Allowing Our Children To Be (Practicing Non-attachment)

by - dailyom

Parenting asks us to rise to some of the most difficult challenges this world has to offer, and one of its greatest paradoxes arises around the issue of attachment. On one hand, successful parenting requires that we love our children, and most of us love in a very attached way. On the other hand, it also requires that we let go of our children at the appropriate times, which means we must practice some level of nonattachment. Many parents find this difficult because we love our children fiercely, more than we will ever love anyone, and this can cause us to overstep our bounds with them as their independence grows. Yet truly loving them requires that we set them free. 

Attachment to outcome is perhaps the greatest obstacle on the parenting path, and the one that teaches us the most about the importance of practicing nonattachment. We commonly perceive our children to be extensions of ourselves, imagining that we know what's best for them, but our children are people in their own right with their own paths to follow in this world. They may be called to move in directions we fear, don't respect, or don't understand, yet we must let them go. This letting go happens gradually throughout our lives with our children until we finally honor them as fully grown adults who no longer require our guidance. At this point, it is important that we treat them as peers who may or may not seek our input into their lives. This allows them, and us, to fully realize the greatest gift parents can offer their offspring -independence. 

Letting go in any area of life requires a deep trust in the universe, in the overall meaning and purpose of existence. Remembering that there is more to us and our children than meets the eye can help us practice nonattachment, even when we feel overwhelmed by concern and the desire to interfere. We are all souls making our way in the world and making our way, ultimately, back to the same source. This can be our mantra as we let our children go in peace and confidence. 

So, the next time your child insists on going for an Experiential program, just let him. It might just transform him !!

Implementation of Human Resource Development in Schools via examples from the Corporate Sector

by - Aaron Stafford

Human Resource Development (HRD) is a framework for helping employees to relate constructively and think productively. It is used to develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge and abilities.

HRD includes opportunities such as employee training, career development and performance management. It also includes coaching, mentoring, planning and providing assistance to employees.

The goal of the HRD is to create a superior workforce so that both the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals.

HRD can take various forms and its applicability is universal. It can be formal such as in classroom training, a college course or a planned organization chart. It can take informal form as such in employee coaching by a trainer or manager designated by the firm.

The broad processes of HRD are recruitment and selection, orientation and training and development.

 

Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment is the process by which organizations locate and attract individuals to fill job vacancies. Most organizations have a continuing need to recruit new employees to replace those who leave or those who are promoted, to acquire new skills and to permit organizational growth.

Recruitment goes hand in hand with the selection process by which organizations decide the suitability of candidates for various jobs.

Orientation

To develop an effective workforce, an organization should firstly express a positive view to the new employees through the orientation. New hires should not get a negative view of joining a company. This can result in negatively motivated and less productive workforce. Many Indian firms have devised elaborate and detailed programs for new employee selection. Steel Authority of India (SAIL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. use a combination of class room sessions, on-the-job experiences, visits to various locations and self learning as a part of the orientation of trainee employees.

Training and Development

Immediately after orientation, training should begin. Training basically means giving new or existing employees the skills they need to perform their jobs. This might mean showing a new web designer the intricacies of the company’s website, a new sales person how to sell the firm’s product, etc. Organizations also provide employees ways to enhance their qualifications academically. Companies such as Ernst and Young, together with the University of Notre Dame and the University of Virginia, has developed a unique Master's program primarily for non-accounting business majors.

Training is a hallmark of good management. Having high-potential employees does not guarantee they’ll succeed. Instead they must know what to do and how to do it. Research shows that an organization’s revenues and overall profitability are positively correlated to the amount of training provided. According to Training Magazine industry report, U.S. companies spend nearly $50 billion annually to provide each of their employees with 26 hours on average of formal training. The top 100 companies provide nearly double that amount of training.

An Easy, 5 step Training and Development Process

Step 1: Identifying the skills required for the job, assessing the prospective trainee’s skills through the development of a measurable knowledge and performance analysis.

