School of Change

The challenge here is not helping children learn,but unlearn. The philosophy is not linked to marks,but a method that will help them acquire skills and abilities to learn and unlearn,be creative,communicative and ‘connect knowledge to life outside school’,as recommended by National Curriculum Framework (NCF). For the last one year,The Centre for Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA),which has been working towards bringing about a change in the education scenario of the region,is working on a project that will impel those in the business of education to see that systems and process within schools are constantly improved for the better. So,as many as 15 people,including Harleen Kohli of CEVA,is making the dream come true. “We are people who have a passion for our job,most of us are educationists,who know the only way is to look ahead and not be regressive. The change is tough,but worth the effort,’’ smiles Kohli. Under CEVA’s School Support Program,they are intensively involved with the New Public School (NPS),Sector 18,which is celebrating it Golden Jubilee this year and are working together with teachers and the school administration to help put in place teaching processes that lead to concept-based and experiential learning for students. They agree it’s not only the system that needs to be changed,but the total mind-set,and it’s a two-way process,that involves both teachers and students,so that the entire perception of a classroom is altered. “Change has to be in the classroom and it needs to be a place of discovery,’’ Harleen adds that the new module is now being applied,in Classes I to VI and the course books by NCERT are a class apart. “These encourage a child to learn the concepts,ask questions,there is no room for rote learning,’’ Math,Science and English are the three major subjects,says Harleen that they have worked on. Building a resource library,an activity bank,creating teaching-learning materials,picking up different skills (puppetry,theatre,story-telling,clowning,kabaar se jugaar),networking with environmental groups,learning activists,zero-waste management groups and discovering different education alternatives are some of the efforts. It’s all done through dialogue,the mode being negotiation and involving parents in the effort. There is a demonstration of learner-centered processes in different learning situations and spaces like activity clubs,classroom workshops,learning melas and presentations. “Our effort is to introduce to the teachers,teaching methods that would help students to pick up higher order thinking skills and the project is supported by WATIS,WIPRO,Applying Thought In Schools to improve the quality of education,’’ they are all set to start two clubs,Math and English speaking,an outdoor lab project,a newsletter for each class and also an eco-club! The outdoor science lab will have features like a water pulley,varying slopes of water,interactive sand and water table to build and study land forms,geological and botanical samples and so on. “Open house in classrooms so that parents’ can come and engage with children performing plays,working on projects and explaining their work through displays etc is one of the other endeavours,’’ Harleen hopes the word will spread far and wide.