PROFILE

Ms Annie Mathew has been teaching Social Science in Delhi's Carmel Convent for the last seventeen years. She is at present the head of the Social Science department.

She did her schooling from Presentation Convent, Kodaikanal and completed her post graduation in 1977 from Delhi University. She did her BEd from Delhi University as well. Ms Mathew, who holds fellowship of the Indian Council of Historical Research, has also done her M Phil with distinction from Delhi University.

She began teaching in the Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi, before she got married in 1979. Later she also taught for a brief period at the prestigious Mater Dei school. Following her husband's transfer to Assam, she taught at St Mary's Convent, Guwahati. On her return to Delhi, she joined Carmel Convent.

Ms Mathew has attended School Improvement Programmes held in Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad among other places across the country. She has also been attending the annual National Progressive Schools Conference regularly and has been to Bangkok as part of a school exchange programme.

Ms Mathew regularly contributes articles for newspapers and magazines. She has also authored textbooks in Social Science for school students. Her ability to understand the students' need and limitations has made her a popular author. As a teacher of a fact-oriented subject like Social Science, she feels she needs to constantly create and innovate to sustain their interest.

"I try to inculcate interest among my students by making teaching more interactive," Ms Mathew says adding that she even recommends related television programmes and films, and takes her students to places of historical interest to give them "a feel of things".

Ms Mathew opines that the academic culture in schools nowadays is extremely challenging given the exposure the students have. She says that as a teacher she often has to double as a counsellor to address her students' problems, ranging from growing-up pangs to social and family pressures.

Ms Mathew, who loves to travel and do community service, relaxes by reading and playing on the piano.