We teach them or torture them?

If I were powerful, I would invert thepyramid of teaching by placing the elementary education at the top. Anyonebecomes a teacher after not making it to other professions. Our teachers arecreated by chance and not by choice. In the light of the rampant unemployment,this argument may seem redundant but the reality is that it impacts the teacherand the student both. Meaningful things in life are driven more by passion thanby helplessness. It’s time to lend dignity to elementary teaching and make itvibrant and result-oriented at the grassroots. Would it be correct to say thateither the government should privatise education as the divide between thegovernment and the private schools has created haves and have nots. Social andeconomic conditions define subaltern in all spheres of life. Education is alsodictated by the power structures that has seeped deep into our social set up.The privileged class seek admission in private schools and marginalized ingovernment schools where the foundational literacy and numeracy are yet to beacquired.

Would it be correct to say that thegovernment should issue an order about its employees sending their wards togovernment schools to restore the decorum to government school education?Should some organisation be allowed to adopt some government schools to explorewhether they can be transformed into model schools? However, in the light ofmushroom growth of schools, would it be pertinent to grade schools vis-a visfacilities provided, fee structure, infrastructure, academics, co-curricular activities,salaries, etc. These are matters which demand thorough discussion anddeliberations. However, all endeavours don’t require money as sometimes lessmoney and proper planning can yield better results. A little bit ofstreamlining can make the system more accountable and child friendly.

   

Now that the schools have reopened afterseven months, the expectations of children of the schools is quite high. Theyare excited to embark on the new journey which we do not know how long will itlast. Without schools, children’s lives have literally been desolate andimpoverished. It was good to see this morning children in uniforms boardingtheir school buses but it was equally painful to see them carry heavy bags ontheir tender shoulders. These young souls are hopeful of their schools but thesystem often fails to sustain their smiles. The problem of heavy bags seems tobe of least concern to the school authorities. It’s their duty to provideindividual facilities to students so that they can lodge their notebooks in theschool which they have to carry everyday. The government must press them toarrange personal pigeonholes to students and that can solve the problem. Thoughthe J&K government formulated a committee in this regard which recommendedstress free education, but the fact of the matter is that it actually concernsthe private sector which flouts the norms by bombarding children withinformation overload. As per the guidelines issued by the MHRD, no homework isto be assigned for classes I and II and only languages and mathematics are tobe taught. EVS is included from class III to V. Therefore, the weight of thebag recommended in class I & II is 1- 1.5 kg, class III to V is 2.3 kg, VI& VII 4 kg, VIII & IX 4.5 kg and class X 5 kg.  Many subjects such as literature reader, IT,moral science, art, third language, workbooks, etc. are taught separately inthe private schools. However, the same are integrated in the main subjects inthe government schools. In spite of the directives, the executing body lacksthe clarity of thought and action, making children pay the cost of thisdichotomy by becoming the consumers of ‘educational entrepreneurship’ withoutany advertisements and campaigns.

Psychiatrists and psychologists inform usthat the psychological impact of anything is measured the way things areperceived by individuals. If children are repeatedly told that heavy bags causepsychological stress, the same will get naturalised in them. Not only medicalscience but common sense says that it is always advisable and better to carryless.

Perceptions are subjective and tounderstand how these subjectivities work and impact the psyche need aninsightful research to arrive at any conclusion.  Only research can tell us whether there isany co-relation between the fatter and additional textbooks to creativity,communication and scientific temperament or to any kind of psychological stressor mental unease. From my experience, the additional textbooks in our contextonly defeat the whole idea of integrated education.

Stress is not just psychological butphysical too. The heavy school bags subject children to physical stress. Add toit the lunchbox, the water bottle and imagine the weight these tender soulshave to carry on their shoulders. It’s inhuman and we wonder how merciless thestakeholders have become who crush these children for their own gain. Accordingto a report published in Times of India, heavy school bags damage muscles andligaments by putting excessive stress on them. There have reports of mucoskeletalinjuries which impacts the body posture, therefore, causing shoulder pain andback pain. Committees are not constituted so that their reports gather dust inshelves and drawers. It’s time that the parents, government and schoolsunderstood the difference between a gunny sack and haversack and, therefore,show some sensitivity towards the issues concerning our posterity.

The government must seriously view thefollowing.

1.         Redesigningthe timetable to reduce the burden of bag

2.         Impartingtraining to teachers in behavioural management

3.         Impartingtraining to teachers to understand and apply NCF 2005 and NEP 2019

4.         Impartingtraining to teachers in developing balanced question papers

5.         Considering5 days a week by increasing time duration of school hours by 45 minutes

1.         Thegovernment which claims itself to be the trustee of the people must perform itsduties by ordering the rescheduling of the timetable in the private schools.Inspite of overloading children with many subjects, the school managementhardly bothers to take pains and apply their minds in reducing the burden ofbag. If it is really difficult to plug the nexus between publishing industryand private schools, it would not be however, difficult to redesign the timetable in such a manner that wieght of the books is rationalised. Demandingbookshelves or lockers would be asking for luxury inspite of the heavy feestructure paid by the parents.  If achild has to study 5 periods of English, Urdu/ Hindi/ Science/ Maths in a week,the timetable can be redesigned in such a way that 5 periods are taughtconsecutively on alternate days. This must be made mandatory up to class 8th.

