Class 2 student getting prepared on a daily basis for her next day school – This is not a headline in a newspaper, but a daily routine of a girl who studies at an international school. A child named Anisha of class 2 was the one who experienced such kind of stress.
A flash back of what had happened a few months before during my visit to the School as a consultant. A plumpy beautiful child with a pony attracted everyone with her charming smile. A very brilliant student! Every time I entered her class for class participation I used to find that she answered every question of her teacher. When a teacher was about to start a topic with some introductory activity she would gauge the learning for the day and say, ‘Miss I know this. This is…." and continue giving the entire essence of the topic. The other students were wonderstruck. The teachers were not an exception.
Sometimes I had seen her correcting her teachers’ pronunciations and spelling errors. Some teachers used to have a frown on their faces; some teachers found it embarrassing while a few others answered, “Oh thanks! Thank you for correcting me”. But the teachers found it difficult to proceed their class as Anisha continued talking about the entire topic. Some teachers attempted to handle her by telling, “Good that you know many things about this topic. But all others also need to know about this. So please wait”. Sometimes she would not listen and sometimes she would. While she accepted the teacher’s words she would start disturbing the others in the class by pulling their pens, pencils etc.,
On the whole the teachers had a tough time in the class handling the situation. One evening I was on the corridor to observe students’ faces while they leave home for the day. When I was there I happened to watch this scene. Anisha was waiting in the lounge for her parents. In the meantime a classmate of her approached her with a smiling face and said, “Hey, your parents are coming. Get ready”. Anisha immediately jumped out from the chair on the lounge with her pony jumping with her. Her twinkling eyes became little sad. She said, “Oh! My mom and dad are coming? I want to be here in the school itself. I don’t want to go home. As soon as I go home my mom will start teaching tomorrow’s portion for me and make me recite everything. It’s so boring. I want to play and be happy here at school”. I was shocked to hear this.
I discussed with the School principal about this issue and asked her to arrange for a meeting with Anisha’s parents. We had an informal chat with their parents and tried to find out the reason for Anisha’s behavior. We spoke to her mom and dad about this. The mom said, “I want my child to be in one of the leading institutions in future. I want her to be always number 1. The schools nearby are making child read more and give lots of homework. But your school does not do all those things. They go very slowly and ensure that children are happy. That’s it. But when will they become compete? So I get notebooks from the students of nearby school and teach my daughter everything in advance. I want my child to know everything in advance before she comes to school. Other schools teach division in class 2 itself. But your school teaches division only in class 3. So I taught her those things now itself. That’s it".
I continued when my turn to talk came up. I said, “Schools today are just piling up syllabus to convey to the parents that they teach more. But what teach needs to match with the chronological age of the child. The board has lots of experts from the field of education and child psychology. They use their minds collectively discuss, debate and arrive at a clearly tabulated syllabus that is age appropriate and that would cater to the needs of the child at that age level. We cater to the standards set by the board and ensure that the child is given enough time to observe, explore, experiment and evolve using her sensory organs in the early childhood. This will slowly help the child to be a self- learner”. The child’s mom asked, “But how do we believe that the method you are adopting will be good for the child?” We all go to the doctor when the child is ill. The doctor examines the child and prescribes lots of medicines. The doctor gives some injections as well. What do you ask to such doctors? You believe that those doctors will help your child come out of the sickness. Is that correct?” The mom nodded in acknowledgement.
I continued, “So why is it that you always doubt the approaches taken by schools? Please start believing schools and their heads. It is not that you need to be blindly in trust with them. But ask for clarifications and understand what they are up to and not take steps as parents like. This is the future of children. Be little patient. Schooling is like dealing with human minds. It will take time to see results. So please wait and co-operate with the school philosophy to achieve long –term results”.
The mother nodded her head and it appeared to me as though she was able to make some logic out of what I said. I am not sure as to how much it was helpful to those parents and to the little child Anisha.
But I came out of the room with a question in mind as to “Do we as parents need to help children live happily or just get degrees and certificates from leading institutions?”
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