Last week, IISER-Mohali hosted the Mathematics Teachers Orientation Camp (MTOC) sponsored by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), TIFR. The objective of this camp (and similar camps conducted by HBCSE elsewhere in the country) is to introduce and expose high school mathematics teachers and educators to fresh perspectives on their subject through interactive talks and problem-solving sessions. This is not strictly bound to the school curriculum, but the topics centre around things that can be assumed to be reasonably accessible for someone out of touch with (under)graduate level mathematics for years.
As a volunteer for this camp (primarily engaged in hospitality for the educators arriving on the campus), I got to interact with many of these educators who hailed from Uttarakhand and Punjab (teachers from other regions, especially J&K, Himachal, and Haryana, had to back out due to the approaching final exams). While I missed out on the opportunity to hear about the experiences of the teachers themselves, I certainly got the chance to talk about life as a maths student and my interest areas — an opportunity I was more than happy to take up. Post-conversation, I realised a need to step back and look at what I do from a bird's-eye view to make my explanations more approachable to non-specialists (maybe something I could try to do subsequently on this blog...).
I have been reflecting on all this after the event, partly motivated by some conversations during the event itself where the educators were genuinely wondering what, if anything, they stood to gain from these lectures. The range of topics included origami constructions and their maths — this is far more fascinating than I could have imagined, and could also make for a sequel post! — to continued fractions and a brief history of geometry, from Euclid to modern algebraic geometry. Sprinkled in between were some really interesting problem-solving sessions where the goal was to emphasise not the kind of problems themselves, but general heuristics useful for unravelling solutions to problems. In response, apart from a standard "it helps you develop appreciation and enthusiasm for the subject, which you can pass on to your students!" I really did not know what to say. As was rightly pointed out by the teacher I was talking to, most students want to get by with the bare-minimum of work, and adding more topics, however interesting they may seem to us, could not be the way to go.
In this post I would like to ramble and hopefully collect my thoughts about what events like this can (or even should!) do for maths education at the school level. First, I certainly think that the teachers and educators stand to gain something from such an exposure to mathematics. Given that most of them were educated outside of premier research institutes (and this is a relevant distinction — the gradient in the quality of instruction between research institutes and the next best central universities is jarring, something I have experienced firsthand), it is a genuinely enjoyable experience (backed by empirical evidence!) to see their beloved subject be presented to them by some of the leading mathematicians of the country, who are fortunately well-versed in articulating it. But for a country perpetually running on a resource deficit (and an intensifying problem of budget-cuts in teacher recruitment, etc.), this cannot serve as a sufficient basis for conducting these camps. There should be a justification in terms of the value it generates for their profession.
This brings me to my second point of support — this does trickle down to the students, although not always in forms we expect. Anyone who ever aspired to prepare for olympiads - not generic entrance exams, again a relevant distinction — is acutely aware of their school teacher's ignorance on the matter. This comes as no surprise, and the teachers are not to be blamed either. An absence of an educational culture where talented, hard-working students are encouraged to take up a trajectory that accelerates their development is the main culprit. By "accelerated trajectory" I do not mean to suggest joining a JEE coaching centre at age 13; this is often antithetical to the very development I'm suggesting. This development amounts to a very human form of mentorship, supervising and nurturing someone's curiosity, not necessarily tied to a tangible goal like doing well on a certain exam. Of course, for all this utopian vision of education one must confront the realistic challenges posed by resource-deprived classrooms, marred by overburdened and overworked teachers on temporary job contracts.
Without addressing my last concern (which, frankly, I am not informed enough about to say more), what I will say is that these events and interaction create a much needed information pathway between higher education and high school students. These teachers would be able to better advise students who would like to learn more about career opportunities (say, within pure mathematics), admission procedures to some of these lesser-known institutes (such as IISERs and NISER). This can save many students from following the herd into the treeless forest of engineering.
Third, I genuinely think that the topics exposited here could make for interesting tangents, especially for interested students. One potential way of letting it all come to fruition is doing special sessions for interested students — I know that few people like working overtime, but for people genuinely driven by the subject, this is but a small price to pay for meaningfully shaping the future of the subject in this country! I think that an exposure outside the pressure environment of curriculum and exams will do much more justice to a subject like maths.
Finally — and this is the horizon of my utopia — these sessions can be the beginning of an integrated educational environment, where school students can, if they are motivated to, peek at or even participate in research. I am familiar with some mathematicians, as young as 17, who have published in journals of international repute and in fact have significant expertise in their domains. The teachers can create a pathway between the brightest students and the academics at university, letting more of our students access the frontiers of research (something that is unfortunately hindered by greater red-tapism in public educational institutes in India, and only worsened by the increasing price of an education in the sciences). This, in my opinion, could one day truly make India a hub for maths research and innovation.
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