Step 2: Decide, compile and produce the training program which includes workbook, exercises and activities.

Step 3: Refining the training process and testing its validity.

Step 4: Implement the program on the targeted group.

Step 5: Evaluate the success or failure of the training program and make necessary changes or provide additional training if applicable. 

Implementing HRD in Schools

Human Resource Development should be practiced right at the grassroots level, i.e. Schools. The implementation of accurate training to budding minds is essential to build future managers and responsible adults.

 

HRD can be implemented in schools by the school administration and teaching staff to students in a similar way it is implemented by employers to their employees. It can begin by student profiling and assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and noting the field of interest of the student. Accordingly the school can devise appropriate training programs for individual students or groups of students through field trips, outdoor activities which build interest towards the subject or related field, project work to promote self-learning, use of audio-visual aids and computer graphics to promote interest, video conferencing of other schools to enable students to have a wider perspective and learning environment and grouping of students with similar traits and working out difficulties faced by them through introduction of interactive learning sessions based on their weaknesses. 

Implementation of such programs in schools as it is practiced in the corporate world can greatly enhance the quality of both theoretical and practical knowledge of students and successfully make a set of motivated individuals, capable of solving practical issues at work in the future.

How it helps to be Multi Lingual / Importance of Cultural Awareness

by - Analía Gómez Vidal (Argentina)

Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

I started studying English when I was 8 years old. At that time, it was just another class at school, and it had little to do with the fact that speaking a second language would open a great amount of doors. In fact, at that age, the only relevant door was the one my teacher opened everyday to say “See you tomorrow, kids”. By the time I was 13, I enjoyed my English classes as I identified some of the benefits that studying it would give me. For example, I could sing all my favorite songs while watching videos on MTV, without going through the kind of embarrassing practice of humming and making up words in public. Then, my ambitious-slash-nerdish side awoke. So I started learning German, my father’s choice, but as a reward I would have permission to learn a fourth language: French. Over the past ten years, I have completed my studies on some of those languages, and I have started learning some others, as Portuguese and Chinese. The reasons why I did that go beyond singing along.

First of all, there is an undoubtedly sense of curiosity that drives most of the people that start learning more than two languages. As we live in an interconnected, globalised world, it becomes vital for us to learn a second language that can let us communicate with people around the world. However, the possibility of learning more languages opens up doors... and worlds. Each time you go into a classroom to get a language course, you can feel almost immediately how its culture embraces you, through its rhythm, its colors, or even through the hidden logic of the language itself.

Also, we can’t deny an obvious fact: sharing a language makes you feel closer to others. Think about being abroad, think about all day speaking a language that is not your own. But suddenly, in the middle of your day, you run into someone that shares some words with you, or maybe recognizes your nationality and tries to speak with you in your first language. It feels like an oasis in the middle of a place you can make your own, but it is not actual yours.

The most powerful reason to learn several languages may be, precisely, a combination of both previous reasons: as you learn more languages, you can get to know more people coming for different worlds and cultures. In the process of getting to know each other, you can understand the way they act and feel, because you get to the soul of their culture, and the structure of their mind-setting. In the meantime, you can get to know people in a deeper, involving way, which leads you, inevitably, to learn about your own language... and yourself.

 

All in all, my personal experience taught me there is no good reason why you shouldn’t start studying more languages. Just pick a place you would love to know, or even a culture you are fascinated with, and look for the closest school around that teaches its language. After some time and probably a few exams, I’m sure you will not regret it.

At skyKpaar, we celebrate the spirit of exploration and encourage people to experience new things because that is what ultimately leads to discover your own self !!

Is it killing you - The edu_system ??

by - Kratik Malhotra

Graffiti on a wall next to ILS, Symbiosis, Pune reads, “It kills you without even letting you know. It kills you silently, the (Indian) Education System.”

