my thoughts

“I believe that the school must represent present life- life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood , or in the playground.”    -John Dewey Schools are an inevitable and significant platform for any child to learn how to grow in the society at a practical, emotional and social level. From getting up in the morning to facing academic and co-curricular challenges, we can observe children learning by making choices and taking decisions. They are given a chance to think, create, analyze and use their skills. Therefore, learning by doing is an integral part of school education. It refers to a theory of education expounded by American Philosopher John Dewey. He postulated that learning should be relevant and practical not passive and theoretical. Piggy Hickman emphasizes on the same, “…The teachers were to present real life problems to the children and then guide the students to solve the problem by providing them w...

Yet another unfortunate incident has jolted the school education system. A class 9 student ended her life at her home in Noida on 20 March, 2018. The 15-year-old's family has filed a case against two of her teachers. The First Investigation Report (FIR) names two teachers, who taught her at a private school in capital of the country. The girl’s father alleged that she had complained of the two teachers  harassing  her, and that they would deliberately fail her in the exams. "She told me two of her teachers had behaved with her inappropriately but I said, since I am also a teacher, I can say they cannot do it. It may have been a mistake but she said, she's scared of them and no matter how well she writes, they'll fail her,” said the devastated father. (Source: NDTV) We must stand by the family during these tormenting hours of pain and grief and help them try to come out of the trauma of losing an innocent child. As usual, the news channels have got an opportun...

In my last article, I expressed my views against the idea of reduction of the syllabus for school students. But I share the worry of the HRD minister and understand the reason behind this idea and why it was proposed. Children these days are not getting enough exercise. Only a few schools are well equipped in providing proper sports and games facilities to the kids. So, I feel that instead of worrying about the reduction of the syllabus the parents and schools should be enlightened with the importance of physical exercise and sports. “Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.” In the times we are living, sports aren’t confined to just a part of a child’s development, rather some parents are supportive enough to let their children follow sports as their career. We have so many examples like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Saina Nehwal, Virat Kohli, Geeta Phogat and so on, who have ...

In a bid to provide relief to school students, the NCERT syllabus will be reduced by half from the 2019 academic session, as announced by the HRD Minister Mr Prakash Javadekar. He said, the school syllabus was more than that of B.A and B.Com courses, and it needed to be reduced by half so that students get time for other activities, for their all-round development.  "At the stage of development of cognitive skills, students need to be given full freedom. I have asked NCERT to reduce the syllabus by half and it will be effective from the 2019 academic session," he told Rajya Sabha TV in an interview.  (Source: India Times) The question arises that is it because of the syllabus that students are getting deprived of physical activities? Are the kids stressed and depressed due to the quantum of the course? Aren’t the kids more depressed because of the pressure of scoring more and attending various coaching/tuition classes? Is it the first time in the history of education...