A whiteboard, marker and an Android phone are all you need to go live on Facebook and teach students, says YSV Datta who is a teacher-cum-politician in Karnataka - who has come back to teaching during the COVID pandemic after a five year hiatus.
At a time when the class X students are eagerly waiting for the government to announce their exam dates and have no idea of how to revise their portions, Datta, popularly known as Datta Meshtru (Master) in Bengaluru has been taking classes live on Facebook since Tuesday. An active senior leader with the JDS, he contested and won the MLC elections in 2006 and again won as an MLA in 2013 in the Kadur Constituency.
He says, "The idea behind starting Facebook Live classes is to help class X students in rural and urban areas revise their syllabus and the subjects they are likely to face in their board exams. I am not going according to the order of chapters in their textbooks, but am trying to cover most of the concepts in Mathematics that are likely to appear in board exams. Gradually, I will begin classes for Physics also and see that these students have the right mental make-up."
Datta's classes on Facebook have been viewed by more than 30,000 people across Karnataka and have been shared by more than 15,000 people. When we asked him if there are any specific teaching techniques that he uses, he says, "I am a teacher by profession and have 30 years of experience teaching subjects like Math and Physics. The plus point of my teaching is that I teach in English and Kannada simultaneously so that all the students can understand. Aside from this, I try to connect all the Math problems to the calculations that we come across in our day-to-day lives."
He further adds, "Math is not a difficult subject but students assume that it is something to be afraid of. This shows that we have failed in making them understand that it is just a number game. Driving out fear from their mind for this subject is another intention for me to start teaching after five years."
Datta started teaching Math and Physics when he was studying Pre-University in Bengaluru in 1969. Later, when he passed Bachelors in Science with his major subjects as Physics, Math and Chemistry, he opened a private tutorials. "I have taught more than 50,000 students in my service. My classes were meant for SSLC, BSc, Bachelors in Engineering and PUC. Those days, classes would be filled with thousands of students. I would charge Rs 5 for SSLC, Rs 20 for PUC, Rs 25 for BSc and Rs 50 for BE. When I joined politics, I could not focus on teaching and appointed other teachers in these private classes. However, students did not like their method of teaching and eventually, I had to close." says this 60-year-old.
If you would like to watch his live classes, then you visit his Facebook page: @ysvDattaOfficial
