Guruvani:‘Learn to be happy with what you have’

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

Execution of the standard operating procedure in all aspect is one of the biggest challenges I face. Excessive paperwork is another problem and has to be eliminated by automating the data collection processes. Teachers’ performance assessment is another challenge. Maintaining discipline among all with proper cybersecurity and awareness is the biggest challenge for the school and principal. I believe a principal should be decisive enough and must have the autonomy to generate organisational policies.

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

Yes. I am a teacher not by default but by choice. Being a teacher, I always feel a connection with my students. With administrative responsibilities, sometimes, I can’t do justice with the teacher within me, but when I get an opportunity, I teach and feel blessed to be among my students.

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

Success isn’t about status or material wealth. Learning to be happy with what you already have in life is above any success. Being who you are is what matters and that’s the most successful thing to accomplish in life.

Amassing success won’t lead to personal fulfilment. If we don’t shift our focus from this obsession of success to living joyfully, one day, we will end up with very successful but surely, very unhappy.

What emphasis do you put on teacher training?

First, we need to identify what kind of teachers we are dealing with. I believe there are mainly two types of teachers — the teacher by default and the teacher by choice. We need to focus on the teacher development program, which will start with the performance evaluation of teachers. Accordingly, training can be given to them based on the modules of planning for learning, teaching for learning, environment for learning and most importantly, learning into the context of students’ understanding.

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

The biggest strength of GenNext is that they are exceptionally technologically savvy for their regular course of routine. By far, this is considered their greatest strength. On the other hand, their weaknesses include a lack of commitment and an over-inflated sense of self.

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

Elderly can contribute to a student’s growth by teaching them through their own experiences the key life lesson.

They can be the source of wise words and sage advice dealing with and enjoying life to its fullest. They can teach children how to gather courage in the face of adversity.

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

Media has become an integral part of students’ lives and also part of the curriculum with regard to digital content, computer laboratory, e-library, etc. It is a holistic process and continues throughout our life.

Media can enlighten the real cause of education and also discourage sectarian, communal and divisive trends in the society. I recommend the use of media in the classroom as a technology to create authentic learning experiences and strengthen critical thinking in the schools.