By Our Special Correspondent
Shillong: The human brain is not designed to work but to play and 80% of the brain is dedicated to visual processes, says Dilip Mukerjea, owner and managing director of ‘Braindancing International’ specifically dedicated to advancing human performance across multiple domains.
Mukerjea is in Shillong on a visit and has been interacting with the teachers and students of St Edmunds School in the past week. Braindancing International focuses on developing Intellectual & Emotional Capital for the Learning Economy, via strategies encompassing Creative Problem Solving, Mind Mapping, Speed Reading, Memory Enhancement, and Lifescaping
Addressing a select audience from a cross section of society at Asian Confluence ( a knowledge centre at Laitumkhrah) on Monday, Mukerjea said there is no such thing as a learning disability among children but there certainly is teaching disability by teachers.
He said that Shillong has the potential to become the epicentre of a learning revolution in this country because of the eagerness of teachers, students, parents and school administrators to learn.
Pointing out that the challenge today is to build brain power, Mukerjea said the present system does not encourage it because the present system of education does not engage but encages the teacher and the taught.
“The mad quest for degrees will burn our students. India presently has the worst education system even though Indians are brilliant. Education is a human right gone horribly wrong,” Mukerjea said and asked the audience whether the education system is taking us to the 21st century or to the Jurassic Park.
Speaking of the essence of education, Mukerjea said the best learning is to, ‘Try, Fail, Learn, Win’ but our barbaric education system is incarcerating children.
He said the human brain works better in a pressure free environment and that can be created in an environment of hope and happiness because that is where thinking and learning flourishes.
“We need to free our children from the Guantanamo like prison walls and let their brains shake, rattle and roll even while their feet touch the earth. We need to infect the earth with joy and make people love, live and laugh and leave their ego aside,” Mukerjea exhorted and pointed out that the worst text books in the world are published in India where the ego of the author subsumes the learning needs of children.
Speaking about the present education system Mukerjea said children are today deluged by information and have become de-ingeniused by maniacal teachers and education is killing instead of skilling children.
He pointed out that the education system has become toxic and must be purged of all toxins. “Time is running out and wasted time cannot be recycled,” Mukerjea concluded.
He draws from Edward De Bono the lateral thinking expert and Tony Buzan, a proponent of mind mapping and mental literacy.
The discussion was arranged at the behest of Principal Secretary, Community & Rural Development, KN Kumar.