In the ever-changing environment of education, especially due to the COVID pandemic, many questions have started arising regarding school education. Under the new education policy also, more emphasis has been laid on making education interesting and life skill-oriented. But the question arises of how to make the student’s interest and ability the focal point in the ever-changing environment? Should the education system cater to the needs of students, or should students follow the pre-designed path of education? Do examinations genuinely assess the potential of the students?
An attempt was made to find answers to some such questions in the seminar “Decoding Learning Organism” organized on the campus of The Jeypore School on 12th April 2022. In the seminar, along with the stalwarts of the education world, famous screenwriter and film director Amol Gupte also expressed his views. Amol Gupte, in his film Taare Zameen Pe, narrates the touching story of a child who has difficulty in reading and writing. Amol is also an ex-president of the Children’s Film Society and has shown his grip on child psychology with films like Stanley Ka Dabba, Hawaa Hawaai and Saina. In this seminar, Amol Gupte said, “We do IQ test to measure the ability of the student, but completely ignore the EQ i.e., emotional quotient, forgetting the fact that personality of any student cannot be understood in the true sense by making judgments on his/her academic scores.
Amol Gupte stressed making art and films a part of the curriculum. He has been advocating for the inclusion of students with special abilities for a long time. Speaking in this seminar, he said that in today’s changing times, many educational skills have become redundant. Talking about the problem of dyslexia, he said that in the digital era, when professional lives are integrated with digital documentation, why should students who are lagging behind in the skill of writing be called dyslexic? According to Amol, it is very important to bring gender sensitivity in education.
Urvashi Varman, Principal of The Palace School, Jaipur, said that in order to teach students, it is first necessary to understand the way they study. It is not necessary that every student understands things in the same way. Some have more ability to learn by listening and some by watching. At present, the biggest challenge for teachers is to understand the learning style of all the students in large classes and to create the lesson according to each type of learning style. And if we are not able to do this, then the onus is on the system and not on the students.
Sheelavati Meena, Additional State Project Director, Department of Samagra Shiksha, on this occasion, highlighted the efforts being made for students with special abilities as per the new education policy under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. From the identification of such students by conducting door-to-door surveys, the work of providing all facilities to such students through resource centers at the block level is being done by the government.
According to Mrs. Vaidehi Singh, Principal of Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School, during the covid period, social-emotional challenges have increased, which can be tackled only by taking artistic interests and getting the right help from parents and teachers. Along with this, understanding the digital demands in the post covid education era is also crucial for the future success of learning plans.
Bhawna Pandey, Chief Coordinator of Education, The Jeypore School, emphasized understanding the needs of those students who are unable to join the mainstream post covid or otherwise. She mentioned the pressures the students face for being a part of the crowd and expecting the child to score their winning marks. Often parents fail to accept the fact that it is very important to maintain a child’s mental health, self-confidence and interest in learning. Now the time has come that we should explore new options for the education of our children and also openly adopt options like open schooling and flexible schooling.
Archana Surana, Founder and Director of Arch Academy in the seminar, also stressed the need to link education with life experiences. Speaking on occasion, Delhi Public School Principal Rita Taneja talked about enhancing the ability of the students to face difficult situations and building their resilience. According to her, just as the people of the previous generation had stories of recovering from tragedies like the partition of the country, this generation will have examples of recovering from the corona epidemic and bouncing back to life.
The Jeypore School for Alternative Education, in association with Disha Foundation, provides new learning opportunities to the students who are left behind in the mainstream schools. The main objective of the school is to transform the way education is imparted and to put the well-being of the child at the heart of the education system. All these points were emphasized in this seminar.