 

Hundreds of students in India commit suicide each year after not scoring well in exams, or more frankly, as well as was expected of them; thousands suffer from depression after being put under the massive strain which getting an education in India frequently entails, and millions stamp on their dreams and true passions to lead false lives and pursue careers which they have been socialised and persuaded to believe are more worthwhile. 

Yet, on the other hand, the lives that they lead in these clichéd professions – in most cases - allow them to taste success at a rate unparalleled anywhere  else in the world today. This is probably one of the contributing factors behind the high growth rate of the Indian economy in recent years, as Indians continue to do exceptionally well at home and abroad.

A review of the Indian education system in the past:

Our education system was, in the beginning, based on spirituality, where people were taught how to  maintain and build their peace of mind with the aid of special skills and techniques. "He who is possessed of supreme knowledge by concentration of mind, must have his senses under control, like spirited steeds controlled by a charioteer", is a famous saying by the Katha Upanishad (iii, 6). In fact, since the Vedic age, the central conception of education among the Indians has been that it is a source of illumination for the correct path to follow in order to lead a fulfilling, rewarding life.

A number of books on the theme of Indian education system have affirmed that the percentage of literary people in India was more in that past than in the present. At least up to 7th century A.D. this system worked most satisfactorily. People showed brilliancy in almost all departments - Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Chemistry, Poetry, Drama, Grammar and Philosophy. No nation could excel Indians at that time.

From the 4th century B.C. to the 11th century A.D., almost all foreigners who came in contact with India and studied her civilization critically were very impressed by  the same, leading to the famous symbolisation of India as a ‘ golden bird’. These foreigners spoke highly of the Indian character especially in terms of their truthfulness, honesty, and sense of justice. The influence of the system of education was very strong among the people in general. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador who came to India in the 4th century B.C. remarked " for whereas among other nations it is usual in the contests of war, to ravage the soil, among the Indians it is on the contrary. They never use the conquered as slaves." Idrisi, the Arabian traveller and scholar, in his Geography written in the 11th century A.D. says, "The Indians are naturally inclined to justice and never depart from it in action. Their good faith, honesty and fidelity in their engagement were well known and they were so famous for their qualities that people came to their country from every side." Abul Fazl, the author of Aini Akbar, in the 16th century noted, "The Hindus are admirers of truth and showed unbounded fidelity in all dealings."

Dwelling on this wonderful effect of this system of education unparalleled in history Sir Monier Williams says, "And here I may observe circumstances in the history of India are more worthy of investigation than the antiquity and perseverance of her institutions. It has existed almost unaltered since the description of its organization in Manu's code two or three centuries before Christian era. It has survived all religious, political and physical convulsions from which India suffered from time immemorial. Invader after invader has ravaged the country with fire and sword but the simple self-contained township has preserved its constitution intact, its customs, precedents, and peculiar institutions unchanged and unchangeable amid all other changes." (source: Brahmanism and Hinduism p. 455).

British transformed it for the worse:

After the British invasion of India, the former appraised the Indian education system for what it was worth and were stunned to find everyone rich, happy and contented.

Lord Macaulay (Thomas Babington Macaulay), who was born on October 25, 1800, arrived in India (Madras) on 10th June 1834 as a member of the Supreme Council of India. He returned to England early 1838, and resumed his writing career there. Macaulay was in India, thus, only for a period of four years, but he was destined to make an impact on the lives of millions of Indians . In a letter to British Queen, he said, “"I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."

Thus, now, the British had their work cut out. Slowly and gradually, by hook or by crook and by trial and error  the British transformed the Indian education system.

It is often said that British brought urbanization to India- fair enough. But what they took away was one of India’s priceless assets – THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

A Silent Killer?

The head of Scientific Advisory Council very rightly, and famously, wrote to the Prime Minister of the time,Mr. C.N. Rao, drawing his attention towards the faulty education system in the country while calling the Indian education system an exam system.

Well, according to me, he is absolutely correct. Have a look:

The average curriculum of schools in India:

First week – chilled atmosphere.

Second week – Class Test 1.

Third week – Class Test 2.

