St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata celebrated the Teachers’ Day on September 5, 2023 in the university campus to commemorate the birth anniversary of Shri Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President of India.

On this auspicious day, Rev. Dr. John Felix Raj, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of SXUK delivered an insightful speech on ‘Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP)’ to instill the noble values of Jesuit education and teaching among the young and promising faculty members of the university. He said, “IPP is based on spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It promotes Jesuit education.”

Quoting St. Ignatius, who himself was a teacher, Father Raj said, “As we practice physical exercises daily to keep our health fit and fine, we should practice spiritual exercise daily to keep our lives blessed by the God.”

After narrating the life sketch of St. Ignatius and his efforts to promote the Jesuit education across the world, Father Raj said, “Goodness begets goodness. As we know well, it gets contagious. The relationship between teachers and students must be based on love, belief and mutual understanding.”

“Education can change the whole world. Jesuits across the world has been promoting education through their relentless service since time immemorial,” he said. While narrating the pillars of Ignatian spirituality, Father Raj stressed on six values – spiritual exercises, prayers, meditation, contemplation, examen and discernment.

Signifying the importance of Jesuit education across the globe, he said, “It forms men and women for others through ingraining competence, conscience and compassion among them. It fosters personal and cooperative study, discovery and reflections.”

He further said, “If students will be able to imbibe these qualities, then they will turn to agents of bringing social change.” To make this happen, proper cooperation and collaboration are needed among teachers and students, he added.

As a part of Ignatian pedagogy, Father Raj mentioned about Praxis, which is a continuous process. It requires reflection of work, followed by action which again ends in reflection.

“It is necessary for a teacher to understand the student’s life and culture. Socio-political and cultural analysis of the surroundings helps a teacher in delivering quality education. It is equally necessary for the students to know their teacher well,” he said.

He directed the teachers to encourage questioning by students in every class as it is required to meet the queries of students. He mentioned about students’ involvement in group work, conducting sessions of problem solving and cooperative learning to be incorporated in classroom teaching. “Every class should end with a summary note,” he added.

He advised teachers to mentor their students regularly and engage them in writing for journals, magazines, participation in seminars and conferences, etc. “A teacher must make portfolio of every student through regular tests and assessments,” he said.

He referred to a few books authored by Paolo Freire, the Brazilian philosopher and Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian theologian where Ignatian world view is mentioned in various contexts. He advised the teachers to read these books as they would add more to their trove of knowledge.

A small cultural programme took place after his lecture where students and a few teachers participated, followed by cake cutting and a high tea. Dr. Manali Bhattacharya was the convener of the programme. Ahona Ayushmati Guha Majumder and Swarnava Hati, two students of Xavier Law School (XLS) were the emcees.

Somak Sen