The Tribune Principals’ Meet: Schools must embrace technology despite perils

More than 50 principals and senior teachers of schools from in and around Shimla attended The Tribune Principals’ Meet on ‘Technology Integration in Schools: Opportunities and Challenges’ here on Saturday.

The event was hosted by The Tribune Group of newspapers in association with Chitkara University. Robin Sawan, a facilitator and coach, was the keynote speaker for the session.

All principals participating in the session agreed that the integration of technology in schools for better learning experience was inevitable. However, they admitted that technology had emerged as a double-edged sword.

They asserted that latest technology, including artificial intelligence, had opened up a new world for teachers and students, but it also has several drawbacks.

The participants, including the keynote speaker, listed reduced attention span and cognitive skills, poor social skills, petulance, low self-confidence, health and mental issues as the major side-effects of over-dependence on technology among children.

Yet, most agreed that there was no escape from technology and it had to be embraced to provide students better learning experience.

“It’s critical to integrate technology in schools as technology is coming in, whether we like it or not. Teachers need to constantly update themselves about new technologies to be able to stay a step ahead of students,” said Sawan.

Expressing his opinion, St Edward’s Principal Anil Sequeira agreed that there was no choice but to embrace technology, despite the adverse effects it can have on young minds.

“If India has to go to the next level, we have no choice, but to integrate technology in schools. We need to start training our teachers and students in the use of technology,” he asserted.

Sawan said, “The benefits of technology outweigh its drawbacks as it breaks barriers of time and distanc, which hinder learning for many, and gives students access to top educators and unlimited knowledge and information.

Moreover, to facilitate a smooth integration of technology in schools, shortcomings like inadequate infrastructure support and inadequately trained teachers would need to be addressed.”