At a brainstorming session that involved 32 principals of the CBSE-affiliated Indian schools here Saudi Gazette Editor-in-Chief Somayya Jabarti called for educators to collaborate with the media in order to "critical thinking" in a child. Jabarti was involved in an interactive session with the principals of various schools on the inaugural day of the 25th annual session of the Saudi Arabian chapter of the CBSE-affiliated schools, at the conference room of the International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ). Principals from 40 schools from around the Kingdom are attending the three-day event with the theme "Education for peace and development." Jabarti, at the outset, got the participants thinking with the need for educators to take a lead role in shaping the young minds. She asked the educators to not only consider their role of being just depositors of knowledge, but to be the drivers of the students toward human values. "You should help in youth learning all the human values such that when they are ready to face life's challenges they deal with it with compassion — a human face," she said. When told that educators have only a six-hour window with the youth, while the remaining hours they spend with family and friends, Jabarti said, "Agreed, family members too play a crucial part in the youths' upbringing, but the educators need to think on how to bring about a qualitative six hours that would shape the youth." But her real emphasis was for youth to develop "critical thinking", and for this there has to be an awareness of media and how it functions. "Though the media is surfeit with bad news and violent news, there are positive news that they can take from," she said. "It is here the youth have to ask incisive questions that will give them the answer to why that particular news is being targeted toward them. It will also prepare them to be inquisitive about every issue in life," Jabarti added. The session also sought out ways for the media to collaborate with the educators in order to develop a well-rounded human being. "It is in the formative years that we can teach them these values, and they carry it for life," Jabarti added. Some principals called on all parties to work with parents to infuse character building in students. One asked for educators to get to know the history of the students before taking any decision, while others discussed ways to create an interest in students to greet the first day of school after a lengthy weekend with expectation and excitement rather than it being a necessity. The session rounded off with the pledge that the educators would look at ways to forge an alliance with the media to enhance the students' "critical thinking" process.
