Cheeselings at the Learning Forward Retreat 19-21 July 2026

Presentation by Nidhi and Saumya from the Doon International School at Dehradun

Attending the My Good School Capacity Building Programme was an enriching and thought-provoking experience. 

The sessions inspired me to look beyond academics and understand that education is about nurturing values, character, empathy, and responsible citizenship.

The two-day programme offered practical ideas and meaningful discussions that encouraged self-reflection and reinforced the importance of creating happy, inclusive, and value-based learning environments. I came away with renewed motivation to implement these learnings in my classroom and contribute positively to my school community.

A heartfelt thank you to Mr Sandeep Dutt for his inspiring vision, insightful guidance, and unwavering commitment to transforming education. His words encouraged us to become educators who shape lives, not just teach subjects.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Kunal for his constant support, excellent coordination, and encouragement throughout the programme. His dedication ensured a smooth and engaging learning experience for all participants.

I am truly grateful for this opportunity and look forward to putting these valuable lessons into practice. Together, we can build schools that inspire every child to learn, grow, and become compassionate global citizens.

Saumya Shankhdhar

Good Schools of India #51

Good Schools of India by Sandeep Dutt

Joy of Learning Weekly #51

Read on Substack

The Way and Awakening

Personal and social development for every individual.

Our Programs and how to start?

1. My Good School on Sundays is open to middle school students and teachers of GSA Member Schools #MyGoodSchool. Schools and partners who join the Good Schools Alliance get open access to My Good School.
2. Learning Forward Saturday is for GSA Member schools that sign up and is open to the Whole Faculty Study Group - all teachers of the Member School are most welcome #HappyTeachers.
3. Masterclass on Saturday is for individuals and is limited to 25 passionate educators.
4. Friday @ EBD is free and Open To All, appreciation of literature, art and culture #JoyOfGiving.
5. Thoughtfully Thursday focuses exclusively on Read And Lead and is open to all.
6. My Good School Retreat for GSA Member Schools #JoyOfLearning.
7. Learning Forward Retreat at Fig Tree Cottage - book for a group of five and spend two nights at Dehradun #BrewingKnowledge.

We offer a customised learning experience for every individual #JoyOfLearning.

Learning Forward India Foundation

Founded by Sandeep Dutt of The English Book Depot #BrewingKnowledge, the Foundation aims to reshape school culture by fostering trust, curiosity, and collaboration among stakeholders.

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

Stress Impact on Children’s Learning & First-Generation Learners

The Courage to be Happy - an introduction

Learning Forward Saturday

To introduce the Staff Leadership Development Program and its core philosophy. Reading from the book Wanted Back-Bencher & Last-Ranker Teacher by Kavita Ghosh.

Learning Through Stories: Small Efforts, Big Impact- Lotus Petal Foundation

It was very engaging storytelling, and using narratives is a potent communication tool, no matter what you want to communicate.

My Good School, The Teachers Academy and much more in our complete edition on Substack, only at www.GSI.in

Wear your Eductor Badge with pride.
Available from The English Book Depot

Freedom and Interpersonal Relationships

Read And Lead

To read and discuss Adlerian psychology concepts from The Courage to Be Disliked.

Key Takeaways

• New Reading Process: Screen-sharing the book via read.amazon.com is now standard. This ensures everyone is on the same page, eliminates the need for physical books, and improves focus.
• Adler's Three Tasks: Life's core challenges are Work, Friendship, and Love. Love is the most difficult, requiring treating partners as "equal personalities" to avoid the distrust and control that destroy relationships.
• The "Life Lie": People create excuses (e.g., disliking someone) to avoid these tasks. This is a failure of courage, not a moral flaw, and is rooted in a self-chosen lifestyle rather than past trauma (teleology vs. aetiology).
• Rejecting Recognition: Seeking external validation is a trap that forces one to live for others' expectations, suppressing one's "I-ness." True freedom comes from self-validation and the "separation of tasks."

Process Update: Screen-Sharing

• Problem: Physical books create friction (different page numbers, bookmarks, dual-screen juggling), hindering group focus and excluding participants without a copy.
• Solution: Screen-share the book via read.amazon.com.
• Rationale: This ensures everyone is on the same page, simplifies navigation, and removes the need for physical books.
• Training: Sandeep guided Gurdeep through the process, demonstrating how to use the in-browser Kindle reader and its chapter navigation menu.

