Samam Vidya

28/07/2022

Do enroll your children to this free kids camp in San Jose, CA on Sept 3rd & 4th. Hindu culture will be introduced to your young children through engaging activities. Last date to register is Aug 14th.

23/04/2021

The game kit on Disability Awareness, with a focus on inclusivity in school and life, I worked on is ready and available for purchase by schools and families. It consists of 6 highly engaging card games, based on familiar and popular kids' card games, which can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. This summer play these games with your families on game nights, and gain valuable insights in the process. Details for purchase are in the poster. Do share this information with others (families or schools) who might be interested.

23/04/2021

An article on writing genres published in yesterday's NIE/student edition of the Times of India.
BEYOND THE ESSAY-WRITING BY GENRE (page 2)

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/my-drive

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13/04/2021

Samam Vidya wishes everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

08/02/2021

Hello Friends! I'm having trouble with my email, and am trying to switch to another service. Please reach me at my other email - [email protected] - until this is resolved. Thank you for understanding.

I value our interactions, and hope to hear from you. Stay safe and be well.

24/10/2020

An article I wrote a while ago about the parent-teacher connection.
A parent of a struggling student and the teacher need to have a good understanding and relationship with each other in order for the student to make progress in school.
https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org/life-stages/childhood/the-parent-teacher-connection

The teacher and parents are the adults that have the closest connection with children under their care. They have the greatest impact on the child’s life and education. A strong and cooperative relationship between parent and teacher would be ideal for a student to blossom.

23/10/2020

My thoughts on Inclusive Education. Thanks to Siddharth Jairaj for the writeup.

The Nuances of Inclusive Education

27/09/2020

An article explaining inclusive education, that I wrote for students in mainstream schools and colleges. If anybody uses this article to read with students, please do share the responses from your discussions. It'll be enlightening to hear students' views.

What is inclusive education, why is it a desirable pedagogical model ? Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their neighborhood schools in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of the life of the school

22/09/2020

An article I wrote for UNESCO Futures of Education Initiative on systemic benchmarks required for effective inclusive education. If anybody uses this article to read with students, please do share the responses from your discussions. It'll be enlightening to hear students' views.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the need for, and to initiate dialogue about, a set of foundational questions that the Indian educational system must answer before designing and implementing practical educational models to positively affect the greatest number of students. Sarva Shiksh

10/09/2020

Thank you Tinkerama for the lovely post. Happy Teacher's Day greetings to you too.

24/07/2020

Thoughts on Inclusive Education:

Concessions should be highly INDIVIDUALIZED. Not every student needs everything that’s offered. Every student should be given what s/he NEEDS. That’s the only way equity can work in an inclusive class.

Fears about giving concessions – All concessions have to be weaned slowly over time. (But not all concessions can be removed entirely. Some students will need some concessions all through life.) But as students, they need concessions on a regular basis to succeed, and they need to get used to succeeding. (Their self-esteem will already be low from chronic failure over time). The same concessions cannot be given throughout the entire school career. Some will be removed, others will be added. Concessions are not supposed to be a lifetime free pass.

This fear is because the Indian education system has not defined a clear final goal of a school education. One of the goals is INDEPENDENCE. Whatever we do for students has to move them towards this goal. Hence we wouldn’t be very good educators if we sent out a student into the world saddled with a meaningless concession. It behooves us to make the student as independent as possible, empowered with meaningful concessions.