Books are meant for enlightening andempowering children and not for breaking their backs or creating fears in theirminds. The system should sustain stress free teaching-learning rather thantraumatising children in the name of education. The textbooks are only themeans to achieve the learning objectives. The aim should be to equip childrenwith required skills in each subject. The bedrock of teaching-learning is notacquiring the knowledge part only but learning the skills and the applicationpart which actually nourishes the process of teaching-learning. Thelearner-centred teaching creates spaces for constructing meaningful narrativesin the classroom. This can only be practised if we shun the stereotypicalpedagogy. Two consecutive periods can enable a teacher to reserve a slot foractivities and continuously track the performance of children.

The private sector has emerged as animportant stakeholder by providing jobs and education to people. Can much beexpected of teachers in the private schools as they always complain of lesswages and more work. This is something that the government seriously needs tolook into. Last year one of the prominent schools of the valley dented itsreputation when teachers of the school went on en masse strike, therefore,depriving children of the rightful education. The government should immediatelyissue an order regarding the reformulation of timetable and the maximum periodsallotted to a teacher.

2          It’sbecome habitual of some teachers to humiliate children and give them corporalpunishment. The rude language used by teachers in classrooms does not only hurtthe self esteem of children but degrades teaching as a profession. Students aresupposed to respect their teachers who in turn should pay attention and equalrespect to them. Students’ point of view should not be taken as their defiance.It may be their ability to think with an independent mind. The real challengefor  a teacher is to groom slow learners,hyperactive and disinterested children. It is here where the acumen of teachercounts. Teachers, though exploited in the private sector cannot be expected towork like machines but making children victims of their blatant egos andfrustrations is unacceptable. Imparting behavioural training to teachers isimportant as it trains them about the nuances of child psychology. A littlescolding, a  pat on the back, a smile ora few words of encouragement can work wonders with a child. Ideally everyschool should have counsellors but given the situation at the grassroots level,teachers need to become counsellors also and play their natural multiple rolesof an educator, counsellor, guide, friend, etc. apart from the ones forced bythe system on them.

3. Teachers must read about NationalCurriculum 2005 and National Education Policy 2019. It’s equally important tohold discussion on them and it’s in fact more significant to share reallife  experiences of teaching-learning.The training programmes are generally theoretical rather than practiseoriented. It’s time to think out of the box and introduce book reading and filmscreening sessions in training programmes. All teachers must  read Frank Mc Court’s Teacher Man and watchHichky and Chalk and Duster. The bombarding of the pedagogical techniques bythe resource persons in the training programmes is a unilateral display of theinformation explosion. The training programmes should enable teachers toconstruct their own knowledge about teaching-learning. Autobiographicalaccounts of teachers and biographical accounts of children can contribute toknowledge systems in the form of narratives and research papers. Sharing stories creates new knowledge systems which canprovide alternate perspectives to the mainstream discourse. All educatedparents have literally become teachers, so there is no harm if they arelistened to and given a chance to get involved in academics and trainings.

4.         Our system believes in evaluating children rather than assessing them. Evenevaluating children, in our context, is one of the most challenging tasks. Theprocess of evaluation needs to be streamlined right from the lower classes. Incase of languages children need to be assessed in LSRW. Most of the weightagein language is given to memory based writing. Teachers are not trained toevaluate children on the basis of their memory, knowledge, comprehension,expression, application and higher order skills. The question paper usuallyconsists of stereotypical questions. When children are suddenly exposed to suchtype of evaluation in higher classes, they find it difficult to cope with. Thesystem should positively contribute in creating thinking minds who can respondto daily life situations and also come up with out of the box solutions.

5.         Allwork and no play makes Jack a dull boy. A couple of holidays at the weekendwill refresh children. It will give them an opportunity to socialise, have funand do their favourite activities. There should be more fun element in ourchildren’s lives given the situations they have been facing.

Fun days can also be organised at schoolson the last Saturday of the month. The school can engage children in literary,eco, heritage and sports clubs.

Mechanical lives are like mindless wordswrapped in a clumsy paragraph which niether attracts nor inspires. Childrendeserve a break from the normal. Variety makes life spicy and monotony makes itit bland. And there is no reason why children’s lives can’t be colourful. Butwithout addressing the issues of reformation, can we add colour to children’slives?

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