Adler's Three Life Tasks

The book's core concept: life's three unavoidable interpersonal tasks.

1. Work: A relationship with no workplace compulsion.

2. Friendship: A relationship difficult to initiate or deepen.

Key Insight: Depth and distance are more valuable than the number of acquaintances.

Action: Change yourself first; others will adapt.

3. Love: The most difficult task, divided into two stages:

Love Relationships:

• Problem: The closeness of love can lead to restriction and jealousy.
• Adler's View: Restriction is a manifestation of distrust and control.
• Solution: Treat partners as "equal personalities" to foster a calm, natural state of freedom.
• Parent-Child Relationships:
• Problem: A non-optional relationship ("rigid chains") that is fundamentally harder than a love relationship ("red string").
• Action: Face distressful relationships directly; avoidance is the worst option.

The "Life Lie" & Courage

• Concept: People invent pretexts to avoid life tasks, shifting responsibility to others or the environment. Example: Disliking someone is a goal chosen before finding their flaws, as a way to prevent an interpersonal relationship.
• Rationale: This is a failure of courage, not a moral flaw.

Adlerian Psychology: A "psychology of use" (teleology), where one chooses a lifestyle, not a "psychology of possession" (aetiology) determined by the past.

The Desire for Recognition

Problem: The Youth's parents' expectations created pressure and a desire for their recognition.

Adler's View: The desire for recognition is a trap that must be denied.

Mechanism: It stems from "reward and punishment education," where one acts appropriately only for praise.

Consequence: This leads to living for others' expectations, suppressing one's "I-ness."

Solution: True freedom comes from self-validation and the "separation of tasks," a concept to be explored next.

Group Reflection

Shalini: Freedom is the absence of needing external validation.

Latha: The need for validation can stem from uncertainty, but it also creates a dependency that fuels inferiority.

Minakshi: Both inferiority and superiority complexes arise from seeking external validation. Self-validation is the key to confidence.

Sandeep: A child learns to walk alone, not for validation. This natural process is often conditioned by adult reactions.

Community Updates

Yesterday's Session: A "brewing knowledge set" session with Dr Manu Kapoor was highly successful.

Potential Collaboration: Dr Kapoor may partner with Learning Forward to improve teaching and learning systems.

Community Model: Learning Forward and the Good Schools Alliance are community-driven, with participants joining for shared purpose, not salary.

Next Steps

All: Reflect on the nature of freedom and the "separation of tasks."

All: Read the newsletter and review the show notes for the Dr Manu Kapoor video.

Group: Continue reading from the "Separation of Tasks" section next session.

Jugaad meets Productive Failure

Brewing Knowledge Friday

Discussing the principles and application of Productive Failure with author Dr Manu Kapur.

Key Takeaways

• Productive Failure (PF) is a design philosophy, not a student trait. It prepares the mind for instruction by activating prior knowledge and revealing gaps through initial struggle, leading to deeper learning and transfer.
• Teacher design is the primary challenge. The two hardest phases are Activation (creating tasks that invite intuitive ideas from all learners) and Assembly (deconstructing student ideas to build the correct canonical solution).
• AI is a tool, not a replacement for effort. For novices, AI can create an illusion of performance without learning. It is most effective for experts who can critically evaluate its output.
• PF uses safe, low-stakes failure to prevent high-stakes failure. The goal is to build deep capabilities through initial struggle, which reduces the chance of failure when it truly matters (e.g., a surgeon on a patient).

The Problem: Learning Poorly from Good Instruction

Dr Kapur's research began by addressing the problem of students learning poorly despite effective direct instruction.

The core insight: The first step in learning something new should not be being told the answer.

This idea was counterintuitive 25 years ago and took two years to publish, highlighting the difficulty of challenging academic paradigms.

The Solution: Productive Failure (PF)

PF is a design philosophy that prepares the mind for instruction.

Gardener Analogy: Direct instruction is like throwing seeds on unprepared ground. PF is like tilling the soil, fertilising it, and sowing seeds in a structured way. The same rain (instruction) yields a much better crop (learning).

Core Principle: Struggle before instruction leads to deeper conceptual understanding and better transfer of learning.

The PF Framework: The Four A's

1. Activation: The teacher's most critical design task. Create problems that invite students' intuitive ideas, even from low-knowledge learners.

2. Awareness: The failure-driven protocol reveals knowledge gaps, showing students what doesn't work.

3. Affect: Awareness of gaps builds motivation and engagement to bridge them.

4. Assembly: The teacher's second major challenge.

Lego Analogy: Deconstruct student ideas into components.

