persons here today. The
resource persons have been participating in radio classes for well over a period
of two years now.
Eminent media
persons including Riyaz Masroor, Special Correspondent, British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC), Syed Humayun Qaiser, Ex Director AIR, Kashmir and Talha
Jahangir, Program Executive AIR, Kashmir also participated in the event.
Kirmani, who works
at the SCERT Srinagar, is in charge of the radio lessons.
“Though a daunting challenge, the commitment
and the courage of the teachers made it look like a simple task,” he said.
“With no prior experience of conducting such classes, I’d say our teachers did
fairly well.”
The teachers,
Kirmani said, were encouraged to record the lessons on their mobile phones
within the confines of their own homes.
“They’d send the recorded lectures to me and
I’d forward them to the concerned official at the radio station,” Kirmani said.
“The arrangement worked well and soon a team was formed.”
Since the team
lacked the nuances of preparing the lessons, we felt the need to enhance their
skills via an orientation program.
“It was encouraging that media persons like
Riyaz Masroor, Humayun Qaiser and Talha Jahangir consented to participate in an
event of such importance,” Kirmani remarked. “We could have not asked for a
better team than this to make our resource more useful should an emergency of a
similar nature arise in the future.”
While appreciating
the newly launched education policy aka NEP 2020 for its ‘flexibility’, Riyaz
Masroor said there is a need to shun phobias of every nature to cultivate novel
ideas.
While describing
radio as an ‘outdated’ tool in the modern era driven by internet technology,
Masroor said a major chunk of our population especially in the rural areas
still rely on classic tools such as a radio.
“Radio, as an education tool, should only be
employed under extraordinary situations, such as, the lack of internet,” he
said. “We must embrace newer technologies to enable a student to assume a
greater role in the learning process.”
Syed Humayun
Qaiser elaborated on education through radio and explained most of the
broadcasting principles.
“It is the
broadcaster's job to convey proper information to the audience,” he said. “More
the commitment and interest with which this is done, the more successful it
will become.”
The success of a
class, Qaiser said, depends on the extent of his preparedness more so when
radio is the medium.
Noted broadcaster,
Talha Jahangir, while underlining the role of the radio in education, stressed
upon the relationship between a teacher and a pupil in his typical way.
“A teacher should be ready to drop himself to
the level of the pupil,” Jahnagir said. “The content in radio classes should be
absolutely straightforward and simple.”
Director School
Education Kashmir, Dr Tasaduq Hussain Mir, who was the chief guest at the
closing ceremony, said it has become very important to bring teachers in line
with the modern-day requirements as the technology is developing very fast.
“It is necessary to keep ourselves
up-to-date,” he said. “Amid a host of means available to a child nowadays, it
becomes more important that a teacher updates himself with the most updated
concept on a topic.”
Dr. Rabia Naseem,
academic officer, SCERT, gave a detailed lecture on the importance of correct
pronunciation while speaking on the radio. Dr. Jan Mudassir Gul, academic
officer, gave valuable tips with regard to writing the script for a radio
program.
Sheikh Gulzar
Ahmed, academic officer, SCERT, highlighted the educational requirements of the
21st century.
The program ended with the distribution of certificates among the participants.
