I am writing this article as my parents are reading the newspaper. Many think newspaper is just a paper which carries the day’s news. I am not bugging, but think a little more. A newspaper is a revolution of sorts. It is a powerful medium which can topple any government or expose any scandals or start a revolution! The power of pen can never be questioned. I know these days, competition is high in the media world and money does play an important role on what is being printed and what not. But the real fact is that a newspaper is a powerful media. The pen can be utilized to write the truth and the false. The debate here is not about the content of newspapers but its power. A newspaper is a literate man’s pride and insight into the world. It is necessary that one needs to be educated to understand what is happening around him and in the world. Education is necessary to be aware of the happenings and that will play an important role in structuring one’s life. We started with newspapers and ended on education! That’s how this blog works, anything and everything ends only on EDUCATION!

Distance education is the most happening thing. I like this concept because people who have discontinued studies can continue and earn degrees. It is cheaper than regular ones and hence affordable. One can wonder how it works. There will be some contact classes on the weekends and the students can get any help from the teaching staff. These contact classes happen near the home of the student and hence one doesn’t have to travel much. But I find one drawback in this distance education. There are not many courses which come under distance education. They cover mostly theoretical ones, and don’t have courses which involve practical work. This is because practical work can’t be that easily conducted in distance learning. But some strategies can be adopted to offer such courses. One of the strategies is that all the practical work can be covered during the weekends itself. Another one is to provide online help for the practical work. Third option is to provide field work which is according to their job profile. This can benefit a number of enthusiastic minds who want to learn!

I was reading the morning news paper, when I heard the little angel next to my house crying. I went up to her and asked why she was crying? And the answer hurt me a lot. Her teacher would punish her for not doing the home work. I was surprised, but then managed to console the child and send her to school. The one fact that irritated me was why should the child be punished if the home work was not done or even if the child was disobedient! What is the point in punishing; it will only terrify the child. In countries like USA and some more there are child rights which protect a child from cruel punishments. But many countries do not have such laws, and hence there is corporal punishment. I do understand , that though a teacher may be driven crazy when the students don’t listen to her/him, she/he have no right to indulge in corporal punishment or any other form of punishment which would wreck the student emotionally or physically. The question here could be should the teachers accept disobedience? I am not suggesting that disobedience be accepted but instead students be counseled such that they not repeat. Instead of providing corporal punishment, community service could be allotted. Some other alternatives are to forgive them a few times and then talk to parents, learn if the student is facing any behavioral problems/learning disabilities or so on. I heard this somewhere; a student was being very disobedient. The teacher decided it was time the student learnt a lesson. All that she did was “role reversal”. After few days, the student understood the trauma faced by the teacher and abstained from indulging into disobedient acts! Care and love are always better than a whip.