Identify functional "Lego blocks" (valid parts of a solution).

Use these blocks to build the correct canonical solution, rather than simply dismissing all student attempts.

Implementation & School Culture

Time Constraints: PF is an efficiency equation (output/input). While it may take longer, it yields 3x the effect on deep learning and transfer learning.

Teacher Mindset: Act first, and the mindset will follow.

Scaling PF:

Long-Term Commitment: Requires 3–5 years to achieve economies of scale and build culture.

Community Design: Teachers can collaborate to design tasks for different topics, sharing the workload.

School Culture:

Strategy: "Pockets of innovation" are more effective than top-down mandates.

Rationale: Build a groundswell of evidence and peer conviction. Healthy systems can tolerate criticism.

PF & AI Tools

AI as a Tool: AI is only as good as its design.

Current AI Tutors: Most provide instant answers, undermining PF by removing the cognitive effort essential to learning.

Future AI Tutors: Can be engineered to facilitate PF by:

Designing problems that follow PF principles.

Providing component-based consolidation.

Personalising learning effectively.

Learning vs. Performance:

Learning Zone: Requires intentional cognitive effort. If a tool does the effort, performance may be high, but learning is low.

Expert Zone: AI can boost performance for experts who can critically evaluate its output.

PF & Indian Context: "Jugaad"

Jugaad: A situational improvisation capability born from uncertainty and resource scarcity.

Connection to PF: The India edition of the book includes a new chapter titled "Jugaad meets productive failure," which provides a methodological framework for this cultural capability.

Environmental Influence: The same individual can be flexible at home (e.g., fixing a power outage) but rigid in school, demonstrating that the environment, not the person, drives the behaviour.

PF & Fear of Failure

Nuanced Definition of Failure: PF distinguishes between different types of failure.

Productive Failure: Low-stakes failure during initial learning.

Purpose: To build deep capabilities that reduce the chance of high-stakes failure later.

Examples: A surgeon practicing on a simulation, not a patient.

Unproductive Failure: High-stakes failure (e.g., exams) or failure due to laziness or incompetence.

Teacher's Role: Re-norm struggle as a natural part of learning. Model this by sharing personal struggles and framing them as necessary for growth.

Next Steps

• Collaborate to design PF tasks, sharing the workload.
• Model productive struggle for students and parents.
• Read the new "Jugaad Meets Productive Failure" chapter in the Indian edition of the book.
• Khushieee (Grade 8 Student): Read the chapter on designing PF for self-learning.

Thinking of all the teachers - personal and professional

Brewing Knowledge Friday
This week, I am thinking of all the teachers who show up every Friday evening to read together. We were just a handful this week. Some of them joined us from a small village near Dehradun, and some from Delhi. Kamala Mukunda's book opens up a whole array of concepts, challenges your notions and draws you in. When some of these teachers ask and question, I like to think they care, not just about the child but themselves. Questioning is active thinking in comparison to going with the habitual form of thinking. 

Lunch outing!
At my lunch with Sandeep Sir this week, I felt inspired after our conversation about teacher agency and teacher identity. I was thinking of how this space of more teachers can be a space for all of us to find refuge in each other. In sharing our questions, we are committing the act of vulnerability in small form. It will take some time for the collegiality to build here, but the effort has started in that direction. Kamala Mukunda's book is a small gift to the community of teachers, offering a deeper understanding of the body and mind in human life. We can be informed in our pedagogies and reenact the curriculum, knowing how the child learns, instead of succumbing to old practices. 

We ended the reading session with some reflection writing and drawing. The above picture, hand-drawn by Reena (Principal at Arthur Foot Academy), captures her happiness around her students, seeing them smile and learning alongside them. Manisha, the teacher, wrote, "The smiles and nods of my students give me confidence while teaching. Their positive response motivates me to share knowledge with greater enthusiasm and dedication." 

Minakshi Prasad sent this-

All of them are people who have homes, personal lives, fears, joy, desires, dreams, and they choose to teach. Teaching involves presenting the whole person in front of a classroom, who is constantly watched, imitated, and looked up to. More support is needed for the teaching community, and they must find their own voice because it matters. This community of readers and teachers is just a small way of showing our acknowledgment.

Nilashi Mangal
The Teachers Academy
Learning Forward India Foundation

Q&A WITH AUTHOR - How can I read better?

