The Epiphanous Transit

The epiphany hit me while posing to be photographed with a group of final year students. “Sir, you always look like a figure with a fixed smile. Why don’t we all make ‘hearts’ while we pose for this photo? Being a good sport, I make the biggest heart possible with raised hands, which to my surprise stood out like James Bond in his classic ‘casanova stance.’ The rest in the group were poised with what looked like tiny pinches fashioned out of the thumb and the index finger. And there I was, all this while, over my head at the delusion of being in vogue with the latest etiquettes. After all, social media platforms were not alien to me, neither were emoticons and acronyms - the likes of YOLO (you only live once) G2G (got to go), ATM (at the moment), nor the use of trending catch-phrase: ‘Slay’- for everything pleasing to the eye or ‘Rizz’- as a reference to someone being charming and charismatic.

The thought of being out-of-date had just crept in; the eye-opener was but the peep on my cell phone. The text on WhatsApp read, ‘Find out what your birth years say about you.’ The excitement at the anticipation was indeed short-lived. The very next thing I notice is, my birth year is nowhere to be found no matter how much I scrolled up and down the page (I haven’t replied to that text to this day). Forget the 60’s and the 70’s, there was not a mention of the 80’s! Certainly, one expects the 80’s to be not so long ago, and youth or aged, fading or otherwise, there is not a time one could afford to be outmoded.

Snapping out of the trivial, a quick tour of the learning milieu presents itself with a certain degree of qualms. In times when the average attention span is as low as 8 seconds, (according to a study by Microsoft) how well-equipped are we to face the stand-off against changing epochs? The conventional system too has evolved over time from the sage’s household, to sitting under Mother Nature and to the classroom setting and virtual rooms. The curriculum has undergone a transition into the Choice Based Credit System and to the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme, with emphasis on critical thinking and conceptual understanding, vocational education, technological integration, and flexible and multidisciplinary approach across streams.

In this labyrinth of academia and the journey through education, while being dynamic and enterprising, students are also faced with diverse and profound challenges ranging from academic pressure to technological overload, career uncertainty in a rapidly evolving landscape, mental wellbeing and adapting to new learning environments. Educators must be equipped to face the challenge of time, relate to the psyche of the present generation and nurture them. Not undermining the authenticity or efficacy of the conventional method, strides of advancements are to be incorporated. FDPs (Faculty Development Programmes), STCs (Senior Teacher Certificates) or orientation courses should keep any faculty updated. Mentoring, counselling, tutoring and academic support will go a long way in fostering an environment conducive to helping students not only overcome obstacles but thrive in their academic and personal endeavours.