Learning for Life

T

he best gift one can give to one’s child is a good education. It brings a sense of confidence and security. It is the means of social and economic development. It prepares the child to face the future challenges in life. Educated citizens are the wealth of a country. Hence the Right to Education is considered the basic human right.

All round development

      Education is not just making a person literate and numerate. It is the intellectual, mental, physical and emotional development of an individual. Schooling is a framework that encompasses the learning contents and processes. It can be called methodical learning. However, the schooling, today, has taken a whole lot of new dimensions.

Foundation must be strong

      Though learning occurs from infancy until death, the child is initiated into formal learning between the age of five and six years. The initial formative years of education sets the foundation upon which all further achievements are based.  This phase equips them well for life long learning.  Hence, the foundation should be laid with utmost care so that it should not have any adverse bearing on the child’s life later. 

     The children who step into the school are nothing but wet clay wanting to be moulded by the teachers.  The dreary-eyed tiny tots - with the tag ‘handle with care’ attached  - are quite apprehensive during the initial days. These turn playful once the inhibitions are shed.  Holding the attention of the wandering minds is another tough task.

Learning should be fun

      Children’s attention should be gradually drawn towards learning without their knowledge. They should be made aware of the joy of learning.  Instead of stuffing the information into the little brains, teachers should motivate the children to learn. Such an atmosphere should be created that the children are eager to absorb the information imparted by their teachers.

       Further, children should be left wanting to know more. Lest, the knowledge will bounce back without making any impact. Studying should be made like any other activity in their daily routine.    Drawing a beautiful analogy , well-known physicist Albert Einstein observed, “I believe that one could even deprive a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if one could force it with a whip to eat continuously whether it were hungry or not…”.

Education is new beginning

      Theoretically, education is the process of passing on the knowledge accumulated over generations.  But, it should not be the end, instead a new beginning should be made from thereon. It should serve as a platform for the train of thought to chug off.  The imagination and creativity of the taught should take wings.  Children should be taught how to think more than what to think. Inquisitiveness should be encouraged, for curiosity, it is said, is the mother of all inventions.

Each child is unique

     A class is like a beautiful garden with flowers of different hues. Owing to his/her background each student is unique. Hence different strategies work for different students. Reaching out to the needs of each student is a challenge to the teacher. The teacher should try to identify the strength of the student and improve upon his/her weakness. Every child hankers for recognition and appreciation. Encouragement is the catchword. Appreciating a student for his extra-curricular achievement may ultimately bring him back to his studies.

      Students can comprehend better if the topics taught can be related to the objects/incidents they are already familiar with. As it is said, seeing is believing, there should be more demonstrations. Thus life-long learners can be created. The mere rote learning does not last beyond examination.

     Extracurricular activities are as important as curricular activities. Physical and creative activities serve as stress busters and make the mind active receptor for the information.  All the extracurricular activities should finally lead to better learning.

Stress-free learning

     Examinations, in fact, assess students’ assimilation of the subject. Unfortunately, examinations in today’s competitive world are said to induce stress among children. But if taken in a healthy spirit, such small stresses go a long way in preparing the students to face bigger challenges in life.  Private tuitions have turned out to be another bane in the education system. A stress-free environment is what a child needs today. 

      Making a mockery of the education, Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman and scientist, said,  “He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on”. This is what happens when learning occurs without understanding and thus turns out to be a drudgery. 

      The ultimate goal of education should be enlightenment. It should enable the child to differentiate between good and evil, justice and injustice, proper and improper, truth and untruth.

(Published in Platinum Jubilee souvenir of NKES, Mumbai )                            

Folk artistes as cheerleaders

  

I

ndians seem to lose no opportunity in disgracing themselves. For them, anything “imported” is the best. Unfortunately, even some of our rich traditions are recognized only after they bore a stamp of foreign approval.

      Or else how could one interpret a report in a section of the press that took a dig at the audience of the ongoing IPL matches for “threatening” cheerleaders with their “indecent” advances. It read between the lines: Shame on Indians.

     However, not only Indians anybody else in their position would have reacted in no better way than this to the skimpily-clad women.  I say shame on sponsors also. By mixing sports with this kind of entertainment, they are taking the gentleman’s game to a new low, though they think otherwise.

