Bhanu P Lohumi
Shimla, September 5
Dedicated efforts to improve the handwriting of about 90,000 students and training teachers to make the the teaching-learning process more effective and hi-tech have helped Virender Kumar become a proud recipient of a national award for teachers today.
"In 2018, I observed that the handwriting of many students was not up to the mark and needed improvement. I started a campaign to improve handwriting. I organised a state-level handwriting exhibition at Gaiety Theatre, Shimla, to motivate students and gradually roped in and trained teachers, old students and trainees to help students improve their writing," says Virender Kumar who is serving as a teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, Dhorogra, in Sunni (Shimla).
"I have prepared a four-stroke capsule with 12 lessons of 20-25 minutes and students are required to practise these strokes for seven-10 minutes to improve their handwriting in two weeks," he says, adding that during Covid he had time to take five online sessions daily which helped in improving the handwriting of about 90,000 students in Himachal and other states, besides Indians residing in the UAE, UK, USA and Oman.
"I have also written a letter to the NCERT to make good handwriting a national intervention," he said. The other initiatives of Kumar include training 30,000 teachers to make the teaching-learning process more effective and hi-tech.
The other recipient of the national award from the state is Yudhveer Tandon, a teacher of Government Primary School, Anoga, in Sundla (Chamba). He strongly believes in the implementation of old concepts and has implemented the concepts of honesty shop, Bal Samachar Patrika, Bal Sansad, Swachhta Committee and computer-based intervention in his school.
Earlier, a recipient of the state award, Yudhveer has now bagged the national award for his contributions in just six years of service. During the pandemic, he came up with the e-book "Pehla Kadam" to help students with online studies as the state nodal officer (Har Ghar Pathshala) for Classes I to V and also printed another book "Bal Gyan Tarang".
"I have uploaded about 350-400 educational videos on YouTube and have over 22,000 subscribers," says Yudhveer.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service