If there is one system that elicits opinions from all quarters, it is the education system. Strong reactions from those who are concerned include lack of a clear guiding vision, increase in the administrative duties of teachers, a teaching methodology that is solely geared towards exam preparation, and an increasing pressure on students to comply with the mould of uniformity, devaluing their own individual potential.
To teachers, these observations are even more relevant as they are part of this system that continuously propagates these weak areas. One concern is that policymakers formulate changes without being aware of the ground realities of the systems they are trying to modify. One can find that the changes that look positive in theory do not trickle to the domain of the classroom as they are far removed from the most important aspect of the system — the student.
The question then arises: What would it feel like to be in the shoes of the students we teach?
An experiment
As the school and the role I played offered flexibility, I decided to don the “uniform” of a Class V student for a day. It was one of the most interesting experiences in my years of teaching. After the initial curiosity of the class about their new classmate, everyone settled into the timetable.
The day seemed to unfold into an endless stream of classes, copying notes, listening to teachers and sharing lunch with friends. The hectic pace at which each period moved from one to another offered no space for any reflection. We zoomed from solving addition problems to memorising the planets; hardly any teacher provided a transition break. Almost all the behaviour problems stemmed from sheer boredom and fatigue. I confess, there were times when I found students' conversations about their favourite superheroes a pleasant distraction from the monotonous methodology!
However, within this structure, I did find teachers who brought a renewed sense of joy into their classrooms. The civics teacher brought an infectious sense of passion; a testimony to her own interest in the subject. This reflected in the way she conducted her class. She was well-organised and began the class with a ten-minute discussion on laws that students would formulate if they ran the government. The next twenty minutes were spent on copying the existing laws and the last fifteen minutes on dividing the students into groups and asking them to present their own laws (from the verbal discussion), on chart papers, for a presentation in the next class.
In this class, students hardly exhibited any behavioural issues and mirrored the teacher’s enthusiasm.
Listening to the teacher
It was delightful to have a conversation with the civics teacher after the class. She felt that there was ample opportunity for a teacher to bring her own creativity into the classroom. She had really interesting ideas on how to implement changes and felt that the lack of attention to teaching methodology and content (the infamous “portions”) gave rise to a herd mentality, where one functioned without much thought. What was inspiring was that she did not resist or fight against the system she was part of, but, at the same time, did not allow herself to be swamped by it and give in to helplessness or anger. She took ownership of the one area she was in control of — the classroom.
The growing alienation between classroom and policy can perhaps be addressed by listening to the most valuable foot soldiers in the system — the teachers. Their insights into ground realities, gained within the microcosm of their classrooms, can bring about positive changes at the macro level of policy formulation and implementation. Beyond all this, this small experiment revealed the hidden gift of being a teacher. A bright-eyed young girl in the classroom, when asked who her role model was, responded without a moment’s hesitation, “Civics ma’am.”
As a teacher, one can never predict the power of influence and the invisible gifts that go beyond bureaucracy and cumbersome policies.
P.S.: A thank you to all the readers who have regularly responded to the column! It is good to be back!
The author has worked as a special educator in various settings. Share your thoughts and ideas at lifeplus590@gmail.com