An extract from a book I am reading!

Q&A WITH AUTHOR

YJ: I love your book. It makes me feel like I'm successful by virtue of reading and I like this feeling. (laughs). It's totally my kind of book.

AR: Yes, absolutely. (laughs) Reading makes you see with clearer eyes and understand the world better. When you can do that, you become stronger - the feeling you associate with success. But at the same time, it gives you pain. Within the pages, there's much suffering, beyond what we've gone through in our finite experience of life. You'll read about suffering you didn't know existed. Having experienced their pain through words, it becomes a lot harder to focus on pursuing individual happiness and success. Reading makes you deviate further from the textbook definition of success because books don't make us go ahead of or above anyone else; they guide us to stand alongside others.

Y: I like that line - to stand alongside others.

AR: We become successful in other ways.

Y: How so?

AR: We become more compassionate. To read is to see things from someone else's perspective, and that naturally leads you to stop and look out for other people, rather than chase after success in the rat race. If more people read, I think the world would become a better place.

YJ: It's common to hear people say that they have no time to read but I believe you read a lot?

AR: Not really, about one book every two or three days.

YR: I call that reading a lot. (laughs)

AR: Really? (laughs) Being so busy, were usually left with only small pockets of time to read - perhaps in the morning, during lunch, in the evening after work and before we go to bed. But these pockets of time can add up to become something substantial.

XI: You mentioned that you usually read a few books at any one time.

AR: Yeah, I have a short attention span. I get bored and distracted easily, even if the book is interesting. So, when I start to feel restless, I'll switch to reading something else. I've been told that I'll mix up the plots, but so far, that has never happened.

X: I feel like I'll forget what I've read earlier by the the time I return to the previous book.

AR: Hmm... when I read, I don't obsess over the need to remember every detail. Of course, I'll need to remember the earlier bits to a certain extent, but that said, it's also unlikely that you have zero recollection of what happened. I usually recall most of it, but if my memory is a little hazy, I'll reread the bits I've underlined in pencil before I move on.

Y: Yes, I remember you mentioned in your book that there's no need to obsess over the details. But is it really okay? (laughs)

AR: (laughs) It's perfectly fine. Books are not meant to remain in your mind, but in your heart. Maybe they exist in your mind too, but as something more than memories. At a crossroads in life, a forgotten sentence or a story from years ago can come back to offer an invisible hand and guide you to a decision.

Personally, I feel like the books I've read led me to make the choices I've made in life. While I may not remember all the details, the stories continue to exert a quiet influence on me.

Y: That's very comforting to know. To be honest, I can't even recall much from the books I read just a month ago.

AR: Same for me, and I think most people will agree too.

Y: Some say were in an era where people no longer read. What do you think?

AR: While I was writing this book, I used Instagram for the first time. I was so pleasantly surprised by what I saw that I started to question who dreamt up the notion that people don't read these days? There are so many people on the app who are devouring books at an incredible pace, and it convinced me that readers aren't an extinct breed. That said, I know these Instagram readers are not representative of the average person and are probably a niche bunch. Some time back, I read this article claiming that half the adults in Korea don't even finish one book in a year. But when people don't read, you can't just call it a problem. It's not that straightfor-ward. Therere so many reasons: being busy, having no emotional bandwidth or time. It's because were living in such a suffocating society.

XT: Does that mean that until we create a more liveable society, it's going to be hard for people to read?

AR: Hmm... we can't just sit and wait for society to get better. If more people start to read, they'll be able to empathise with the pain of others and the world will become a better place sooner.

YJ: What can we do?

AR: It's not an issue I can solve. (laughs) But I believe that people still have an appetite for read-ing, and that they feel it's important to read. What about the people who want to read, but can't, for one reason or another?

YJ: ...

AR: As the age-old saying goes, the first step is always the hardest. (laughs) How do we start? Oh, is this the point where I should say I wrote the book with this group in mind? (laughs)

YJ: That's it? Not even a teaser? Come on, share something with us. How about the bit about using timers on days when you can't concentrate?

