Professor Dayal at the training

‘And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years’. Abraham Lincoln

At 68, white bearded with sharp eyes and a very quick and keen mind, Professor Saheb Dayal refuses to accept that because he is old, he cannot learn new things. As he says:

Age is a quality of the mind, if you have left your dreams behind, If your ambitions fires are cold, then you are old,

But he, an educationist at heart cannot be old because his desire to be a part of the changing scenario on the education front is a lifelong affair.

The former Dean of the Faculty of Education, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Agra, Prof. Saheb Dayal retired in 1999 as Professor Emeritus.

According to the professor his university is his life. It is where he worked for more than 30 years. He was the Founder Member of the Faculty of Education there. As he says he has “lived through the period when there was a scarcity on every front” but now that the faculty had become technologically sound and is able to conduct long distance educational programs, he wants to be an active participant in the project. The only impediment and hurdle in the task being his inability to handle computers.

When he heard about the Intel® Teach Training program to be held in the Dayal Bagh University Campus for the teachers, he was very keen to join. With his indomitable spirit and resolute will, the Professor became the most successful and keen participant of the program. In his determination to be involved in the cause of education he was willing to learn and relearn everything he knew so long as he could serve his university and be a part of the change.

Everyday Professor Dayal, a dedicated environmentalist, would cycle down from his house in the vicinity of the university, so as to not to waste fuel. Thirsty for knowledge he was very clear that he would need special attention keeping in mind his “age and ability to learn.”

An enthusiastic learner, Professor Dayal attended all activities and even worked on a portfolio discussing problems of Global Warming. For someone who had never touched computers before, his work was exceptionally well done showing dexterity and commitment.

By the end of the training he was confident that he could now contribute as a technologically empowered member of the university. According to him, the training had brought about in him the change he had been seeking. He was thinking, working and learning new things. He looked “more confident” to his own daughter and felt that he no longer needed the support of his daughter or colleagues for his daily chores involving technology, like reading the news on the net.

Today, he is very happy to be equipped to be a part of the University’s ambitious Distance Education Program and feels that he can once again “contribute to the field of Education”. As an Emeritus professor in the Department of Education, he also goes to other universities as an expert in his field. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Alvin Toffler