CBSE WEBINAR ON USE OF GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING
(AUGUST 23, 2021)
The Central Board of Secondary Education conducted a webinar on the effective use of graphic novels on August 23, 2021 through its YouTube channel. The New Education Policy of 2020 has laid great emphasis on the development of 21st century skills of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication, and nothing brings all of these together better than the graphic novel.
The session was introduced by Mr. Manoj Ahuja, the Chairperson of CBSE. The first speaker was Ms Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development. She had previously been the Director of CBSE. She spoke about how the concept of education had changed from the 20th to the 21st century, and the need to change the pedagogy used by the teaching fraternity. Ms Karwal touched upon the need to bring in hands-on and experiential teaching to make learning more interesting and involved for students.
The session on creating and using graphic novels was moderated by Mr Sundeep Sethi, the brain behind the development of graphic novels as a pedagogy. The speakers were eminent members of the education community such as Ms Aditi Mishra (Principal, DPS Sector 45, Gurgaon), Ms. Anita Makkar (Principal, The HDFC School, Gurgaon) and Ms Urvashi Warman (Principal, The Palace School, Jaipur) who touched upon the multi-disciplinary aspect of graphic novels and the effective use of storytelling to pass on knowledge. Ms Warman also mentioned the efficacy of graphic novels in teaching children with special needs.
The session also showcased students, Vaibhav and Hasan, who have been a part of the creation of graphic novels. Both spoke about the ease of learning through graphic novels as they target students of specific classes and age groups. Ms Anju Chazot took the idea further by introducing the concept of games as pedagogy, PedaGames – these would not only reduce screentime but also lead to hands-on learning with family members. Dr Anuradha Mathur, Head of Physics (NCERT) was also highly appreciative of graphic novels in teaching concepts such as force in Physics. Mr Biswajit Saha, Director CBSE spoke about graphic novels as an effective 21st century learning tool. He ended the session with a vote of thanks for all the participants.