Learning can be fun
Monday, 1 November 2010
Mahmudur Rahman
Khalisha is a tasty enough fish but as would have with any perishable commodity, it too will rot at some time. Nonetheless why a place should be named Khalisha Pocha is anyone's guess. Perhaps it is just one of those strange naming quirks encountered everywhere in different languages. But the little area in Nilphamari made news not because of the name; it caught the imagination for an achievement.
Parents, especially those living in cities often bemoan the 'fun' that has gone out of the education their wards are receiving. For the young ones it's usually a routine of more like wake-up-off to school-study-tuition-study-sleep. The more sophisticated English medium schools prepare the children well but in so doing are introducing them to a world that is an island adrift of the society they live in. Sooner than later the dichotomy bites and that's when the estrangement leads to either frustration or the simplest of escapes-abroad for those who can afford it.
Somewhere in between it has all gone horribly wrong for a system to deny children the wonderful world of childhood. That's why the Khalisha Pocha incident becomes all the more relevant. It didn't require a 'policy'; it didn't require 'round table discussions', 'seminars' or anything of the sort. It just required sense and sensibility to come together between the school's teachers, management committee and parents.
The easy realisation for them was that if the children enjoyed going to school there would be fewer dropouts and very little absenteeism. And so, without disturbing the curriculum the school has introduced visual aids to aid the learning process and ensured there was adequate time for the young minds to be given a break through games. Perhaps the best solution to a problem they came up with was the use of para-teachers to assist to cover for leave of absence and take some of the load off the school staff.
The results are astounding. A one-hundred per cent attendance sustained over a period of time and a whole bunch of lively, happy kids.
In this column, some time ago this scribe had argued for utilising the minds of good teachers who may have gone past the retirement but still had a lot more to give. Throughout the world, albeit for different reasons people are being urged or forced to working longer careers. In our country the retirement age for certain sections has been raised. Given the increasing demands of schools, class rooms and above all teachers, perhaps education is one area that really needs to be looked at from the perspective of flexible retirement ages, hours. The para-teacher approach is one that really does merit a long look at. A lot of work is on-going to improve and upgrade new education skills. Perhaps the wise ones could prevail by suggesting how to restore the relationship between teachers and students that once was a matter of pride and so many of us looked fondly back at in later years.
(The writer can be reached at mahmudrahman@gmail.com)
Khalisha is a tasty enough fish but as would have with any perishable commodity, it too will rot at some time. Nonetheless why a place should be named Khalisha Pocha is anyone's guess. Perhaps it is just one of those strange naming quirks encountered everywhere in different languages. But the little area in Nilphamari made news not because of the name; it caught the imagination for an achievement.
Parents, especially those living in cities often bemoan the 'fun' that has gone out of the education their wards are receiving. For the young ones it's usually a routine of more like wake-up-off to school-study-tuition-study-sleep. The more sophisticated English medium schools prepare the children well but in so doing are introducing them to a world that is an island adrift of the society they live in. Sooner than later the dichotomy bites and that's when the estrangement leads to either frustration or the simplest of escapes-abroad for those who can afford it.
Somewhere in between it has all gone horribly wrong for a system to deny children the wonderful world of childhood. That's why the Khalisha Pocha incident becomes all the more relevant. It didn't require a 'policy'; it didn't require 'round table discussions', 'seminars' or anything of the sort. It just required sense and sensibility to come together between the school's teachers, management committee and parents.
The easy realisation for them was that if the children enjoyed going to school there would be fewer dropouts and very little absenteeism. And so, without disturbing the curriculum the school has introduced visual aids to aid the learning process and ensured there was adequate time for the young minds to be given a break through games. Perhaps the best solution to a problem they came up with was the use of para-teachers to assist to cover for leave of absence and take some of the load off the school staff.
The results are astounding. A one-hundred per cent attendance sustained over a period of time and a whole bunch of lively, happy kids.
In this column, some time ago this scribe had argued for utilising the minds of good teachers who may have gone past the retirement but still had a lot more to give. Throughout the world, albeit for different reasons people are being urged or forced to working longer careers. In our country the retirement age for certain sections has been raised. Given the increasing demands of schools, class rooms and above all teachers, perhaps education is one area that really needs to be looked at from the perspective of flexible retirement ages, hours. The para-teacher approach is one that really does merit a long look at. A lot of work is on-going to improve and upgrade new education skills. Perhaps the wise ones could prevail by suggesting how to restore the relationship between teachers and students that once was a matter of pride and so many of us looked fondly back at in later years.
(The writer can be reached at mahmudrahman@gmail.com)