Teachers on eve of Teachers’ Day: Technology should not swamp traditional system
Thursday, 05 September 2024 | MANSI BHAMBRI | DEHRADUN
The traditional education system and personal interaction between teachers and the taught should not be dispensed with due to the deep inroads being made by technology into the arena of education. This is what a number of professors and teachers working for renowned colleges and schools spread across the State said while talking to The Pioneer on the eve of the Teachers’ Day.
They shared challenges they have been facing while adapting technology to their teaching methods while averring that if technology is allowed to eclipse teachers it might bode ill for education as a whole.
Talking to The Pioneer, the head of the Zoology department at the government PG College, Uttarkashi Madhu Thapliyal shared her teaching experience for 23 years during which she witnessed the transition from traditional to modern educational approaches. “Before the advent of technology, teachers would primarily employ the ‘chalk and talk’ method, fostering a close connection with their students in their learning process. However, the amazing development of technology over the years has brought about a sea change in the traditional approach to education. It is impacting both the students and their educators. It is not that the entry of technology into the teaching method has no benefits. Tools such as 3D videos and presentations have simplified the teaching process to a certain extent. However, on the flip side, the increasing reliance on technology has posed challenges for teachers. Educators in remote mountainous areas are facing difficulties due to erratic electricity supply and limited internet connectivity. Further, the lightning pace with which technology is advancing begets a challenge for teachers to stay updated,” she said.
Thapliyal further said that doing away with the traditional teaching method and swapping it with technology-based methods is unwarranted and unsound. “Both can and should exist together and this is what an ideal system of education is: adaptation of modernity and its tools while keeping the fulcrum of education intact,” she added.
Thapliyal also noted that the integration of technology into education systems is affecting the health of teachers, leading to issues such as weak eyesight and cervical complications.
Speaking on the same matter, the dean of the School of Social Sciences at Doon University Rajendra Mamgain said that though he welcomes technology’s integration into the education system it should not be at the cost of the personal interaction between the teachers and their students. “Education is not the filling of a pail but lighting a fire in students and this cannot come about without constant and warm interaction,” he said and added that the technology-dominated education system seems to be resulting in depth losing out to shallowness. “If this is what the situation is, this trend must be appropriately combated,” he added.
A professor at the DAV PG College Prashant Singh spoke of multiple challenges the teachers have been facing in adapting technological tools in the teaching method. “This integration is inevitable if the students are to keep pace with the profound changes happening in every sphere of life, including education. But teachers are supreme in any education system. This is why the daunting challenges the teachers have been facing while coping with the fast-evolving education system should be considered seriously,” he said.
He suggested training programmes be organised to ensure that not so tech-savvy teachers are well-equipped to adapt to new educational systems based on technology.