End of the month – Unit Test.

This pattern continues throughout the year; only that Unit Tests are replaced by Half Yearly and Final Examinations. Much to the agony of students, education becomes a burden and a liability rather than learning.

Every single place that a child might visit, people rather than asking him what he has learnt, ask the well worn question, “How much did you score in your last exam?”It is literally as though getting good marks and a decent enough percentage in exams is the end of the world. But people forget that every child has his/her own field of interest, which by and large is either not recognised or respected. Hence, this system ends up pressurizing a child too much in order for him/her to succeed. This trend of conducting one examination after another carries on well after school life draws to an end and has led to innumerable suicides in colleges as well.

Newspapers regularly carry tragic reports of youngsters who have killed themselves or taken what Indians euphemistically call "the extreme step" because they fear the shame of a bad report card. On a single day last month, it was reported that two teenage boys in New Delhi hanged themselves at their homes. One was falling behind in his studies and the other was afraid of an English exam. A final year Bachelor of Commerce student hanged herself in the commercial capital Mumbai apparently because she was not prepared for her economics paper and did not want her family to feel ashamed. A grade 12 student from Surat in western India hanged herself and another threw herself before a moving train in Allahabad in northern India, the paper reported, adding there were other suicides that day too.

In 2006, the most recent year for which official figures are available, some 5,857 students -- or 16 a day -- killed themselves due to exam stress. Police say thousands of  suicides also  go unreported because parents want to keep the cause of death a secret.

"Teenage suicide (over exams) is a national disaster," said Samir Parikh, psychiatrist at Max Healthcare, a leading New Delhi private hospital chain.

Sad, isn’t it? It sure is.

Movies like ‘Taare Zamin Par’ and ‘3 Idiots’ have tried to covey similar messages. Time is calling for an urgent realization of the same.

Another aspect of the education system is that it makes students think in an extremely clichéd fashion. For instance, most of the people who take up engineering after their high school don’t even know what the engineering course offers. Board exams and then a number of entrance exams; if you make it, well and good, otherwise, students pay and get in, in another words, they dig their own grave. On the other hand, there must be thousands who have wanted to study engineering all their lives and hold the potential to become successful engineers but do not possess the resources to fulfil their aspirations while millions like them, who never thought of engineering as their profession have got in (either on merit or donation) for the sole reason that, engineering is “the thing” these days to do. This was one of the reasons that a newspaper recently reported that only 7% of people, who pass out as engineers make any significant contribution in the field.

Need a change?

Well, for all that has been mentioned above, yes, but I guess the positive aspects deserve a mention as well. Yes, the Indian education needs some tinkering but you can’t deny the fact that the degrees that it offers are respected all over the world. Famously, Chennai-born Sara Mathew in an interview to Times of India gave ample credit to the Indian education system for her success. "The good education system in India is what has helped me in excelling in my career in the US," she said and added that Indian degrees are highly respected and are very helpful in getting good jobs in the US.

Similar are the views of innumerable Indians who have success stories to tell in India and abroad. With the Indian economy on an unprecedented rise and Indians doing well in most areas of the world, is a change really indispensable?

Well, this is indeed a difficult question but I do believe that a change is needed, even if it is just a minor tinkering. I know people are doing well and will continue to do well in the future but what about the majority who find themselves down and suffering because of this same education system, should we not spare a thought for them as well? Hence, though the magnitude of transitions to be brought about is debatable but the necessity of the same, to whatever degree, is irrefutable and a prerequisite for a better future for the current and the future generations of Indian students.

So, would you join hands with us to bring about this change ?

Write to us

INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM – A Review

by - Ankur Anal & Vishakha Gopinath

The moment a child is born and somebody takes him in his lap, he says “Hey champ, you would become an Engineer, Manager etc.” It’s so strange that the child who has not even opened his eyes properly has got his career decided!

“Indian Middle Class” constitutes a major chunk of our population. This middle class has further Sub-divisions (on material terms) but no subdivision on mentality terms, i.e. all have the same attitude.

