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PROFILE
Ms Neelam Sapre teaches English and Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalaya—2, Air Force, Jodhpur. She has been associated with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan as a teacher for the last 25 years.
She completed her schooling from Lokmanya Tilak Kanya Inter College, Jhansi in 1971 and graduated from Bundelkhand University in 1973. She did her BEd from Kanpur University in 1974.
Ms Sapre belongs to that old school of thought which believes in small doses of quality education to children; one in which a-lesson-a-day helps them savour and process information in their young minds. Today, when the syllabus has grown leaps and bounds and is shovelled down children’s throats before they have had time to even chew, is not something Ms Sapre is very happy about.
“The entire focus is on completing the syllabus, somehow, in time for the examination,” she rues.
Having witnessed teaching patterns over the years, Ms Sapre feels that while teachers have become more academically qualified, the teaching approach has gone down qualitatively. “It is very impractical and lacks depth,” she opines.
English Language Teaching, she feels, has become very tricky and some of its aspects are extremely confusing for children. “Earlier, the emphasis used to be on grammar in order to provide a solid foundation and strengthen language skills, but today children can’t even get past sorting out differences in American and British spellings!”
Ms Sapre is acutely aware of the demands of a hugely competitive academic environment. Apart from keeping herself updated vis-à-vis her subject, she never resorts to spoonfeeding her students and instead encourages free thinking among them. Her efforts have earned her a certificate of merit as the ‘Most Hardworking Teacher’ by a jury comprising of the Education Officer, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
A trained singer with a degree in music from the prestigious Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Jhansi, Ms Sapre occasionally conducts music sessions for the SUPW classes in her school. She loves spending time in yoga meditation and reading classics.
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