Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Mar 30: ‘Paathshala’, a documentary on government schools by the students of the department of Mass Communication and Media Studies of St Aloysius College was released by Nadoja award recipient K P Rao at a programme held at the College teletorium here on Saturday March 30.
Nadoja award recipient KP Rao was the chief guest of the programme, N Shivaprakash, district deputy project coordinator of Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana was the guest of honour while Dr Narahari, registrar presided over the programme.
Addressing the gathering, N Shivaprakash said that Dakshina Kannada district has good name in the state when it comes to quality education. The right to education act stresses on rendering 9 basic facilities in every schools out of which 8 are given in most of the schools due to the efforts of Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana (SSA).
"We lack playgrounds in around 12 schools. Due the efforts made by SSA, compound wall has been built in most of the schools in urban areas and in our further plan we have placed a demand of Rs 10 crore to build compound walls in rural areas," he said.
"In yet another achievement, the out-of-school student rate has reduced to 130 student in the recent census while it was 7,800 students for the year 2001-2002. Special importance is given to providing training to differently-abled students," he added.
"The main challenge for us is to bring quality in education. More importance should be given to self learning," said Shivaprakash, "In this regard, we have implemented ‘Nali Kalike’ in schools where we emphasize on activity based learning."
Dr Narahari in his address said that it is a tragedy for the country as we still find millions of children who are out from the education system. This is the first challenge for the government, institution or an individual to work on, and the greatest service one can render to the country," he said, assuring that the college will try to motivate these children to go to school.
"It is said that government schools lack infrastructure facilities but even private schools lack quality in education. The traditional method of education has not changed even at higher levels and hence new methods of teachings like power point, case study, field study, seminars should be given importance," he added.
A student from Mullakkad School, Sanketh, said he had good practical exposure along with his friends and came to know how television works. They were taught anchoring by students of MCMS.
Cicilia Lobo, teacher of government higher primary school, Kapikad said, “This training program is very fruitful to teachers and the documentary ‘Paathshala’ has shown the positive aspects of government schools. We are very glad that our work is recognised.”
‘Paathshala’ is a documentary on government schools and a compendium of life at government schools is a project of pathway cell. After working for 6 months on the project; visiting schools constantly, interacting with teachers, researchers, media personnel and students also were trained in documentary making. They were guided by the department of mass communication.
‘Spandana’, the day-long programme comprised of the release of ‘Paathshala’-Temples of Knowledge a documentary on government schools in Mangalore,‘Paathshala’- A compendium of life at governement schools’ was also released on the same occasion and ‘Campus Darshan’, a tour through the college campus.
Campus Darshan is being organized with an intention of providing a platform for the students to visit and explore Aloyseum , the campus museum, biotechnology laboratory, television studio, Sarang, the community radio station, College library and the St Aloysius Chapel. Most government schools from in and around the city were part of the one day programme.
George Rodrigues, Pathways Cell, Vishal Nayak, incharge coordinator MCMS and Laxmi Shenoy, project guide, Paathshala, were also present at the function. Many teachers from different schools attended and benefited from the training programme.