My journey As A Learner

/ Dr. Pramila Kudva

My journey as a learner began once again after a hiatus of 15 years. Satisfying the zest for learning with two children, and a home to run was not an easy task. But, Providence had role to play here.  I found out about a B.Ed college within walking distance from my home. I applied, appeared for the content test and joined.

It was a task to remember definitions. Bless Dr. Spencer Silver, who invented the Post Its. The definitions that I could not remember all over my house. Even my family members knew them as well as I did. At the end of the year I passed B.Ed with flying colours. If my family thought I was satisfied with this, they were headed for a surprise. Two post graduate courses followed and then a PhD. It makes me feel proud to say that I registered for PhD along with my son. I believe I am a lifelong learner.

I worked as a primary teacher, a secondary teacher and moved on to teacher educator’s role. That’s when the corporate bug got to me. I moved over to the middle management level in a corporate that was involved in making online content. It was fun for a while. Salary was good. But, the market was not ready for online learning. The bubble burst. I stepped out in search of greener pastures. The school environment seemed to be beckoning me. I missed the thrill of teaching in a class. The noise of children’s laughter. Once again, providence came to my rescue. The school where I had worked first, wanted somebody to take over as a principal. I fitted the bill and back I was in the school set up. Teaching community is paid poorly so, the salary was cut down by 40% but I was happy. 

I could do something that one does not venture into. We had our Primary section work without a textbook. Our Project work was an artist’s dream. There was adequate satisfaction on doing something right. If the staff was not happy about getting somebody from outside to the top post, they had to reconcile themselves.

I hopped three schools as a principal over a period of 18 years and finally retired voluntarily on 31st March 2022 from active service. It is not easy to sit at home and do pretty much nothing or watch movies and idle your time . I ventured into conducting workshops for teachers. This is perhaps one of the best ways to tickle my grey cells. I am an Educational Innovator and try to innovate as much as is possible. This exercise of planning, implementing and facilitating gives me immense satisfaction and it keeps my grey cells active and working.
A plaque of Appreciation for my contribution to the field of Education  was  given to me in November 2019 at the Annual conference of ICSE Schools.

Harvard University conducted a course, Exercising Leadership foundational Principles in collaboration with Macmillan who chose 200 principals for the course pan India. I was one of them. I completed the course apparently in record time and they did a backend check  to find out if I had really completed it.  

A couple of years ago, around COVID lockdown I was consumed with technology like every other person.  The result was a website Pramila.org,in made by me in WordPress, A podcast Story for your query- 3 seasons, three solo books  – From Chalk to Talk The Art of Teaching & From Crust to Core The Alchemy of Teaching, The Ultimate to Do list for Humanity Sustainable development Goals –  all of which are available on Amazon.in .  There is a story behind the writing of these books. I received a forward from a student saying ‘Die Empty’. Initially, I was upset but then I started reading it only to realise that it means to share your knowledge with others before you move on. Our scriptures have instances where this is practiced. Bhishma on the bed arrows shares his wisdom the Kauravas and Pandavas. Rama Sends Lakshman to Ravana who is dying to learn from him.
Post retirement Two more books are published where I am a co-author with Dr.Pratik Munghekar  who is an author , Scientist, Eminent Academician and an erudite speaker. These books the Silent Revolution and Echoes Ancient Wisdom to Modern minds,are available on  Amazon.in .
The restlessness of too much of free time is not palatable to me yet. So, I am venturing into the area of teaching those who are needy and share my knowledge of 40 years of working in the academia.

It has been a fruitful journey where I might have touched a heart. But I know for sure, I have gained a trillion moments of joy from the children.

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