Ujjwal Banerjee, the reputed bengali teacher in south Kolkata, was the first professional teacher, whose classes I joined in standard 9, and continued till the higher secondary. One weekly class of two hours, in large batches of 40-50 students, in a small room in Gariahat. The students were mostly from english medium schools, and mostly belonging middle and upper class families. These two factors contributed to the important characteristics of the class. The classes were a place of gossip, romance, leisure, and time-pass, that is, of anything but studying a so called boring subject like bengali.
This was so, until one month before the exams. Sir was practical enough not to spend his own and our time uselessly on long lectures and delivering notes. The two hours consisted some grammar practice, an overview on some text, prose or poem, and the rest time belonged to us only. His absence in the room was utilized quite heavenly by the students. Photocopies of lengthy notes were available from a commissioned xerox shop, upon producing a signed paper-slip from Sir, which was again available on providing the monthly remuneration. Systematic enough, and it sounds hardcore professional, but that was the thing practical enough to do with these students, most of them having hardly any respect to the subject or study.
The exam season was a festival, sudden spurge of students, sudden copying of notes and class practice, sudden seriousness, and again calm after the exam. Sir regularly criticized the academic system and his own dissatisfaction on being a part of this system, under masked words which I guess more than 90% of the class failed to understand. He announced the onset of the exam festival, jokingly, comparing it with the Durga Puja, but I understand the bitterness with which he did it.
Bengali grammar was something these students memorized by examples, not by rules. Lengthy answers were memorized as is, line by line, without understanding anything on the topic. That was how the academic system looked at that point of time. And the system is same here, at NIT DGP, as I see almost 10 years down the line, in spite of the huge difference of level. From secondary to post-graduation, the academic system looks hopeless as always. Useless lectures, without any application of knowledge, question papers without any intelligent problems, and the universal exam rule of omit, commit and vomit.
No wonder that industries are finding a dearth of professionals these days, and the students are finding a dearth of industries.
This was so, until one month before the exams. Sir was practical enough not to spend his own and our time uselessly on long lectures and delivering notes. The two hours consisted some grammar practice, an overview on some text, prose or poem, and the rest time belonged to us only. His absence in the room was utilized quite heavenly by the students. Photocopies of lengthy notes were available from a commissioned xerox shop, upon producing a signed paper-slip from Sir, which was again available on providing the monthly remuneration. Systematic enough, and it sounds hardcore professional, but that was the thing practical enough to do with these students, most of them having hardly any respect to the subject or study.
The exam season was a festival, sudden spurge of students, sudden copying of notes and class practice, sudden seriousness, and again calm after the exam. Sir regularly criticized the academic system and his own dissatisfaction on being a part of this system, under masked words which I guess more than 90% of the class failed to understand. He announced the onset of the exam festival, jokingly, comparing it with the Durga Puja, but I understand the bitterness with which he did it.
Bengali grammar was something these students memorized by examples, not by rules. Lengthy answers were memorized as is, line by line, without understanding anything on the topic. That was how the academic system looked at that point of time. And the system is same here, at NIT DGP, as I see almost 10 years down the line, in spite of the huge difference of level. From secondary to post-graduation, the academic system looks hopeless as always. Useless lectures, without any application of knowledge, question papers without any intelligent problems, and the universal exam rule of omit, commit and vomit.
No wonder that industries are finding a dearth of professionals these days, and the students are finding a dearth of industries.
