Equip students to ask right questions rather than promoting rote learning, teachers told

The education system needs to teach students to ask the right questions rather than repeat answers in a uniform format in exams, in order for them to deal with real life situation, V. Thiruppugazh, Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority, said on Saturday

The education system needs to teach students to ask the right questions rather than repeat answers in a uniform format in exams, in order for them to deal with real life situation, V. Thiruppugazh, Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority, said on Saturday.

In his graduation address at the convocation ceremony of the University Colleges of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai (BIT Campus-Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Pattukottai and Thirukkuvalai), Mr. Thiruppugazh said: “Students today are burdened with a heavy syllabus. The subjects I studied in college has become school subjects. Our education system is focusing on making children learn answers, that should all be the same in exams; but we do not ask students to ask the right type of questions. The pedagogy should change, because it will not help students in real life.”

The retired civil servant urged students to become self-reliant. “Graduation does not mean the end of examinations. At every step of building a career, one will have to write many more tests and face challenges in order to progress,” he said. He advised parents to desist from imposing their unrealised goals on their children.

A total of 1,085 students from the batch of the academic year 2022-23 received their degrees at Saturday’s ceremony, held in the convocation hall of Bharathidasan University.

Two State top rank holders V. Pravin (BE Civil Engineering, Tamil Medium) and B.J. Carolin Lincy (B.Tech Pharmaceutical Engineering) were honoured with mementos.

R. Velraj, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, was present.

T. Senthilkumar, professor and dean, University College of Engineering, BIT Campus-Tiruchi, presented the annual report.