“Class 12 girl found dead in school  hostel “  is the news  bit on first page of The Hindu 9(26.7.22)slapping on our face . As usual the “police Suspects it to be a case of suicide. “It looks as though Tamil Nadu would soon earn the    distinction of  getting first rank in teenage girls suicide . We do not know whether the agony of the families , worry of the civil society and the fellow students fear about their future shakes the collective consciousness of the stake holders of school education sector. For them it seems to be another addition  of death added to the existing data of teenagers suicides or murders. Our administrators seem to think that, consolation , cash  compensation  and extensive media coverage would please and calm down the parents .

 When will the school education ministry come out with most effective , urgent  and concrete steps to arrest the suicidal  tendency among youngsters? When will they give the teachers training in  identifying  the students distress and offer counseling ? When will the school education department undertake a thorough inspection of the school hostels and  take  steps to eliminate erring hostels and when will the CBSC schools brought under  the inspection of the state authorities ? When will government schools  standards upgraded so that , poor students are not lured towards heartless private schools ?

 

governor of Tamil Nadu

Ever since Governor of Tamil Nadu R.N.Ravi occupied his position in this state, he  has concentrated  more on propagation of his personal political and religious ideologies  among the youth of Tamil Nadu  by visiting educational institutions  since his targeted audience is youth of this state who are used to different principles of political thought. He has more important constitutional duties to attend to.  For example ,  every bill passed by the state legislature will become law only after his signature. But, when a bill is sent to the Governor after it is passed by the legislature, he has the option to give his assent to the bill or withhold his assent to the bill or return the bill for the reconsideration of the legislature. But Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan is sitting  over 21 bills for a long time . All Bills passed by the state legislature are for the welfare of the state of Tamil Nadu. The governor’s action will paralyse the administrative functions of the state . We do not understand why the government of Tamil Nadu is exercising  extra ordinary patience in this matter without using  guidance given through   the recent supreme court’s observations regarding  governors non cooperation in signing of bill passed by the elected members of the state legislatures 

Teaching is not my occupation, but a passion (my article published in Imantra , an online magazine )

Teaching is not my occupation, but a passion

My travel as a college teacher is for 30 years. It is a travel full of challenges, hard work, brickbats and invisible incentives. The teaching profession has provided me an opportunity to act as a ladder to the students through which they can achieve the goals of their lives and to play a role in character building activity of the youth.

I am not a born teacher. I became a college teacher accidentally without any idea about that career. On the day of my appointment in a women’s college, at 11 am I entered the class room with anxiety, fear and utter lack of confidence about my communication ability, since the class allotted to me had a strength of 110 students. The whole class stood up till I reached the chair and wished me “Good morning.”

With shivering legs and controlled emotion I wished them back. I was warned by my seniors that they were the most mischievous lot and may rag me. Hence, without allowing any time gap for them to rag, I did the self introduction, talked about the subject allotted to me, made them copy the syllabus for it and gave them a list of reference books, In the remaining time I asked them to state their goals in life. They enthusiastically shared their ambitions. Thus, without any trouble I completed my first hour of my teaching career. The daily greetings from the students inside and outside the class room made me feel that it is a very respectable job. In my first year of service I confined strictly to the syllabus allotted, evaluated their performance through tests and prepared course material in a standard format. That means I was performing as an ordinary teacher.

Before starting the second year of my service, I came across an article on “teaching not as only as career but as a ladder to future leaders.” The content of the article was very inspiring and motivational and made me understand the magnitude of the teaching job and the society’s expectations from the teachers. The article, stated that, “No body is a born teacher, but, every teacher should take conscious efforts to become outstanding and excellent teacher in course of time, not only to command the respect of the students but, also to play a role in character building activity of the society. ” This description of the teacher’s role stuck in my mind solidly and from that day it became my Mantra.

I started thinking about the various strategies I have to follow to convert myself from an “ordinary teacher” into an “outstanding teacher” in the first phase of my career. I realised that, only when, teaching becomes a passion for me I will be able to workout those strategies.

It indeed became a passion in the next few years after starting to enjoy the rewards of good teaching in the form of respect and recognition for the work done; especially when I saw students faces light up with understanding of complex theories or concepts and their good performance in the examinations.

During that phase of my career I took extra efforts to prepare brilliant lectures through collecting additional points from subject related magazines, news papers, television debates and use of internet. I started making power point presentation for complicated topics for better understanding of the concepts taught. These extra efforts helped me improve the quality of my lectures and course materials. I could also relate the theories to practical situations with ease due to improvement in my communication skill. I decided that I will not resort to teacher-centric method of teaching but rely more on participative learning in which students will also participate with vibrancy in the class room discussions.

