posted by Shaila Kagal

Ten years are almost a lifetime in making of an institute.  My journey has been just as long and the time has come for me to move on in a new direction where road is smoother and takes less time cut the distance.  Fortunately that still ties me to my main anchor … Symbiosis!  But my greater joy is that there is someone else in the form of Anil Vaidya who has similar dreams as mine and who is fully enthused about the future of SCIT and will carry the baton.
What I see of SCIT today or of the prospering alumni, or when students walk down with shining eyes and trophies in their hands, or my colleagues sit in bigger chairs with larger responsibilities, I think that my decision was absolutely spot on about doing my second innings in education.  How true is the story that Prof. Rajul sent me! What do I make in life? Many other lives! I have always enjoyed it and will treasure it!
SCIT has been my mission and my spirits somehow will keep flying around it. So you will keep seeing me again and again! In classrooms or conference rooms!
Adios but no adios! I will still be blogging here.

posted by Shaila Kagal

Dev, our alumni Batch 2003 was in my office, a few days ago, with his lovely wife and an adorable little daughter. At first glance I could not believe it was him. Of course, he appeared to have rounded off all corners and looked prosperous. My last memory of him was his walking down the corridors to give his exam in “Data Structures”, the subject that he hated most and could not really fathom. Today in the position that he occupies in the company in the higher echelons dealing with management issues, I really wonder if “Data Structures” played any role at all in his life.
Interestingly, Ishan Batch 2006 too visited me this week, very successful in his role in a most admired international company and making me feel proud. He said “Mam, ‘Breadth of Thinking’ you taught us is really useful now”. Actually I have stopped teaching that course. Not because I do not want to but because of student response. This course had “Non-Letter-Credits” which meant it would not be included in the calculation of CGPA. That also meant attendance was not mandatory. So at the beginning of the class I would announce that only those who wished to join might do so. The first class to my surprise would be full of students. But as days passed the numbers would dwindle drastically and very soon I would be left with just 3-4 students. (P.S.— Ishan’s class had full attendance.)
In 1999 when I made a shift to education, I used to find making attendance mandatory a little detestable. I would constantly argue with my colleagues to give freedom to students as they were adult, voting age and responsible and not treat them like school children. Soon new realisation dawned on me. The psyche of Indian students about learning is so permanently carved with mandatory attendance, exams and scores that learning for the sake of learning escapes the mind.
The new flexibility from 2010 will provide ample scope for students to get a taste of subjects of his or her choice.