19. Report of the Conference

As part of the Centenary Celebrations of Government College of Teacher Education, Thiruvananthapuram, the International Conference on Adaptability and Responsiveness in Teacher Education was organized on 18th and 19th June 2010, and this marked the beginning of the year-long Centenary Celebrations ahead.

The inaugural session of the Conference began with an invocation followed by the Welcome Song especially composed for the Centenary Celebrations. The eminent guests and speakers included Prof. M. A. Khader, Director, SCERT, Kerala, Dr. Allyson Sudborough, Fulbright scholar (USA), Mrs. J. Gourikuttyamma, Retired Professor of IASE, Trissur and Dr. A. Teresa Susan, Head, Department of Education, University of Kerala.


Dr. M. S. Geetha Principal and General Convenor, Centenary Celebrations, presented a brief history of the college and introduced the guests and welcomed the gathering. Prior to the lighting of the lamp ceremony, mementos embossed with the Centenary Logo was presented to the guests and invited speakers.

The Conference was formally inaugurated by Prof. M.A.Khader. who said that “education must cater to the basic needs of man and that teachers must be sensitive to social issues”. This was followed by the Key note address by Dr. Allyson who emphasized the need for adaptability in teaching in the contemporary scenario and discussed the interconnection of the cultures of various nations. She also mentioned the five aims of education highlighted in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005). We had Dr. J Gowrikuttyamma and Dr. A.Theresa Susan to do the felicitations and they wished good luck for the programmes ahead. The vote of thanks was rendered by Dr. G.R.Santhosh Kumar , Faculty and Convener, Programme Committee.


As the session was lagging behind as per the original schedule, there was no tea break and tea was served in the auditorium. Soon the first Plenary Session commenced and Dr.B.Suresh, Faculty and Convenor Programme Committee, Centenary Celebrations, introduced the theme of the session. Dr. K. Rajeswari, one of the Convenors of the Conference, introduced and welcomed the speaker of the first theme of the session, Mr. Swaminathan Rajappan Pillai, Journalist and Social scientist. He elucidated the theme ‘Adaptability in Teacher Education’.

The delegates dispersed for lunch and within forty-five minutes returned to the main venue, the Seminar Hall in the UGC Block. The second speaker Dr. Manjula P Rao, Reader, RIE, Mysor, spoke on the theme- ‘Challenges & Opportunities in Restructuring Teacher Education’. Mr. C.Praveen, Convenor of the Conference introduced the speaker who emphasized the need for continuous and comprehensive evaluation. She also made a comparison of the teacher education curriculum in the East and the West and underlined the fact that “knowledge should exist in practice, for practice and of practice”. Mr. Binukumar, Faculty of the college extended the vote of thanks.


The third session, again a Plenary, focused on ‘Adapting curriculum and faculty development for global needs- the European and Indian Perspectives’. The theme was introduced by Dr. T. V. Kunhiraman, Faculty and Convenor, Reception Committee, Centenary Celebrations. The European perspective was presented by Ms. Elizabeth Chatelain, a teacher from USA who was introduced to the audience by Mr. C. Venugopal, Faculty and Convenor Audit Committee, Centenary Celebrations.

Mr. Isaac Paul, Faculty of the college, introduced the second speaker of the session Dr. G. Sreekumar, Human Resources Management expert, who presented the Indian perspective. Mr. C. Praveen, thanked the speakers and requested the gathering to assemble for a photo session before moving on to Paper Presentations on the sub themes of the Conference held in three venues as parallel sessions. Based on the personal request of a few delegates, the Workshop originally planned during the parallel session was postponed to the forenoon of 19th June.

The moderators for the Paper Presentation (Non-Competition) session were Dr. Asha J.V, Dr. Bindu R.L, Dr. Malini, Dr. Rani, Dr. Valsala and Dr. Vijayakumariamma. The Paper Presentation session originally scheduled for 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm concluded only at 6.45 pm. But something unprecedented in conferences organized in colleges, happened - The delegates in each of the three venues, though it was quite late in the evening, stayed back and participated in discussions with the paper presenters till all the paper presentations were over.


The second day’s (19th June 2010) programme commenced at 9.10 am. Mr. P.K. Sudheendran Nair Librarian and Convenor Extension Activities Committee, Centenary Celebrations welcomed the delegates who had displayed Posters. This was followed by a five minute presentation of the content of the Posters by the authors. Ms. Lavanya, Research scholar of the college offered the vote of thanks.

The postponed Workshop session was conducted parallel to the Paper Presentation- Competition Session. The focus of the Workshop was on teaching, learning and leadership. The Coordinators of the workshop were Dr. Allyson Sudborough and Mr. Todd Breyfogle and they were introduced by Mr. C.Praveen. Based on the reading texts supplied by the Coordinators, the participants engaged in discussions. The ideas shared by the participants of the workshop had philosophical underpinnings. It enabled the participants to prune ideas about teaching and learning. Dr. V.Kunhiraman, Faculty, thanked the Coordinators.