AR: Of course, I was just kidding. On days when you can't concentrate, ask yourself what's been on your mind recently. Humans are naturally motivated to be curious about things were interested in. For example, many of us want to quit our jobs. If you're thinking of quitting, read books written by people who've quit. There are many such books. If you want to emigrate, read stories about people who've moved across lands and oceans. If you're struggling with low self-esteem, have lost touch with a good friend or feel depressed, seek out books about that. But if you haven't read for a long while, it might be hard to concentrate, and you may get distracted easily. When I feel this way, I set a timer on my phone for twenty minutes. Until the timer rings, I'll focus on the book. Setting small restrictions like this adds a little tension that'll help us concentrate. Once the twenty minutes are up, we have the choice to stop reading, or if we want to go on a little longer, we can set a timer for another twenty minutes. If we do it three times, we have read for an hour already. Let's try to set the timer three times and complete an hour of reading every day.

Fun in Learning & Learning is Fun

Brewing Knowledge Friday, April 25th 2025

Quick recap

Sandeep led a Friday evening session focused on book reading, introducing "My Good School" and discussing its content with various schools. The session covered topics such as the importance of incorporating fun elements in education, maintaining enthusiasm in teaching, parental involvement, and creative learning strategies. Sandeep also introduced resources, such as the "Brewing Knowledge" Google sheet and the Learning Forward India Foundation, encouraging participants to engage with these materials and share their thoughts on educational blogs.

Next steps

• Nidhi requested us to read the chapter "Why teachers are averse to change" for the next session on May 2nd. We have read the chapter, and details are there in the Friday Book Reading sheet; you will find a video and reference point.

• All participants are to access and review the Google Sheet containing the reading schedule and covered chapters.

• Suman to continue encouraging teachers at her school to discuss the book and participate in the reading sessions.

• All participants to explore the Learning Forward India Foundation blog (learningforward.in) and the Happy Teacher blog (happyteacher.in) for additional resources and discussions.

• Participants are asked to leave comments on the blog posts related to the reading sessions they attend.

• Reena and other Hindi-speaking participants to attempt reading "My Good School" in English, focusing on understanding the key concepts chapter by chapter.

• All participants are to reflect on the three core elements discussed —reading, reflection, and relationships —in their teaching practice.

Summary

Fostering Love for Reading Through Stories

Sandeep led a Friday evening session focused on book reading, introducing the book "My Good School" and emphasising the importance of stories in our lives. The session was attended by various schools, including Ashwani's from Varanasi. The group discussed the book's content, with Manisha and Sandeep guiding the discussion. The session aimed to foster a love for books and reading, to cherish the art of reading.

Incorporating Fun Elements in Education

Sandeep discussed the importance of incorporating fun elements in education to make learning effective. He highlighted the need for teachers to go beyond the five senses and use colour, sound, touch, smell, and taste to engage students. Sandeep also emphasised the significance of creativity and innovation in teaching, particularly at the kindergarten level, where the teacher's role is crucial in introducing students to the learning process. He suggested that teachers should strive to make learning fun and exciting, as this can have a lasting impact on students' educational journey.

Maintaining Enthusiasm in Teaching and Parenting

In the meeting, Sandeep discussed the importance of maintaining enthusiasm throughout one's teaching career, emphasising the need for continuous zeal and passion. He also highlighted the significance of parental involvement in a child's upbringing, stating that what parents do at home has a greater impact than what happens at school. Sandeep stressed the importance of routines and consistency in parenting, as well as the need for parents to be actively involved in their children's lives. He also mentioned the role of teachers as caring adults in children's lives. The conversation ended with Sandeep reading another chapter from the book and inviting questions.

Encouraging Enthusiasm in Teaching

Sandeep discussed the importance of enthusiasm and passion in teaching, emphasising that a teacher's enjoyment of their work can create a positive classroom environment. He suggested that teachers should be patient and encouraging, building relationships with students and using activities to motivate them. Sandeep also highlighted the need for creative learning and the role of fun in education, suggesting that teachers should engage with students and not rely solely on traditional methods. He concluded by encouraging teachers to be eager and industrious, which leads to a great learning experience for students.

Tracking Chapters in "Brewing Knowledge

Sandeep discusses using a shared Google sheet called "Brewing Knowledge" to track the chapters read during their sessions. He updates the sheet with the chapters covered in the current session and mentions that the link to this sheet is available in the WhatsApp group. Sandeep encourages participants to read the chapters at their own comfort, either with teachers, students, or by themselves. Suman confirms that teachers are engaged with the book, discussing it and asking about reading sessions in advance.