My inspiration in this method was Swami Vivekananda who stated that, “education is the manifestation of perfection already present in a man.” That means the teachers have to only act as catalysts to induce the questioning minds of the youth to explore more and more in the subject of their specialisation. That also means that, the teacher should have more knowledge in the subject taught with up-to-date information which would be possible only if they become constant learners. In a way it even helps the teacher in academic brilliance and quality enhancement. Only then a teacher can organise and guide class-room discussions with confidence. Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato went on teaching the world with passion. This passion helped them to engage in effective dissemination of knowledge which brought forth development of ones innate qualities. For such passionate teachers, teaching is a way of life and not a job.

In the third phase of my teaching career I decided, that I should strive hard to become an excellent teacher. Hence I formulated certain strategies to achieve that goal.

They are as follows:
• I should help the students not only in academic excellence but also, in personality development through identifying their skills in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and encourage them to participate in such events.
• I will allot 7 minutes of my class hour for open discussion on any news they have come to know from the media pertaining to global, national and regional matters, so that they can use the class room, as a training ground for improving their communication skill.
• I will tell them about the need to become economically independent, since they are women students and their total dependency on others would render them helpless during crises in life.
• I would motivate them about the need to develop positive attitude in life so that, they will face the challenges of life with confidence.
• I will educate them about the need to learn time management skills and apply ethical values in their life.
• I will din into their minds that higher education is a powerful tool to empower themselves, because education gives knowledge, knowledge gives confidence and the confidence helps them to face the challenges of life.
• I will identify disinterested students, talk to them privately to find the root cause of their disinterest in learning and reach out to their parents to improve home environment.
• If they have financial difficulty in paying the fees, I will strive hard to get trust scholarship for them. I will tell such students that education is the only tool with which they can climb up in the social and economic ladders.
• I will go beyond teaching the subject and give them guidance in career choice or higher studies up to research level.
• I will go beyond class room to earn their confidence and will become their guide, friend and philosopher so that, I can give a helping hand to climb up the ladder slowly and steadily, so that they will shine in their future life.

I truly started adopting these strategies to the best of my ability. I always used to maintain strict discipline in the class but, became warm hearted when they approached me privately with their problems. This approach helped in commanding their acceptance as a caring and friendly teacher Even after a decade of retirement when my students run towards me wherever they come across me, introduce me to their family members as “my teacher” with broad smiles on their faces, I feel that I am duly rewarded for all my hard work during my professional period. This profession has given me dignity in society, a place in the hearts of students, a good income and decent pension and a purpose in life.

Teachers are in the privileged position to make a mark in the youngster’s lives. They should realise the seriousness of their job and understand that, teaching will become a passion only when the teachers realise that, they are entrusted with the task of knowledge and character building responsibilities. These are very crucial and challenging responsibilities. To exercise these responsibilities perfectly, it is not sufficient to engage in intellectual discourse and it is human aspect of teaching that will convert an ordinary teacher into an excellent teacher. It is unfortunate that, the tribe of passionate teachers in India is fast dwindling and the number of burned out, frustrated and exhausted teachers is increasing because they have entered into the teaching profession not out of their choice but as a lender of last resort.

 

 

Domestic violence in Tamil Nadu

 

The much publicised  and talked about women “welfare schemes” to “empower women” in Tamil Nadu have not touched  the basic problems confronting women   and have a “dark side to modern domesticity” What sort of progressive society is Tamil Nadu when the official Data reveals that , it is holding second rank in  domestic violence? Are women beasts to get beaten up during every domestic quarrel?  Where is gender equality in family relationship?  Women do tolerate mental and physical torture within the family despite their better economic and social status due to cultural, social and economic reasons. Like yester years uneducated and unemployed women they continue to “suffer in silence”, despite having higher education and good income from their employment. This is due lack of self confidence to face the challenges of life if they come out of abusive relationships and lack of family and society’s support. Real empowerment process for women in any state should include  methods to create awareness on women protection laws, , the need for financial independence , various ways to build up their inner strength and  to achieve their life goals and zero tolerance for physical torture if they want to live with dignity. Real empowerment can’t be achieved through concessions and freebees to run their daily lives. If domestic violence has to be reduced all liquor shops should be closed in Tamil Nadu . The  and efficient Tamil Nadu Minister can fine other sources of revenue to compensate the loss from liquor revenue

The absorption of the “womenomics” principle in the 2022-23 budget of Tamil Nadu

 

The absorption of the “womenomics” principle in the 2022-23 budget of Tamil Nadu   

                                                          

India ranks 120 among 131 countries in female labor force participation rate. The female labour participation rate in India had fallen to 20.3% in 2019 according to World Bank estimates.  Majority of Indian women work in the jobs in the informal sector due to lack of higher education and specialised job skills. In March, 2011 women workers constituted only 20.5 % of total employment in organised sector in the country pushing India to a lower share of women’s contribution to the GDP than the global average of 37%.

