Guruvani: ‘Don’t let failure demotivate you’

What is the biggest professional challenge you face in your role as a principal?

The biggest challenge is to find the right way to guide underprivileged children to make the most of the opportunity they get from school education. Also, it becomes difficult at times to motivate a few students to concentrate on studies when they are assured that they won’t fail even if they do not attend classes regularly.

Once a teacher, always a teacher. Do you agree?

Yes, I completely agree that once a teacher is always a teacher because teaching gets incorporated in a teacher and throughout life, they find means and ways to impart knowledge. Also, a teacher has to be a lifelong student to find better means to improvise. A teacher who has contributed for the betterment of the society is always ready to work towards it.

Success has become an obsession with people of all ages nowadays. Your comments.

Everyone has a different definition of success. For some, it is money, for some it is fame and for others, it is peace of mind or simply doing good work. In my opinion, one should have a broader vision of success and should not get demotivated when they face failure on one front. For a teacher, success is when their students achieve their goals.

What emphasis do you put on teacher training?-

I always encourage my teachers to get the best training, be it online, residential or a non-residential course. So that their knowledge remains updated with recent advances in teaching methodology and imparts the same to students. I always try to motivate my teachers to give their best towards the development of society through the different ways of teaching.

What in your view is GenNext’s biggest strength? What are the key areas of improvement?

The biggest strength of GenNext is that they are technologically savvy and have abundant exposure to information. The key area of improvement is they should use technology in a correct way and take guidance to help them to optimally use the information for the benefit of one’s self and society.

How can the elderly contribute to a student’s growth?

The elderly can help immensely by their experience, but they have to convince students in a way that is appealing to them. They can be a friend, philosopher and guide to this generation. Also, we need to teach our students and youth to decrease the so-called generation gap so that they can easily learn a lot of things with our elder people.

What according to you is the role of media in education?

Media can be a double-edged sword. While it helps in spreading information and awareness for personal and social growth, if misused, it can instigate students and cause harm to oneself and society. In summary, education is the only means to bring about change for betterment in society. While technology and media help to a large extent, a teacher remains a core person to guide students to make most of their opportunities.