Constructive Teaching Methods for Shalya Tantra - A Descriptive Review from Primeval to Current Practice

Abstract

Introduction: Teaching and learning are two sides of a coin that must go hand in hand. The educational plans should be planned in such a way which could boost not only the conceptual understanding but also be able to develop practical skills and knowledge of the students. Various teaching modalities have been evolved with time but no literature is found with respect to Shalya tantra. The father of Surgery, Acharya sushruta also gave a special emphasis on teaching methods which are still pertinent with current practice. Methods: In this article, we are presenting a descriptive review from primeval time to the current practice of teaching methods especially for the fraternity of the Ayurvedic surgical branch. The work is compiled after extensively reviewing literature of both classical and contemporary literature as well as published works in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Results: No standardized data have been published so far in reference to effective teaching methods particularly for Shalya tantra scholars and the fundamentals of quality learning are disregarded. Discussion and Conclusion: The best teaching method is the one which arouses the student’s interest and in relation to surgical branch, theoretical knowledge is just the base whereas hand-to-hand surgical training must be mandatorily followed to impart the best of skills.