Gerald D'Cunha

“Don’t’ be pushed around by the fears in your mind.  Be led by the dreams in your heart.” Roy T. Bennet   I have not been following the ongoing (Cricket) World-Cup matches. The occasional updates have been coming from here and there, like from ardent cricket buffs, such as my son or some of my students… and, sometimes, even from random cricket buffs, like an Uber driver… However, the maximum updates, during this World-Cup edition, has been coming to me from my student, Aman (First year Banking & Insurance). His father is a sports journalist, who gets to attend matches at every venue; and, here, our Aman gets to know some finer nuances of the game… Last afternoon, Aman was excited to tell me about the unveiling of Sachin Tendulkar’s statue at the Wankhede Stadium. I learnt from him, that the ceremony was held the day before... “Was your Dad there to cover it?” I asked Aman… “Yes,” Aman said proudly… “Are you a Sachin fan?” I asked… “Yes,” came the fastest...

“Risk, then, is not just part of life. It is life. The place between your comfort zone and your dream is where life takes place. ” -       Nick Vujicic A ‘Certificate of Learning Disability’ (LD) can do more harm to a student than good. Well, that’s my take. As a Commerce teacher, I get to deal with college students. When parents of some of these students tell me that their young ones have been ‘certified’ to be ‘slow learners’, I literally choose to be deaf. This modern vocabulary has crippled more young boys and girls than illiteracy and poverty have done to them. For whatever reason, and under whatever circumstances, the Certificate of Learning Disability (LD) may have been given to your child, my take is this: ‘Let it not be a permanent label or a chain of confinement for your child’. The old story about the 'Baby-elephant Syndrome’ perfectly fits in, here… When a baby elephant is born, it is tied w...

I do not know how they certify a kid as ‘L.D.’… that is, a kid with learning disability. During my teaching career, spanning over nearly four decades, I have come across many kids, now and then, who I am made conscious of as having the so-called ‘Learning Disability.’ The moment I am made conscious of it, my approach towards the student – in my case college kids – does undergo a change… I become more patient, less demanding… and, I try to remind myself, “Hello, you cannot expect the same calculations and the same efficiency from this kid… Understand his plight… show patience.”  And, invariably, I heed to this voice… What is interesting to watch is this: some of these young ones are least interested in this ‘label’… this ‘tag’… of ‘learning disability’. I find them almost hating it… They want the world to  treat them on par with the rest… demand the same work and efficiency from them… show the same level of patience to them. I feel extremely satisfied and pro...