Apply mathematics to overcome social prejudices: NCERT director
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 13 February 2007, 18:30 IST
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Mumbai: Notwithstanding the isolation and fear that comes ingrained in many people with a mention of Mathematics, the subject should be applied to overcome social prejudices, said Krishna Kumar, director, National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). It should also be used as a tool to teach linkages of various subjects in primary and secondary school curriculum, Kumar said at a four-day international conference which reviewed research on science, technology and mathematics education. About 140 participants from 20 countries attended the conference organized by the Homi Bhabha Center For Science Education. Speaking at the conference while delivering the keynote address Kumar said, "There is accepted prejudices for mathematics in the society, which even divided the society. Educationists did not take much efforts to bridge the gap produced due to this divide for a long time." He stated that if there is one subject that could link all subjects, including politics and economics, it is mathematics and the educationists should try and bridge the gap. "Unfortunately, those bridges are yet to be visualized by the teaching community," he noted. Kumar said the most complex part of curriculum was that technology, politics and economics are not considered science and "it is time educationists and teachers come together to work on various innovative methods to express linkages to students at the primary and secondary schools".

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