Sunday morning welcomes me with the following 'front page' article in one of Mumbai's leading newspaper, DNA.
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=75610&boxid=28287&ed_date=2015-02-01&ed_code=82... I am torn between two emotions pain and joy. Pained by the realisation that it took so long, and for a foreign organisation to tell us what so many of us already knew and lived with helplessly. Yet joyous, because a few of us conscious educators did not take it lightly. For the number of years that we have been teaching in classrooms, we knew where we were heading. Until one day we decided it was time to do something about it. Little steps... relentless efforts... tons of patience, and 'SHISHYAA_a small school of eternal learners' happened. The dream was to have a world of eternal learners. The guidelines were simple, what not to do in a school. The outcome was also simple, create a small school!! As an education counsellor I often ask parents why they send their kids to school? What is the purpose of schooling? Answers vary from ‘getting an education, qualification, to getting equipped to get a job, dealing with the world, and often ‘because everyone does!’ Very rarely does this question cross their mind. With ever shrinking families and working couples, rarely any thought goes into what kind of a school should the child go to. Often, choices are based either on proximity and fee structure, or on brands, facilities and amenities. To a large extent, it also is a social statement today. But standing alone, unknown to all, featuring none of the above elements, is this inconspicuous school which is small, quiet and minimalistic. This is a ‘Small School’. There’s a lot more to this school than what is immediately apparent. When you unravel the mystery, you see a happy school; happy students, happy teachers and happy parents. And what’s the secret? Well, it’s the small strength of the student group. Small Schools are designed to feel like a family unit, with closely knit members, all known to each other, having strong bonds. Children are not overwhelmed by the size of the school as it is small and comforting, quite like home. All the members including students, teachers, office staff, etc. know each other well. Students easily establish a sense of personal identity in the space and feel secure. There is a lot of freedom of expression within the class units. And most importantly, teachers have unadulterated time to give to their students as they deal with small number of students per class. Teachers remain stress-free as they have lesser workload and are therefore happy and cheerful. This cheerful disposition creates a positive environment in the classroom and students in turn respond likewise. The benefits of acknowledgement and encouragement coming from a teacher can never be sufficiently expressed. Teachers enjoy absolute freedom to design their lessons, be it within or outside the classroom unleashing their creativity. Freedom to design lessons with inputs from enthusiastic students, results in unusual and path breaking learning experiences making students excited and attentive. Tryon Edwards, an American theologian, said, "The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds." But the less apparent yet long lasting and far-reaching impact of a small school is felt on the social, emotional and spiritual level of students. Students grow up to become more self-assured, self-aware and contented individuals. The didactic environment inculcates strong values of patience, tolerance, acceptance and compassion, something that is lacking in society today. The world is in need of schools that will allow children to remain children for longer years indulging in free play and natural curiosity. Children, who are the adults and decision makers of the future, need to develop in their own time so as to naturally awaken to the responsibilities of society rather than being pushed into it. Coercion hardly achieves any social goal. ‘Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion, obtains no hold on the mind.’ said Plato. American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, John Dewey argued that ‘The primary purpose of education and schooling is not so much to prepare students to live a useful life, but to teach them how to live pragmatically and immediately in their current environment.’ The formative years of a child’s life needs to be strongly founded with the right amount of the three essentials: self worth, self assurance and self confidence. In large groups, very often these core essentials get compromised, as the teacher is unable to connect personally with every student. The student who looks up to the teacher, unknowingly associates this disconnect with self worth, creating an irreparable crack in the personality of the child often leading to a multitude of other problems. John Locke, an English philosopher, physician and enlightened thinker writes: "The little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences." That is, the "associations of ideas" made when young are more significant than those made when mature because they are the foundation of the ‘self’. In all aspects the small school comes to be the most appropriate place to educate the child socially, economically and academically. This format of ‘A Small School’, although less known in India today, is taking the form of a revolution in the progressed countries and is now looking east wards. The Bill Gates Foundation, US, and many such others are working towards creating such small schools to promote the benefits of the small teacher-student ratio. It is a wonderful time for us to do the same and explore this opportunity of being in a small school. And so, I finally seek solace in the fact that as a conscious member of society and a responsible educator, I am able to be a part of the solution, and create a school that focuses on the human in the child. A school that will humanise education. A solution that might possibly be the beginning of a revolution.
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Bandana BasuWisdom lies all around us. It is for us to look for it in our day to day lives. Archives
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