The middle class in India, is the most feared lot; they are like feared bunches of people, who know no other way but to work hard and follow others blindly.

This class, as I told is the most feared and excellent follower, prefers not to take up any risks in terms of choosing a career. They do what others are doing and finally end up giving very substandard performance.

I can’t blame the Indian Middle class mentality completely, as their situation is justified, thanks to the Poor Education system in India.

Unlike countries like America, where a child undergoes a psychology test in the beginning to check his bent of mind and is asked to follow the field which he likes the most, there is no such test in India.

We run towards any field which we feel will give us a job. Today, there is an IT boom in India, it’s offering a number of jobs, and so everybody is seen doing computer science engineering or a small certificate course (say .NET or JAVA). Can the govt. of India justify this situation?

Today, when one is asked “Why an MBA?” (in personal interviews for admissions), he comes up with different answers given by coaching institutes just to hide the main reason. Trust me, more than 90%of students don’t have any other reason but MONEY, immaterial of their interests they jump into this course and end up becoming “just a manager” who ends up saying “my life sucks!”

Why only MBA, it is true with any and every other course.

If Sachin Tendulkar would have been asked to become an Engineer or if Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam would have been asked to become a dancer, can you think of their performance??

They might have performed terribly bad and would have never become “The Sachin Tendulkar or The Kalam” (“The” symbolises their popularity).

The point that I am trying to make out here is that every child should be given the liberty to choose a career of his/her choice. Perhaps then his efficiency would increase by more than 100% and we would have many Tendulkars in their respective fields.

The companies would no longer complain of lack of enthusiasm in their employees (which now a days is a very serious problem particularly in software industries), as everyone would be passionate about his/her job.

Moreover, if the axis of grading and marking is shifted to classroom participation, project work, communication and leadership skills and extracurricular performance, only then will a genuine student shine out. This would not only create an interest in the students to pay attention to the lessons in class, but it will also help in activating the creative nerve in the student’s mind. This might sound like a wild-eyed preposition but the Indian education system desperately needs to bring about this change.

Respect for all the streams. It always does not have to be

M.A ENGLISH= TEACHER

B.COM= ACCOUNTANT

HOTEL MANAGEMENT= COOK &

A DEGREE IN MUSIC= SITTING AT HOME!

Is this how it is supposed to be??? Students at the school level need to be educated regarding the kind of streams that exist and what importance each of them plays to make an economy diverse. I would say even the adults who make such comments should be counseled about the importance of each and every degree and its scope all over the globe. Students should be encouraged to take up the streams according to their interests and come out with flying colours in that line; and the crowd around should not let them down but treat them equally.

Trust me, every career has numerous opportunities, you can excel if you are good at it! MAKE IT LARGE (as the bagpiper add says).

We at skyKpaar truly understand this situation and here is a chance for you to take any career of just YOUR choice. We would guide you and would try to understand your psychology in order to suggest you something which suites you the BEST.

So why become an ABC when you can become a Narayan Murthy.

Register Here

The Indian Education system (pros & cons)

by - Sanika Joshi & Pallavi Singh
 
India is known to be the land of knowledgeable people from ancient times. Whether it be Chanakya or Birbal or our present chess hero Vishanathan Anand, all have added to the rich education system and made India proud over the years.

India is also known for its ‘rote’ type of education system. The Indian education system instills a "retaining power" in the Individual which makes him remember information that he learns. Each subject is more theory oriented than practically oriented and involves a lot of learning by heart. This indeed helps to develop a child’s brain. Years and years of cramming and reproducing in the exam alters the mind to function in a manner that it "retains" or "captures" the data at a quick rate of remembrance reconstructing the data in the perfect manner.



However, sometimes visualisation works more than simply learning out of books. A child can retain the information in a more efficient manner if he is shown the actual implementation of the data. For example if we just teach the child how the windmill works he might understand the concept but, if he is shown in real life how the windmill converts wind energy to power he will develop interest in it and will pursue more knowledge in it than by merely being taught about it or having read about it.

