No more school bags that weigh more than the students, classrooms defined by the screech of the chalk on the blackboard, monotonous drone of the teacher, the distracted murmur of students behind the teachers’ back… Instead picture a Zen-like environment where students are given a say about what they learn.
For most it may seem like a recipe for mayhem, letting the children decide and create a syllabus for themselves; something they would like to follow as part of their education. However, encouraging children to think outside the box is Anita Nair, head of an upcoming private school in the city that plans to follow the Steiner method of education.
Says Anita who has 20 years in the education field and has worked at both conventional schools and at schools that offer an alternative mode of education: “The current teaching scenario of India promotes conventional techniques of imparting education, one of which is rote learning. Hence, most students in conventional schools often develop a lackadaisical attitude towards their studies by the time they reach class eight. That is because the current education system observed in most schools kills their interest for learning. We don’t want to follow a ‘pattern’. If someone else controls your time and your actions, then you are not developing as an authentic person, an authentic learner. Schools described as “alternative” do not subscribe to any single philosophy. One common thread that runs through such schools is that they do not keep academic performance as the sole yardstick for a child’s growth.”
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The school aims at an overall development of a child – body, mind and spirit. In India, there are 33 schools that observe the Waldorf-Steiner method of education. “Unlike the school life of most children in the city, our students’ days will be filled mostly with art, music and creative learning. They are taught to develop self-awareness and how to reason things out for themselves as they grow older; we don’t believe in spoon feeding the child. In this method, no textbooks are used till class eight.”
Teaching takes a project-based approach in this system. For example, students learn how a seed grows by caring for a plant themselves. They can sketch, enact or write out the entire cycle of growth. And subjects are taught in an interesting manner. “For instance, during Christmas, the students will be taught how to bake a cake. Chemistry is involved in baking. When slicing the cake, fractions are involved. I am a chemistry teacher and have taught in the ICSE syllabus. I have seen sixth standard students struggle with formulae and symbols. If you give them an age appropriate base in a fun manner, the children tend to retain the facts better,” says Anita who has taught at several schools including Rishi Valley School, Loyola School, Trivandrum International School and Sri Atmananda Memorial School in Chengannur.
Another attraction of the Steiner system, according to Anita, is that the topics taught are all “age appropriate” and the classes are not sardine-packed. “We believe in small classes. That way the teacher gets to connect with each and every student, something which I feel is important.”
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The teacher graduates with them as they move up grades until they reach class seven. This is so that the teacher-student relationship is strong and the student is comfortable with sharing his/her problems if any with his/her teacher. “The teacher, who will know their strengths and weakness by then, will also be able to guide them on what stream will best suit them.”
But it is not just education that is in focus here. Importance will be given on environmental and civic awareness. The students will be streamlined into the CBSE syllabus once they reach class eight. “Parents often wonder whether their children will be able to cope with the sudden shift from a textbook and stress free environment into one that has one. They fear that their wards will be incapable of facing up to fierce competition. I say they can. My daughter is an example. She studied in an alternative school and is now a student at College of Architecture Trivandrum. She is not only good at her studies, she is an all rounder. She organises blood drives and other awareness camps at her campus. At the end of the day, it is whether you want a child that is academically brilliant or a Jack or Jill of all trades that excels in all.”