The CBSE Regional Office, Pune had organized a one-day conference on Experiential Learning and its five modules for principals of all CBSE schools coming under R.O. Pune at DPS school, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai on October 17, 2019. It was a huge gathering of principals, educationists and teachers from Mumbai, Pune, Daman-Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The conference was held to educate the stakeholders about Experiential Learning and the Hubs of Learning (HUL), and to actively work and collaborate towards improving the learning experience and work ethics in the teacher community which would undoubtedly benefit students in the long run.
The dignitaries of the conference included Mr. Anurag Tripathi, Secretary, CBSE, Delhi, Mr. Mahesh Dharmadhikari, Director (R.O Pune), Tarun Kumar, (Dy. Secretary), Mr. Maneesh (Secretary), and two Guest Principals from Trivandrum and Pune schools. The conference started with a brief welcome of the dignitaries by Mr. Mohanty, Principal, DPS, followed by a talk about the new Regional Office, Pune by Mr. Dharmadhikari, Guest of Honour. The conference, unlike speeches and talks was made very interesting due to various sessions which showed how experiential learning is possible in classrooms. Topics like river, advertisement, poem writing, etc. were taken up and enacted by the students and teachers during the various sessions which were planned and presented by students and staff of DPS, Reliance and Datta Meghe schools.
The sessions gave clarity on why experiential learning is important, and is a useful tool to make learning joyful and interesting rather than monotonous and boring by the same old rote learning method. It also gave a sense of relief to teachers and principals when they learned from the discussions that it would not be as time consuming as we think when put into practice. Towards the end of the conference, Mr. Anurag Tripathi addressed the gathering. In his short, meaningful and mesmerizing speech, he spoke about the necessity of educational reforms to improve the quality as well as experience of education in order to create a better and strong India. All were motivated by the method in which it was presented.