Indian education involves teaching a wide span of subjects ranging from Philosophy to Information Technology. Right from our first day in school we're exposed to a variety of subjects dealing with politics, biology, health sciences, philosophy etc. which definitely give us an insight into the aspects of various fields of study existent and available as an option. We are exposed to a wide arena of subjects covering different aspects of the world and its people.

Along with this variety of subjects the system should also give its students the freedom to choose the subject of their choice. If they are given the freedom of learning music with history or any other beautiful combination it will surely encourage them to do better in their field. Flexibility in choosing the subjects of one’s choice also makes the individual capable enough to decide his career stream in life. You never know a small kid having passion in photography could turn out to be one of the world’s greatest photographers.

This system has created and keeps on creating a large pool of decently knowledgeable and literate population. India produces the largest pool of graduates and secondary qualified individuals, who are able to read, write and understand basic regional language as well as English. They are self-sufficient in terms of comprehending and articulating these languages at a basic level. Adaptability is another value these graduates possess. They are taught to work hard and they have learnt to adjust through all sorts of difficult environments.

India is also known for its strict style of teaching. Through this they develop values of perseverance and dedication. It also helps them to build devotion for the work they do. Here, knowledge and wisdom gained out of knowledge are valued and worshipped. They are considered a man’s jewels and are considered to develop the values in a human being perfect enough to mould his character.

Yet, however this system never encourages the habit of questioning and thinking outside the syllabi, thus totally abandoning creativity. It is my belief that if Indian kids were encouraged to think "out of the box" we'd have our own versions of Mark Zuckerbeg, Sergey Brin & Larry Page, but since creativity is discouraged and those who do dare to be creative are mocked upon, we haven't had any of it for the past so many decades.

If only we maintain a perfect balance in the teaching modes we would give our children knowledge coupled with passion and devotion to be able citizens of this country.

Team skyKpaar is striving to create a harmony between just that and is consistently innovating to give the Best to our kids !!

Education in its essence and its real meaning

by - Sanika Joshi

Education is defined in the dictionary as “The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for a mature life”. Heavy words can make our life more difficult so; let us actually travel through this path to understand the true essence of education.

Humans are gifted with a brain and the power of thinking. Over all other primates they are the most intelligent. They learn and teach others how to learn. They learn to live in an intelligent way. Let’s now see how education helps us do so.

Education makes you travel in a virtual world so that you can make an impact on the physical world. It teaches you to imagine, to dream, to learn, to live a mature life. In short it makes you aware of your surroundings.

The very concept of ‘education' implies a major role for challenging the imagination: that imagination of a particular challenge-hardened kind is, as it were, built into the very concept of education.

Education in itself is a vast realm of knowledge. An ocean of knowledge, ideas, inventions and a lot more. It is not merely confined to books. It goes way beyond that. In short, you can say it goes “beyond the sky's limits” (skyKpaar).It has no boundaries. In fact an individual gets the best education when it is in its natural form i.e. when Life becomes the teacher and exams never seem to end teaching one lesson after other. But this learning through an experience is forever embedded inside. You don’t need to mug it to remember. 

 

So it’s required that each one us make a conscious effort to stretch ourselves continuously and come out of the comfort zone to really grow and get educated in the true sense.

This is what skyKpaar does. We stretch students, put them in an environment where they naturally discover their true passions and are self-motivated to excel. They fall in love with themselves, their passions, their capabilities, their true calling. Their purpose seems clear to them and they don’t take off their eyes from the goal. Such is the state of being at ‘skyKpaar.’ Nothing else matters when you are at skyKpaar, you are busy following your interests in that state of mind and you feel elated, intoxicated with Passion.

 

That is when the real purpose of education would be attained and you would become an asset to this society, make this world a better place and leave a dent on it.

True Education makes you live your life to the fullest, To feel each moment of life. Education is the essence of life, make it yours !!