.
One Sunday morning , when we were sipping
tea , our door bell rang , Mr. Sandeep , our neighbour was standing outside,
dressed in his tracks , he seemed to be on his way for a morning jog. We invited him in, he looked quite perplexed.
He was in the state of utter confusion with respect to choice of school for his
son. He was most apprehensive about the selection of Board (CBSE or ICSE). Not only him , all of us are on the same boat.
All of us face the same situation when it comes to choose a particular school
for our kid. This state of dilemma exists , in the mind of every parent whose
child crosses 4 years of milestone and going to enter the formal world of
schooling.
Everyday , I come across many parents, exploring the options of potential schools for
their kids. While selecting a school quality of education is taken for granted. Factually
speaking we are ignorant about what our children deserve and what they are
getting in the name of education.
We seldom
raise eyebrows , on the ongoing pedagogy
in our preschool classrooms. These
schools often give us the perception
that getting admission is itself a matter of privilege. The hoopla of ‘insecurity’
regarding school admission has been meticulously created in the market. For
example some of the renowned private schools conduct lottery system or set the age limit for
admission or test the child on few parameters or just add terms as
international or modern as suffices in their school names.
When I enquired from some of the parents about the criteria
for the selection of school for their
kid?
Their answers were:
Parent A: ICSE is better than CBSE..
Parent B: Basics should be clear from the beginning.
. Parent C: Infrastructure of the school is good.
.
Parent D: It’s a branded and best school of the city.
Parent E: Children coming to a particular school are from me economic background.
Parent F: School is near to our home.
Parent E: School also takes care of
extracurricular activities.
Since, parents and kids undergo the rigorous
battle of admission, they feel triumphant when they see their names in the
admission list. As a matter of this
course , there is no scope left for them to enquire about philosophy or
pedagogy followed by that particular school. Selection in a particular school is
taken as blessing in disguise, for that parents
pay hefty amounts. Most of these funds
get directed to maintain the brand name or infrastructure of the school
rather than appointing efficient teachers.
Let’s turn the spotlight towards the state
of primary education existing around us. As a matter of fact, the outside world
is changing at a very fast pace as compared to what is being taught within the four
walls of a preschool classroom. There is a huge gap between what a child sees and
experiences outside the school and what he or she studies in the books. For
eg. there is a chapter in grade1 EVS
book about living and non living things . A 5 year old child already knows this concept, he
or she has the ability to learn more complex concepts, provided these concepts
are simplified and improvised for them efficiently . This can only be possible
if we have a system of efficient educators focusing on the intricacies of
‘Early Childhood Development’.
We can’t bury our head in sand, for the fact that there is enormous
online inflow of information be it in the form of animation, short fun videos ,
online games, channels etc. Evidently ,
there are many more diversions for the upcoming generation than ours. They must be nurtured with care and equanimity
. The goal of early Childhood education should
be building the nexus between the classroom and the outside world . This
creates the purview of education which goes beyond ‘chalk
and talk’.
If not the
institutions, we as parents have to upgrade our awareness . The needs of
a preschooler are to be catered with respect to the changing panorama of the world with
each passing day. For that parents , teachers and system have to collaborate to
create a new lense with more resolving
power. The revival of the fading mileau of
wonder, excitement and most importantly passion of learning in the initial
years of education an be nurtured.
Some of the queries that can come to our
mind as parents and teachers must be:
. What can be the better way of teaching
learning process?
. What is lacking
in our preschools?
. What can be our
contribution as parents?
.
What should we demand from the existing early childhood programmes ?
The paradox is that the normality lies in what
is being followed by majority. Any
digression from the set scheme is considered as aberration , even if it is appropriate.
While going through the curriculum of several preschools of my city, I inferred that most of them follow the curriculum which make their students admission
ready for formal schooling, constructing a vicious circle for parents and
children.
For instance one
of my friends who lives in Mumbai, went for the admission of her 1 year old son,
in the city’s ‘best play school.’
While filling the
admission form , she overheard an ongoing class, which went on as :
Teacher: What is the
colour of leaf?
Kids in chorus: Green.
Teacher: Can leaf be of
any other colour?
Kids in chorus: No
Teacher : Yes the
colour of the leaf is only green.
Teacher: What is the
colour of Sun ?
Kids in chorous :
Yellow.
Teacher : Can the
colour of Sun be blue?
Kids in chorus : No
Teacher: Yes, the colour of the sun is only yellow.
The teaching
learning process in this class clearly manifest the need for overhauling the
early childhood education.
Play way activities in early years of child
development are to be meticulously designed
with appropriate learning objectives. We
need to critically analyse the
curriculum comprising of mundane routine, which makes students do writing work or
unsupervised activities in the name of play way .
The roots are invested deeper than they
appear to be. Our preschools are well decorated with well established ,
infrastructure, fee structures, counselling sessions etc. but they lack qualified , teaching staff. This can be attributed to the
fact that education in early years is not given due importance. We are clueless so as to what should we expect
and demand from our preschools . Although,
its not possible to fathom the depth, just by viewing its pelagic part. We need to dive
deeper to come to elucidate a solution.
So, the questions lingers on: What should we expect from the preschools for
our children. How important are ’ Early
childhood programs’ in our education system ?
Playschool is the first place where a child
is separated from the comfort and secure zone of their parents. So, our preschools should have enough material
to attract and make the child feel comfortable. It is the place where a child
opens up as individual, interacting with peers and teachers. As per researches
‘Early childhood programmes’ have long been shown to create improvements that
last for a lifetime. The earliest years of a child’s life are most critical. This was well stated by Bill Gates “the
first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out “. These
years determine the survival and thriving in life, and lay foundations of
child’s performance later. Instilling passion for learning besides good habits
is imperative for holistic development of child as an individual.
We have to
understand that performance is the function of expectations. Accordingly, we need to design and establish our
strategy. To attain these objectives , we
have to create efficient moulds right from the early years for our kids. We need to ‘Move Beyond Academics’(MBA) for the building of a progressive
society.
What could be the
essential characteristics of this mould is the question to ponder upon. For instance lets take the example of nursery
rhymes in our play schools, the same old
London Bridge is falling down since last 200 years , Johny, Ms muffet , Humpty Dumpty have become familiar names of
our household even if they do not contextualise with our praxis . I wonder , why are we still carrying this age
old ,irrelevant rhymes from British legacy. ( refer to the previous blog ‘Modernisation
illusion or reality’?) .
Can’t we endorse the rhymes
highlighting child’s surrounding like
change of seasons, child’s praxis , nurturing child’s self esteem, critical
thinking.
Some of the rhymes
written by Shel Silverstein beautifully illustrates this concept.
Listen to
Listen to the mustn’d, child.
Listen to the shouldn’ts,
The impossibles,
The won’ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me….
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
Don’t tell me
Please don’t tell me I
should hug,
Don’t tell me I should care.
Don’t tell me just how grand I’d feel
If I just learned to share.
Don’t say,” its all right to cry,”
“Be kind”, “Be fair”, “Be True.”
Just let me see YOU
do it,
Then I just might do it too.
Just can’t believe
You just can’t believe
Everything they tell you
Just’ cause they teach it
And preach it and shout.
They say you can’t eat nothin’
Bigger than you are….
You’ve really got to check
These things out.
