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Winning with handwriting
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Bad handwriting can take a toll on students' marks, but corrective action at the right time can work wonders.
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EVER SO often, one comes across students who wonder why they have lost vital marks in subjects despite having written the exams well. The poor score is attributed to a lot of things. Scan the list and one vital point is likely to be missing — handwriting. Even if the content in the answer paper is good, the message does not get across unless it is legible. Straining the eye to read what a student has written can result in an examiner getting irritated.
Few realise the havoc bad handwriting can play. Not just in the field of education. Take business or any other field. The image of executives can take a beating if their handwriting does not reflect their personality. Disjointed and bad handwriting, besides being difficult to understand, also undermines all efforts taken to make an impression.
Changing handwriting after one grows up can be a difficult exercise. Even if one makes a conscious effort to do so, what has been learnt over a period of time cannot be unlearnt easily. "It is better to catch them young. The best time to attempt changing children's handwriting is when they are between Class III and Class XIII," says K Chellappan, honorary resource person at the Green Gaarden Centre for Handwriting at Venkitapuram here.
"Though there is awareness about handwriting, the focus is more on analysis. No importance is given to repairing bad writing.
" Today's students know that good handwriting improves their chances to score more. But, they don't know whom to approach," he remarks.
However, they don't attempt much of a change in students of Class X and XII. That is because writing speed might come down when they are cracking their public exams.
What is taught at this Centre is a mix of italics and cursive writing.
"We have developed a system incorporating the best of both systems and removed unwanted features from cursive writing that can mar legibility. The strokes are longer in cursive writing, and though it is time-consuming, it facilitates joining. But, in italics, the strokes are shorter, but time is taken to lift and write while joining," Chellappan explains.
Students who come to the Centre for corrective action are first evaluated on seven scales -- slant, size, shape, joining, spacing - letter, line and word, uniformity and linearity.
In the 25-hour course, they are taught the correct shape of letters, principles of joining, formation of words and the rules of spacing. "It is really sad that not even five per cent of students form the letters correctly," he rues. Usually, the first 15 hours are enough to correct bad writing. The remaining 10 hours are used to hone handwriting skills.
In a bid to reduce the number of students with bad writing, the Centre also trains teachers.
Teachers with bad writing are most likely to produce students with similar writing. When they are trained, it trickles down to the students too.
Tamil handwriting is also corrected at the Centre, but that does not have many takers, he says.
The Centre has branches in Tatabad and Vadavalli and at Gandhigram in Karur.
Contact 2442332 or 9843044977 for details.
SUBHA J RAO
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Metro Plus
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