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Annual Magazine Principal

From the Desk of the

"Wings to Fly: Innovative India" is a very elegant phrase and it has to be dissected and interpreted to
suit our context. Education being our situation, one must ask "what is the wing that education gives
us to fly with in the 21st Century"? It is said that children join educational institutions as a question
mark and they leave these institutions as a full stop. The tragedy of today's education system is that
students feel boredom. There is a lack of involvement, low self-confidence, and an obsessive fear of
failure. In order to make their wings strong to fly, we need to invent ways that boost faith in one's
ability, invent new ideas and find relevant solutions to our context.
We need 'creation of new ideas' in the field of education that permeates everything else such as
technology, healthcare, ecology, agriculture, and so on. The innovation must be something original
and eective to make a meaningful impact to face the challenges. India produced one of the
greatest conceptual inventions known to humans: the 'ZERO'. However, I do not think that the 19th
Century model of 'rote-based learning' and the 'chalk-and-talk' system will give us any room for
innovation or enable us to fly. Such an approach not only transform the 'brick-and-mortar
confinement', but also take students on a journey of pure learning, responding to their doubts and
instilling in them an environment of curiosity and interactivity. Today we need sustainable and
inclusive innovation, where millions of poor and deprived brethren across the planet get more or less
equal opportunities.
It is true that scalable innovation becomes a panacea for overcoming social and economic
challenges, but the road to progress depends on humanity's success in unlocking the creative
potential of millions of its inhabitants. One of the steps towards it is to overhaul our educational
philosophy through: (1) Questioning (2) Observation (3) Experimentation (4) Association, i.e.
connecting the dots and (5) Networking. Such an approach might shift focus from fear to confidence
and from curiosity to creativity. The approach will support independent thinking and assist in
solving problems to nurture confidence and self-belief.
The need of the hour is to recognize that potential and ignite a quest to become the best they can on
every single day. So accept yourself, identify the best in you and fly high.........

Fr. Dr. E.A. Francis, S.J.
Principal

02 Volume-VIII, 2020