There were five paper presentations in the Competition Sessions. The themes presented included: Intuitive skills for prospective teachers, effectiveness of mind mapping techniques, Geographical Information System and Play-way techniques in teaching. The Judges of the competition : Dr. K.R.Sivadasan (Former Dean, Faculty of Education) , Dr. V.Reghu, (Faculty , Head and Dean, School of Youth Studies, RGNIYD, Tamilnadu) and Dr. K.P.Meera (Reader, Dept. of Education, Calicut University) were welcomed by Mr. C.Venugopal,. Faculty. After the Paper Presentation Competition, Dr. Sivadasan and Dr. Reghu offered their comments and suggested ways to improve the presentations. Ms. Sreejalekshmi, Research scholar of the college, thanked the judges and the presenters.


We moved on to the Seventh Session which had Learning Management Systems as its chosen theme. The presenter Mr. Rajeev Sathyadevan, Instructional Course Designer, XOR Ltd. UK. was welcomed by Ms. V.K.Shoba, Faculty and Convenor, Hospitality Committee, Centenary Celebrations. She also introduced the theme. Mr. Rajeev’s multimedia presentation, helped the audience familiarize themselves with Moodle- a popular Learning Management System. Ms. Sini S.S, Faculty of the college, thanked the Resource Person.

The eighth session, a Panel Discussion on Literacy Programmes and Inclusive Education followed. Dr. Vijayakumariamma, Alumni of our college and Faculty of Govt. College for Women, Thiruvananghapuram welcomed and introduced the speakers. The moderator of the session was Dr. C.P.Sreekantan Nair, President, CTE Kerala Chapter. One of the invited speakers was Dr. V.Reghu who was also a judge of the paper presentation competition, dwelled on the shifting focus of literacy programmes introduced in India. The next invited speaker for the Panel Discussion , Dr. Geetha Janet Vitus, Hon. Director, Centre for learning Disabilities and Difficulties, Dept. of Education, University of Kerala, in her talk focussed on the provisions introduced by the Indian Government for inclusive education and the marginalized.. As both the speakers had elucidated the areas assigned to them fairly well, and since the Session was almost an hour behind schedule, the moderator discreetly concluded the session. Ms. Indu MEd. student of the college thanked the speakers.

We broke up for lunch after which we started off with Session 9 , a Plenary on ‘Solutions through IT for teaching and learning’. The presenters Mr. K. K. Sajeev, District Coordinator IT@ school project and Mr. R. Sahani, Master Trainer. IT@ school project, Thiruvananthapuram were welcomed by Ms. Nitha S, MEd student of the college. Mr. Sajeev focussed on ICT enabled education in classrooms and Mr. R.Sahani demonstrated a few useful software for teaching and learning using computers and the Internet.

After tea break, the Valedictory session commenced at 4.00 pm. Dr. M.S.Geetha the Principal of the college, welcomed the gathering and introduced the Chief Guest, Dr. A. Sukumaran Nair, Former Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University. Dr. Sukumaran Nair, in his valedictory address focussed on ‘change through education’ and the need for changing from knowledge consumers to knowledge creators. He emphasized the need for introducing education for teaching the tools of knowledge generation. He opined that it is high time that we gave up the ‘ivory tower-type research programmes’. He concluded by wishing the college all success in its programmes and hoped that soon the college would rise to the status of a Teacher Education University.

Felicitations were offered by Mr. G.Gopinadhan, Chairman Programme Committee, Centenary Celebrations, Ms. Meenakshy Ramachandran , Principal, Christ Nagar College of Education, Thiruvallom, Thiruvananthapuram and Mr. S. Mohandasan Pillai, Principal, Govt. Model HSS for Boys, Thiruvananthapuram.

This was followed by presentation of the report of the Two-day Conference by one of the Convenors of the Conference Mr. C.Praveen. Next the winner of the Paper Presentation Competition, Mr. Pramod D, Research Scholar, SPS , Mahatma Gandhi University was given the award and certificate by the Chief Guest. Next, volunteers from the delegates were invited to offer their comments about the conference. All of them congratulated the organizers for the successful conduct of the Conference.

Finally it was the turn of Dr. K. Rajeswari, Convenor of the Conference to deliver the Vote of thanks. She thanked the invited speakers, the delegates, students and several others especially the team of dedicated members of the Conference Committee.

The curtain fell on the two day conference with the choral rendering by the audience of the National Anthem.

C.Praveen
Convenor of the Conference



[A big thanks to my dear students, Ms. Rashmi S. Pillai and Ms Vijila G.S, who compeered the sessions and assisted me in preparing the report]