This guru makes math fun

PERCY FERNANDEZ
[ 1 Aug, 2006 ]

NEW DELHI: There is hope for the "mathophobic". A new tool for Indian school children promises to vanquish the dreaded math nightmare.

Leading e-learning solutions provider, Educomp, has launched Mathguru to "change the way students learn math". The math-aid programme is designed to help students from class VI to XII solve problems as per the NCERT school curriculum.

"Mathguru will make math fun and easy," says Shantanu Prakash, managing director of the company. "It shifts the learning process from a passive instructive mode to an exploratory mode," he adds.

Speaking at the launch of the programme, former academic director of CBSE, Dr Balasubramaniam said: "Math has the maximum number of failures. There is a sense of mathophobia in India despite it being a user (learner)-friendly subject. Mathguru will help build the confidence level of children and eliminate mathophobia."

The programme, he said, was user-friendly. "Self-paced learning takes place. It is not only a learning tool for children, but also for parents. The idea is to instill in schoolchildren an I-can-do-it attitude."

So how do you get it right? Dr Gaurav Bhatnagar of Educomp, says, by way of discovery and research. He quotes Paul Helenos’ maxim that the only way to learn is to do mathematics. Bhatnagar claims to have found reasons for why students love and hate math.

"Children hate math because they don’t get the right answer every time. They love it because they enjoy every time they get it right...This is where Mathguru comes in", he says, inferring that the programme will help students get the solution right every time.

Can an e-learning solution such as Mathguru put an end to the woes of millions of students and parents across the country? Can technological intervention be better than a teacher in a classroom?

"Students need technology only to complement their formal learning. There is no supplement to a teacher. Aids such as Mathguru only complement, but importantly, make learning interesting and playful," Prakash says.