     Don’t we have any other way to add exuberance to the occasion other than cheering spectators? Yes, we have. The organizers can make use of the innumerable folk performing arts of the country.

     I feel this would lend more colour to the event. The spectators would look forward to something novel each time than the mere bum-shaking acts.

Cricket Mania

I

f you ask me what is  more contagious than even many deadly epidemics, pat I would say, it is nothing but cricket.  Yes, the cricket fever runs high among Indians round the year. There can not be any other cohesive force stronger than cricket which binds all  irrespective of age, sex and  religion.  

      Despite the cricket fever catching the entire country now and then, I am proud (should I say ashamed?) to mention that I am immune to such a pandemic.  Indeed, a strange thing to happen for a daughter of a great cricket buff. My dad eats cricket, breaths cricket, talks cricket and sleeps cricket.

Cricket addict dad

      My father’s addiction is such that he would watch a cricket match on television for the nth time without his interest level declining an inch from the first time viewing. During the fools’ game the idiot box is his sole property. Poor kids have to miss their daily dose of cartoons.  An otherwise silent dad becomes quite vocal when it comes to cricket.

Strange is the fan world !

      And the similar hypes in other households amuse me than the game itself. I have a friend whose father has different chairs for different shots. He would sit in the “sixer chair” or the “boundary chair” whenever the game assumes a tardy pace.

     Whenever there is a match, an acquaintance of mine wakes up early in the morning, cooks, finishes all the household chores and installs herself before the TV on time. The children are left to manage on their own until the game gets over. Whenever there is no hope left for India to win, hoping against hope, the devout lady starts chanting the names of all Gods.  The name of all players of foreign team dances on the tongue of my illiterate neighbour, of course, with elan.

       I have an uncle who has this strange habit of asking ‘Is Tendulkar out?’ The moment he asks, the player or whoever he had enquired about for that matter has to be out! So his children never allow him to open his mouth during the match.

      Another unique characteristic of my father is that he doesn’t lose his composure while watching cricket. During a match, when the chance of India winning looked bleak, cursing the players everybody went to bed except my father. Next morning the smile on his face was telling everything. India had won! All at home were cursing themselves for not being a witness to the decisive moment. 

      Once in the office when all were watching TV, my boss mistook my disinterest for my love for duty. As everyone was watching the tournament with excitement, my boss took pity on me and offered his transistor. Without knowing what to do, I joined my colleagues, albeit passively.

Jingoism takes over

      Patriotism raises to jingoistic levels during tournaments.  The fans invent creative ways to display their love towards the nation. There would be special prayers, special haircuts, unique make ups, songs and what not. 

And our news-hungry dime a dozen news channels, in fact, fuel this frenzy. They bring the slices of these novel ways of expressing solidarity into your drawing room.

 

      During tournaments streets wear almost a deserted look. Those out on roads huddle themselves in front of shops and other commercial establishments to get a glimpse of the performance of their heroes. The fact that productivity comes down in offices remains an open secret.

     If one goes out, be it market, office, school or road the discussion revolves around cricket. All talks lead to cricket. Even strangers turn buddies discussing cricket. If you admit that you have no interest in cricket, you are considered an alien creature on this earth and will certainly receive strange glances like me.

      Though the country loath the relics of the colonial age, the game somehow succeeded in enchanting Indians eternally.  Perhaps, all other games blur in the glare of the cricket.

Canine nuisance

E

ven as the argument over eliminating stray dogs has reached a crescendo following a court order, little thought is given to the problems created by domesticated dogs at public places.

 

     After carefully avoiding the strays lying all over the footpath, when you reach the park, there awaits another kind of nuisance.

     The pet dogs come for an outing with their owners to parks.  With scant regard for the rights of the fellow visitors, the owners let loose their dogs as soon as they enter the park. True to their nature, the canines run amok leaving the children and the adults petrified.

     Besides, the owners do not mind their dogs dirtying the park with their poops and urine.  A visit to the park has, no doubt, become a nightmarish experience nowadays. Not the dogs, but the owners, have to be tamed.