Self- Exploration
Dikashma Sree
There is saying that –‘Knowledge comes from learning and Experience comes from living’. My experience with IOMS for the past two years has not only helped me in my academics immensely, but it also made me grow as a person. I still remember myself being unmotivated and helpless in a remote place like Dinjan, Tinsukia District Assam. There, as a student of class 10th at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Dinjan, I got an opportunity to associate with IOMS. In the beginning at first I thought, “how can IOMS help me?” but after attending a few lectures I realized that the pedagogy followed is an effort to provide students a learning experiences where essence is deep conceptual clarity of subject matter.
In IOMS, no question is considered to be silly, and no answer is considered absurd. It is an out-of-the-box approach which doesn’t bind us to stick to any rigid system. It inculcates a sense observation and connect ourselves to the things around us. Thus we learn to correlate our surrounding with the topics that we learn. It makes us think - what we are? and What we really want to do. Curiosity in students is encouraged and embraced by prompting us to ask questions. Questions and answers of students are considered by our mentors to judge our keenness at learning and errors, if any, in our understanding of the concepts. Such an environment nurtures in us an enthusiasm to explore.
Our mentors have developed Mentors’ Manual where each topic of mathematics, physics and chemistry is explained from the beginning. Moreover, manual is supported with a questions bank together with illustration of each question. It covers concepts of mathematics and physics that are used to evolve the solution. Though the manual has been developed for teachers, based on mentoring experience at IOMS. Yet, students can also use it with a care that they start from beginning to be able to correlate concepts as they go ahead with it. However, qualified teachers, need not use the manual sequentially; rather they can use it randomly as per need.
Answer is certainly No. We are not only restricted to academics but to explore our hidden talents, and skills. We are encouraged, to present creativity in the form of Academic Understanding through submission on various topics that are taught in IOMS; Performing Art viz. classical or folk singing, dancing and craft making videos; Visual Art viz. drawing, painting, craft etc. and Literary Art viz. essay, poem, story. Such creativities are brought out in monthly web bulletin of the Gyan Vigyan Sarita, the mother initiative of IOMS.
I was always keen to write but never got either an opportunities or a platform to show it. But, now I am able to explore myself and bring present my creative side and present it through an initiative which focuses on us with the spirit of personal social responsibility (PSR).
Students are encouraged to interact with each other as a means of collective growth. It is one of the objective of IOMS. As the only child in a family of three, I have struggled to become socially available to make new friends of my age. I was anxious for my inability to connect to them since I have grown in an environment of resonance with the persons of minimum one generation above me. After me being associated with IOMS, I have not only gained the courage to talk to anyone but has exceptionally increased my networking skills.
Now I feel free to talk and share my opinions without any hesitation. This has enlarged my comfort zone. We discuss the doubts and have debates about why our way of solving a problem is more efficient. It leads us, mutually, to become open to everybody’s perspectives and equally respecting it as ours. After me experiencing all this for two years I could really see the distinction between the old me and what I am today. And see the light that ‘alone, we do so little; together we can do so much more’.
If I say yes, then there won’t be a bigger lie than this in the whole universe. I do agree to the fact that we are all humans and we have our tough times at which we feel like doing nothing. This situation leads to wastage of time in doing thing pointlessly. Sometimes, we felt like losing all the motivation to make full use of our potential even after us being self-controlled and disciplined. But, taking a small leap to come out of all those sick feelings is where our moral support and core values come into play. Our Mentors would share their experiences, point of views and how they came through all their obstacles to come out of all the hurricanes of life. It stimulates us to face our obstacles and conquer them as per saying ‘Wise people learn from their experiences, But, wiser people learn from the experiences of others’.
As a student, I have benefit of association with IOMS initiative which rejuvenated my curiosity as they say “curiosity is the spark behind the spark of every great idea and the future belongs to the curious persons ready to work to resolve their curiosities.”.
I can summarize that my self-exploration has helped me to (a) discover my potential, (b) learning life lessons, (c) develop a determination to handle things with a calm and collective mind, (d) work harder by pushing my limits by defeating excuses, and (e) courage & the spirit to endeavor for excellence.
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