BHUBANESWAR : Nobel Laureate and Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Abhijit Banerjee said that children’s natural ability should be nurtured and they should be given opportunities to work with their innovative ideas.
Addressing the 11th foundation day of KiiT International School’s SEN Globe department, Banerjee said, “We are all different. We constantly try to attribute success in fixed ways and that obsession often comes from how we look at economics and productivity. But we all make choices in the world and it is our responsibility to discover what is truly productive.”
He strongly criticised rigid learning methods, particularly in mathematics. “By insisting on a single way of doing maths, we discourage children. We suppress their innovative ways of thinking and their different approaches to words and numbers. This is where we unknowingly stand in the way of education,” the Novel Laureate said.
Emphasising opportunity over labelling, Banerjee said, “You should give children opportunities and they will take them. Instead of deciding who is capable and who is not, we should nurture the abilities that each child has.”
Founder of KIIT and KISS Achyuta Samanta highlighted the uniqueness of KiiTIS SEN Globe, stating that no other international school integrates children with special needs into mainstream education in such a comprehensive way. “These children are gaining confidence and that is our biggest achievement,” he said.
KiiT International School chairperson Mona Lisa Bal highlighted the work of special educators, psychologists, and therapists who constantly strive to provide individualised support so that every learner can thrive at SEN Globe.