KISS Deemed to be University (KISS-DU) organized a webinar on “CLAP for Quality Education – Cognitive Learning through Language for Academic Proficiency” under the webinar series on Day-2 of the week-long campaign to mark 75 years of the United Nations (UN).
The subject is very close to KISS’s objectives as it addresses Goal-4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. Quality Education. KISS believes that it is desirable and possible to reduce inequality globally by and large and a just education starts in one’s mother tongue.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Prashanta Kumar Acharya, double Ph.D. degree holder in Sanskrit and Vedanta Sanskrit and a trained linguist, set the context of the UN75 Campaign. He appreciated the campaign and all the things it stands for. He said “There is no thought without language. The more the language a person learns, the higher is the cognition. Multilingual people are better protected against aging and the brain of a multilingual starts to decline about five to seven years later than a monolingual”, he explained.
Ms. Nirali Dangli, Principal, Calorx Public School, State President, Gujrat – WICCI, Elementary Education Council of India, in her deliberation highlighted that the perception about quality education differs from person to person. She opined that the focus has been shifted to teaching in a language that the child is comfortable with. Ms. Dangli said, “Teaching in mother-tongue can never be wrong. All we have to see is that the confidence of the learners is not crushed. We should not force a child to speak in English because learning is a gradual process and cannot be rushed”.
Mr. Jitu Mishra, Educationist and Co-founder of Virasat-E-Hind & Sarna Educational & Cultural Services, stressed that one should take pride in local culture and heritage. He expressed the dire need to opt for experiential learning over traditional systems.
Quoting the popular hindi proverb ‘kos kos pe badle pani, 3 kos par vani”, Ms. Rosalin Dash, Founder of New-U & Co-Founder of Sarna Educational & Cultural Services emphasized on multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual education and highly appreciated the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education programme at KISS. She concluded by saying, If a student is unable to pick-up , then it is the duty of the teacher to pick-up the pain areas and address them and make teaching more inclusive”.
Earlier, Dr. Sushree Sangita Mohanty, Assistant Professor, KISS-DU introduced the esteemed speakers, moderated the session and extended vote of thanks on behalf of the organizing team.