Children can be taught in a better way

If children cannot learn from our way of teaching, we need to teach them the way they want to learn. 

Children can be taught in a better way. All of us know that if we could go back and relive our childhood, we will definitely learn those concepts, that we found hard then, in a much better way now. Do you know why? Because now we can relate those concepts to the things and activities that we have faced till the date. We are all aware of a child intention that:

"A child wants to learn the concept not memorize it."

Yes. Honestly, children never want to memorize things. They are curious about amazing things surrounding them. This is not something new as we all know that from our experiences. However, looking at the current education system, teaching looks more like schooling, a kind of institutionalization of the future generation, than education that enhances creativity within children.

Enhance creativity in the children

All of the children are born creative. Enhancing their creativity and curiosity should be our first priority to improve our education system. There are different ways that can be followed.

First, including more activity-based teaching and less homework will make learning a fun. These activities should be associated with the games they play so that learning can be relatable to them. Children inventing new games with fair rules for all the players. Studying such games and strategies used will showcase the underlying ability of the children to solve problems. 

Second, increase participation-based teaching where children discuss the concept before topics are taught in the class. Then, doubts and questions of students can be cleared in the class and it will be easier for the students to grasp the topics in a logical manner. Peer-to-peer learning will increase the chances of cracking group-discussion based job-interviews in future. Also, this will be a additional help for personality development in terms of listening what others have to say with an open mind.

Third, Increase practical-based learning where children are taught theory using experiments not only for science subjects but also mathematics and other courses. During teaching try to use games and tools that are available in the vicinity of the children. for example, using the example of trucks in teaching is less productive than using cycle or bicycles. This will induce the design-creativity among children and what we teach in ITI institutes, we can teach them in our schools. 

Japan education system develops curiosity among children through various activities here.

Teach them about the future, not the past

If we teach today we taught yesterday, then we rob our children of tomorrow ~John Dewey

Children are the future of a nation. Their ambitions, talents, and passion are what will decide the development of the country in future. But if see the case of Indian education, it is following century-old teaching methods. This way, we are orienting brains of our children more towards past than the future. The world is changing rapidly, more than 90% of the world has changed within less than 10 years. Even operating systems of various electronic gadgets are updating with the time then why aren't we updating our education system in a similar way. The current education system needs an upgrade parallel to the changes happening in the world.

Reduce the gap between child Interest and teaching

Have a look at the current education system of India. Does it takes children's interests in the decision-making of the syllabus? Does it have a uniform syllabus across the country? It does not. Private schools have their own syllabus, not advanced, but with the use of tougher vocabulary that not only hinders the concept learning but also the smooth transition of a child who is coming from a different language-medium e.g. Hindi medium school to English-medium school or state-board to CBSE or ICSE board. During our childhood, all of us want to spend more time playing games than spending time in class listening to the lecture of the teachers. 

Long-hour classes should be minimized to ensure that children get to enjoy their childhood. Everything during childhood should be full of excitement even their classes. If not, chances of these children being unable to focus on either in education or in childhood are high. The imbalance between the two creates a feeling of inferiority complex within them. They start performing worse than their potential and eventually we find them depressed from all the scoldings by the parents, teachers and elders due to their unexpected performance in school. 

Teach them about decision-making

The inability of the students to make decisions at the right phase of their life make them vulnerable towards following paths directed by elders (parents, teachers etc.) recommend. Being the decision-maker of their future does not give the feeling of regret later. In Japan, children are given responsibilities in various activities within the school such as serving lunch, cleaning of the classroom etc.

During a workshop conducted by NIRMAAN, SEARCH (Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra), he told us about his student life in Gandhi's Sevagram Ashram. Students were given tasks to do grocery shopping with the constraint of the budget. Selection and quantity of the vegetables were decided by the nutritive value and cost of these vegetables. Such activities ensure that a child student gets to face real life challenge and take up the responsibilities. 

What else can be done to improve our education system? Do let us know by commenting below.