Maths in a matchbox
He's put maths in a matchbox,made students get their alcoholic parents to stop drinking and freed classrooms of the caste system. H S Parameshiah, who teaches at the government school in Banjarapalya, off Kanakapura Road, is a teacher who walks the talk. And for all these lessons, he'll receive the National Award for Best Teacher
His methods for de-mystifying maths with the help of matchboxes are, well, out-of-the-box. Whether it is a plus b the whole squared or cubed, or the Pythagoras Theorem, he uses matchboxes to explain concepts. "Children can never forget their formulae this way They realise that maths is not difficult to understand," says Parameshiah.
He now conducts teacher training workshops and has also written teachers' guides through the DSERT. But long before that, he'd proved that he was a teacher who went beyond teaching. Years ago, he waged a war against the caste system in school. "Children of different castes refused to sit to gether in the same class. They practised untouchability" He explained to them that caste was man-made. And today they all sit together. He adopted the same tactics and met with success, when boys and girls refused to sit in the same rows.
In 1995, he got the students to refuse to buy liquor for their parents. "Parents were getting their children to buy liquor from the shops. I told the children that they were doing something wrong, that drinking was bad for health, and to convey this message to the parents." But the adults protested. However, the efforts bore fruit. Drinking came down by 50 %, he says proudly
Born to illiterate parents, coming from humble beginnings, and having studied the hard way, Parameshaiah learnt that education meant empowerment, and so, he decided to be a teacher when he grew up. Today, his siblings, two brothers and a sister, are also teachers.
His methods for de-mystifying maths with the help of matchboxes are, well, out-of-the-box. Whether it is a plus b the whole squared or cubed, or the Pythagoras Theorem, he uses matchboxes to explain concepts. "Children can never forget their formulae this way They realise that maths is not difficult to understand," says Parameshiah.
He now conducts teacher training workshops and has also written teachers' guides through the DSERT. But long before that, he'd proved that he was a teacher who went beyond teaching. Years ago, he waged a war against the caste system in school. "Children of different castes refused to sit to gether in the same class. They practised untouchability" He explained to them that caste was man-made. And today they all sit together. He adopted the same tactics and met with success, when boys and girls refused to sit in the same rows.
In 1995, he got the students to refuse to buy liquor for their parents. "Parents were getting their children to buy liquor from the shops. I told the children that they were doing something wrong, that drinking was bad for health, and to convey this message to the parents." But the adults protested. However, the efforts bore fruit. Drinking came down by 50 %, he says proudly
Born to illiterate parents, coming from humble beginnings, and having studied the hard way, Parameshaiah learnt that education meant empowerment, and so, he decided to be a teacher when he grew up. Today, his siblings, two brothers and a sister, are also teachers.
An Article in the Times Of India 05 Sep 2007
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