The Magic Beans

These are perhaps the 5 most precious ‘Daal’ beans for me as a Father. 

A few months ago, my son who is in Grade 1 this year, came home with a tiny sapling in a paper cup. Out of curiosity I asked him what this was. He told me that he and his classmates had all planted seeds as part of their Learning theme - ‘Changes’ a few days ago. As the seeds germinated and turned in to little saplings, their class teacher asked them to carry the saplings home and nurture them. 

We identified a big pot, filled it up with soil and manure fertiliser, and planted the sapling. My son excitedly picked the watering can and sprinkled water to make the soil moist. I consciously placed the pot around the house in the area where my son would see it everyday he stepped out of the house to go to school or anywhere else if it were a holiday. 

In the days that followed, I would point my son to the sapling. Initially as a 6 year old, happy go-lucky as they are, he would pour water in the pot every couple of days. In the summer months, the plants growth was sluggish, so he would ask me why its not growing bigger even though he provides ‘food’ to it in the form of water. That made me explain to him that like we become a little sluggish in high temperature, so does the plant, and the water he is offering is more like blood for the plant, which is helping carry nutrients in the soil to it for its growth. 

The monsoons came and the plant started to bloom. My son couldn’t hide his excitement to see how it was spreading its branches, growing new leaves and the leaves were turning bigger. One day we spotted flowers on the plant, and he wondered - I had planted a ‘Daal’ seed, how come its turning out to be a flower plant? We discussed how in most plants you will have flowering followed with fruiting. He shook his head understandingly and asked me when would we see the beans. I asked him to be patient, and keep nurturing the plant as we had been doing all this while. 

Then one day, we spotted the first bean; he said “its like Jack and the Beanstalk”. While I smiled back at him, I could see a slight sense of fulfilment for the efforts that he had put in all these months. The beans started to grow longer, and thicker and the excitement to now see them grow rapidly further enhanced his interest. As days went by, we saw more beans emerging after the flowers, and again for him it became routine to see this. He was inherently excited and a bit impatient too to see ‘what next’? As we were having persistent rains, the manual watering stopped, and we would simply cross the plant each day exchanging greetings with it of sorts. 

The moment arrived; one fine morning on his way to school, we saw one of beans had started turning yellow. He asked me worryingly - “is the plant dying”? “No” I said, your beans are ripening. Later that evening, I plucked the ripe bean, and extracted the ‘Daal’ beans out. When I went to pick him up from school, I asked him if he remembered the magic beans from the story - Jack and the Beanstalk. He said ‘Yes’ - after which I put my clenched fist forth and asked him to open it. 

‘Oh there are five of them; I planted only one of these’ he said as he recognised the seed he had planted a few months ago. When we reached home, he started noticing the many other beans growing and waiting to get ripe. He was so excited to see how one seed that he planted was going to give out so many in return. The sense of accomplishment was visible as he walked up to his mother and showed him the fruits of his labour. 

That evening, he asked his mother to cook ‘Daal’ for dinner, and while wanting to put his ‘Daal’ beans in the broth, he stopped. He said these are the first ever things I have grown, and wanted to keep them as a memory. I happily obliged giving him a small glass container that he put the beans in and kept it in his bedside drawer with the many other favourite artefacts he keeps in a small box. 

I reflected back to the time when a few days after my son had got the sapling hime, in one of my interactions with is class teacher, I enquired about this initiative. She told me that by doing so, she wanted them to understand the phenomenon of ‘Changes’ that they were covering in class, how a seed would transform into a sapling and more. She asked them to carry the saplings home and plant them, so they could nurture them and observe them grow. This would help them understand the value of growing food, take ownership and responsibility, observe the changes that followed, develop an emotional bond with nature, and last but not the least - feel accomplished to see fruits of their labour.  

I can surely say the Learning what his class teacher set out to embed went a long way. A way of teaching designed to teach real life skills to kids. It reminded me of what Jack Ma - the founder of Alibaba.com one of the world’s largest and successful e-commerce companies said when asked ‘In this Digital Age, what are the 21st century skills we need to teach in schools?’. His answer was - ‘While being proficient with knowledge of how to work their way with and around machines – we need to Teach Skills to Kids that they will be able to do better than Machines.’ 

I am glad that the KED Program at Kunskapsskolan while embracing technology as an enabling tool, focuses on Skill based Learning. A rich curriculum, dedicated teachers and seamless implementation of learning practices provides a platform for children to be independent learners and ‘Learn for Life’. 

We have harvested 6 pods to date, and we eagerly await the others to ripen. My son now looks forward to growing his next crop. He wants to harvest all the ‘Daal’ beans and inspired by his ‘Home Economics’ class at school which ignites the passion of ‘preparing your own food’, wants to cook the ‘Daal’ for a family meal. The spark has been ignited, and its down to us as parents how we will fuel and reinforce this further. 

Eight years ago, when I first engaged with Kunskapsskolan to bring the future of learning to India, today I am a happy co-Founder but more importantly a happy parent seeing my child grow with such immersive Learning. 

(Kunal Bhadoo - The Author is the co-founder of Kunskapsskolan India, Member of the Board of Directors and ex-CEO of Kunskapsskolan India, and a parent of Kunskapsskolan International.)