Bihar and Bihar Curriculum Framework

Life took me to SCERT Bihar. A place which is the center stage of pedagogy in Bihar. And it was an experience to be remembered.

The place itself was awesome. The Bihar SCERT is housed in a palatial building ( as my friend Sushant puts it) and it is indeed palatial. Informal conversations revealed that some portions of the campus were used in World War II. That makes it historic.

But this isnt only about the historicity of the place.

For me it was surprising that a state of India, which is considered to be at the bottom of the development index is simmering with pedagogues, whether from SCERT or some small District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in a nondescript place like Lakhiserai.

Most Indian pedagogues take pride in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 and it came as a surprise to know that Bihar was the first state to come up with its own Bihar Curriculum Framework. This was interesting news as Bihar is not considered any way up the literacy ladder.

No doubt that the people at SCERT took pride in it and the fact that they challenge the NCF and in fact made it add a chapter or two with inputs from Bihar.

I havent read the BCF or Bihar Curriculum Framework till now but its exciting that Bihar was the first state to produce its own Curriculum Framework.

I was also bowled over by the participation of the DIET teachers and Principals which attended a workshop done by my organisation. They were indeed grounded in pedagogy and towards the end surprised me as they summarised the learnings from a workshop which we conducted.

I have always felt that India would change the day Bihar changes and I am glad to know that it indeed is on its way in a bright way.

Sixteen - a peek into an urban teen's life

Sixteen is the latest flick at the box office, all about teens and their socio-emotional life.

One thing was clear for me while watching this film...that I need to spend some time with the teenager students in a school and understand their lives before writing articles as an educationist and pedagogue.

This is a film about four friends from middle and upper middle class studying in a upmarket school in Delhi. After a long time I have seen a film about schools where adults dont rule the movie. The four teens rule this film.

The film does not sermonise on how life should be but just presents it to the audience. Yes...the director has picked up some exclusive cases...perhaps not all teens go through the events shared in the film. But for sure...all teens would relate to the film in having portrayed their lives vividly.

The film shows the parent child relationship very beautifully and has a variety of parent characters starting from overtly strict/abusive parents to parents, who give a lot of freedom their kids.

As the posters tell you...this film is also about sex and how teenagers take to it. It somehow takes away all the significance that the society attaches to sex. The film has been given an A certificate, which means the average school going student cannot watch this film. Thats the irony as I would certainly want to screen this film in a school.

For all the adults who talk about how teenagers should be and those dealing with their lives...its a must watch. Perhaps you could take a lesson in parenting through the film.

Touching a variety of issues like peer pressure, teenage pregnancy, teenage delinquency and alcohol...its a delight to be in a teen's world for the duration of the film.

Watch it just to be in the world of an average urban middle class teen.

P.S - I would love to break the rule...screen this film for a group of teens and have a group discussion around it. Any takers.

As a pedagogue, the only thing I want to do is to go and have discussions with teenagers on issues raised in the film

Some of the scenes I enjoyed were:

1. Conversation between two teens as they are bunking the morning assembly...and the morning assembly goes on.
2. Conversations between the son and the father, who wants his son to be an IAS
3. Conversation between the daughter and father, who trusts her daughter not to let him down
4. Conversation between the drunk teenaged girl(Tanisha) and a young lad in the lawn of the house.

Tanisha is a star...I loved her.