A survey observed that women workers are the most disadvantaged in the labour market in India, as they constitute a very high proportion among the low skilled informal worker category and are engaged in low-productivity and low paying work, mostly piece rates. In India, out of all estimated workers in manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation & restaurant, IT/ BPO and financial services, 70.7 per cent are male and 29.3 per cent female.  . Thus, India’s organised job market is severely skewed against women with employment opportunities for them mostly restricted to traditional sectors. Most of the women are employed in unorganized sector, working with low pay, without perks like holidays or medical benefits and without security of jobs. Their incomes do not give them the much needed economic power nor, do they contribute to GDP of our nation significantly since, their incomes from unorganized sector  do  not enter into national income calculation.  The main reasons for their lower employment in organized sector are the lack of higher education and specialised job skills. These two factors play a significant role in the economic empowerment of women and contribute higher economic worthiness of women in other nations.

 In 2013, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed to adopt “womenomics” as a core pillar of the nation's growth strategy In Japan. This concept  explains that, . “Womenomics” is the idea that, women’s economic advancement will improve the economy as a whole through their higher contribution to GDP.  In other words, higher entry of women into the organised job sector   is an important driver of growth and development in future of all the nations. Higher economic worthiness of women does not stop with personal benefits.  In OECD countries, if the female employment rates were raised to match Sweden, it would lead to a GDP increase equivalent to $6 trillion. Gender pay gaps end up costing the economy in different ways. Workforce in the Indian manufacturing industries is only about 10% of the total female workers. Were India to rebalance its workforce, the IMF estimates, the worlds biggest democracy would be 27% richer. Then, its people would be well on their way to middle-income status.

The Tamil Nadu government has incorporated “womenomics principle” in its 2022-23 budget because, a study has found out that raising women's participation in the labor force in the formal economy to the same level as men can boost Tamil Nadu economy to a great extent. The All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-29, released by the Centre recently, reveals that Tamil Nadu is among the states that have a higher enrollment of women in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. But the dropout rate from college education is higher among rural families. The main reason is financial difficulty. According to AISHE 2019-20, the difference between male and female enrollments in colleges in Tamil Nadu is around 36,000. Higher Enrollment of girls in Higher education and their retention the colleges till they complete their course is the   best way to make young girls economically empowered .The present government of Tamil Nadu has understood this core point connected with economic empowerment of women.  Their university degrees would help them to enter into better jobs in the organised sector where there is no gender injustice in wage matters .Their entry into the organised  sector  would create an Army of young girls with higher economic status  living  their lives with dignity ,confidence to  face the challenges of life and determined face any risks in life  would supplement to their families’ income and thus provide decent food, clothing, shelter, education and medical treatment and these women would not succumb to domestic violence and ill treatment.

 Considering all the benefits of women’s economic empowerment  through higher education , the Tamil Nadu government during the recent budget session announced that, “all the girls from classes 6-12 in government schools would be paid Rs 1000 till the uninterrupted completion of their undergraduate degree or diploma or ITI courses “. This is in addition to other scholarships .The money would be paid to the girl’s bank accounts every month for 36 months. It is estimated that, approximately 6 lakh girls would benefit from this measure according the State Finance Minister’s statement. The expenditure involved for 2022-23 is 698 cores. This move is hailed by the gender economists and by financial experts as the most productive welfare measure taken by the Tamil Nadu government to empower poor girls socially and economically resulting in, higher contribution of women resource to the GNP. The aim of this budgetary support is to prevent girls from dropping out of colleges due to their poverty position.

Tamil Nadu emerges with third rank among the big states in the country, in terms of Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education. Tamil Nadu has 50.5 per cent male enrollment and 49.5 per cent female enrollment in colleges. TN is No 3 in Higher Education gross enrolment ratio . The Centre has set a target of achieving 50% GER in higher education by 2030 and now we have achieved it almost. But the dropout rate of girls from colleges is a matter of worry to the Government. Hence present budget support to girls would mainly prevent the drop out from colleges and would encourage the girls of Tamil Nadu to complete their degrees, enter into organised jobs, enhance their economic worthiness and make significant contribution to GNP of the nation which is the core point of the “womenomics principle”