Ram Hari Dhakal is an enthusiastic educator with nearly 3 decades of teaching experience. He believes in the interpretation of counseling and ICT in teaching. To him, Teaching is not merely a job but a means to inspire and transform lives.
Transformative teaching involves establishing a dynamic relationship between teachers and students, as well as a shared body of knowledge to promote student learning and personal growth. In addition to addressing social justice issues and promoting equity and inclusion, it involves enhancing critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
The main purpose of transformative teaching is to empower students to become active participants in their learning processes, encouraging students to challenge stereotypes, question assumptions and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.
Transformative teaching typically involves establishing interactive and collaborative learning environments, integrating a diversity of perspectives and experiences, and promoting self-reflection, internalization, and individual development.
In the podcast titled “Transformative Teaching: Decades of Dedication and Inspiration with Mr. Ram Hari Dhakal”, he, who is an enthusiastic educator with nearly three decades of teaching experience, talks about his journey of teaching, what it is like to be a teacher, the attitude of students in the past and present, changing learning attitudes of students, the impact of Chat GPT and AI on student’s way of learning, teacher’s role in student’s life, counseling and punishment to the students, language barrier and their impact on student’s education, involvement of politics in education, placement, and salaries of teachers, ways to inspire youth to teach, government role and so on.
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Shift in the learning attitudes of students
In the present context, there is a gradual shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning in the education system. This student-centered learning involves the active engagement of students, promotion of critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills, personalized learning, and improvement of communication and collaboration skills.
Students are more updated in the present times through the use of different social media platforms, as compared to the students in the past whose sole knowledge source used to be teachers. But all in all, teachers learn from the student’s curiosity. Different factors like family structure, societal conditions, access to modern technology, etc affect the students’ attitudes, whether in the past or the present context.
In the past, students were afraid of teachers which resulted in fewer questions being raised to the teachers. However, it has changed nowadays due to the change in how parents raise children. But the student’s curiosity in both present and past contexts depends on the nature of the students.
Impact of Teacher-student Relationships on Academic Outcome
The nature of the teacher-student relationship can significantly affect the motivation, engagement, accomplishment, and overall well-being of the students. A positive teacher-student relationship creates a positive impact on student’s learning outcomes, skill development, and learning outcomes.
The relationship between students and teachers seems to be very friendly these days. Today’s generation has become very sensitive and restrictive. However, in the past, students tend to face humiliation and punishments from their teachers for their mistakes, impacting their learning outcomes and academic performance.
Ram Hari Dhakal thinks that physical punishments for the students are just inhumane. Instead of punishments, teachers should provide counseling to the students to learn their nature and behavior. Teachers should work as guardians of students eventually guiding and helping them to self-evaluate their progress and growth.
Role of Teachers in Student’s Life
Ram Hari Dhakal believes that teachers play a very important role in saving the future of the students. They help students gain new information and skills and develop their creativity and curiosity in addition to providing support.
It is the responsibility of teachers to impart significant knowledge to their pupils to make them valuable in the future. This is done by recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of children and offering them support and care.
So, integrating counseling in terms of mental health and career and ICT in teaching will be helpful so that students can self-evaluate and work on their development.
Teachers can use a variety of tactics to keep their students engaged including interactive exercises, technology integrations, and collaborative learning, which might challenge students to think critically.
Impact of Chat GPT and AI in student’s education
Chatbots have become increasingly common as they offer personalized learning experiences and instant access to information. however, there are concerns about plagiarism and the possible consequences of relying too much on technology.
Ram Hari Dhakal considers the impact of Chat GPT and AI on the student’s education is considerably high in the present context. It both has positive and negative impacts on their education. Availability of Chat GPT and AI technology are beneficial for collecting facts and knowledge on different topics but these technologies make students more technology-dependent for even simple things, making them less creative.
With Chat GPT’s capability to provide personalized learning experiences, promote inclusivity, and foster teamwork, Chat GPT has the potential to significantly change the education field. but there are also issues with accuracy, morality, and the potential for less human interaction.
For more information, visit this link: Pros and Cons of Using Chat GPT and AI in Learning
Ram Hari Dhakal’s views on Politics and Education
For many years, Nepal’s academic institutions have been politicized. However, these political activities have been more focused on strengthening political parties rather than empowering people or supporting a democratic culture.
When asked about the integration of politics in education, Ram Hari Dhakal talks about how political parties influence Nepalese education in both positive and negative ways. Students and teachers involved in political parties working for the betterment of the students are beneficial for their education. However, students and teachers misusing their posts for their benefit is not good.
Government’s Role in Improving Education Sector
To reverse the brain drain in the country, proper allocation of human resources should be done by the government in each sector of the country, including the education sector.
Local governments must invest in teacher training and professional development initiatives so that they have the tools needed to provide high-quality education. Additionally, equitable distribution of educational resources among all communities should be a top priority for local governments, addressing gaps in access to quality education through targeted interventions.
For additional information, please visit this link: Government's Role in Improving Education Sector
Conclusion
In conclusion, Mr. Ram Hari Dhakal emphasizes dynamic educator-learner relationships and student empowerment, focusing mainly on social justice, equity, and inclusion, fostering critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Integration of counseling and technology into teaching practices can improve self-evaluation and development. While new technologies like Chat GPT and AI offer advantages such as individualized learning, there are concerns about overreliance and reduced creativity. Similarly, the politicization of education in Nepal emphasizes the need for balanced involvement of political parties to meet the educational needs of the population.