Implementing Change in Educational Practices

Sandeep discussed the challenges of implementing changes in educational practices and policies, particularly among teachers. He suggested that resistance to change could stem from a lack of skills, fear of failure, or a need for more support. Sandeep also introduced the Learning Forward India Foundation, which aims to improve schools through governance, training, and learning. He encouraged participants to read more about these topics and to engage with the foundation's resources.

Brewing Knowledge Sessions and Blogs

Sandeep concludes the session by discussing the blog that inspired the book they've been reading, highlighting its reach and practical content. He explains the concept of "brewing knowledge" sessions, which combine books and participants' knowledge to build a collective knowledge system. Sandeep encourages participants to share their thoughts about the session on the Happy Teacher blog (happyteacher.in) and mentions Learning Forward (learningforward.in) as a valuable resource for educators.

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From Classrooms to Bookshelves: Creating a Reading Journey for Children

Books play a pivotal role in a child's growth and development by creating a rich environment for learning and imagination. Surrounding children with books nurtures their curiosity, enhances their language skills, and strengthens their cognitive abilities. Sandeep Dutt takes us through how books encourage creativity, broaden worldviews, and provide valuable life lessons, fostering a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.

Do School Libraries still attract Children?

Yes, provided they have librarians who understand what books are, and can guide children towards the right content. It is the librarian who pulls children inside a library more than the books themselves. Also, educators should inculcate the habit of reading as well; even if they don’t, educators should be found around the school campus with a book or a reading material other than the ones prescribed in the syllabus. This act will pique the curiosity of children, and who knows, the title may get picked up as well.

Teachers and principals should inculcate the habit of reading in children by reading books themselves.

Influence of Parents

Before a child is born, the mother has to have books around the house to warm the hearth. If parents ensure that the first few things that their children visually absorb are the presence of books around them, that’s when a habit of reading can be inculcated.

Sadly, an average Indian home doesn’t have books; the ones present are only in the school bag. People debate about reading a paperback/hardcover or reading on screen, but when there is no culture at all of holding a book, be it digital or otherwise, of what use are the arguments?

Reading Trajectory

Between primary and middle years, some children change schools. Options vary from boarding to international schools so that a child can get into a more progressive environment to reach the prescribed milestones and ace his/her entrance exams for future courses. One interesting thing is that children who read about diverse subjects have an upper hand in acing such exams due to better comprehension and an extensive vocabulary.

Consuming Content Today

There’s so much access to a variety of data, and given that a lot of it is stored in cloud, the neocortex doesn’t have the extra effort of keeping a tab on everything. There has been research on creating a human brain with human skills laced with technology. One can only imagine that the futuristic scenario would be pouring a book straight into the neocortex of the brain.

Yet with so much advent in technology and access to reading materials, we are not reading. Why?

It might have to do with the evolution of the human brain, and an altered attention span, adapting us to sensorial data, which makes data consumption faster than before. This also means that data absorption and thinking has also become faster than before. So today, even if we are looking at a hundred different elements on social media, every reel, video or picture would have left an impact on our brains, helping us recall some bit of it eventually. 

We may find it funny today but during our times, we were not used to seeing people glued to screens all day. But for today’s generation, visual stimuli may be the way of absorbing information. Categorising anything as relevant or irrelevant information today seems unfair as what we may consider as inapt would also have a lot of thought gone behind its making. So absorption of information may happen through several mediums, be it sound, visual, print or digital. The amount of stimuli we are subjected to as of today has increased. Ultimately, the choice rests with us and how we exercise it. 

Are Reading and Learning Always Correlated?

Visual stimulus is what a child is first subjected to after birth, and that’s where learning starts from. Reading comes much later. The first four years is when a child is most adaptive and recipient to what he/she sees around him/her. Once introduced to words, the cranial capacity will be limited to absorbing information in a pre-set pattern. We introduce children to what we want to see, adding our perception as well to it. Hence, when we see people not reading, it irks us; why?

What we need to understand is that learning can happen without reading as well. For instance, the tribal folk have barely read a word but their behavioural learning is massive compared to many of us with degrees and diplomas. We spoke earlier about how a parent can influence a child’s reading habit, but what if both or either parent is visually challenged or not educated at all? Books are one way of learning along with other mediums that add to the learning curve. 

Yet…

Nothing has changed in 100 years. ‘People should read’ has been a mantra that we have chanted for over a century, yet we fail to realise that our hyper state of mind can achieve stillness through reading. It is a form of meditation that leads from script to imagination, and when you put a script in your mind, you connect, communicate, collaborate and create.

Access

A dearth of books and bookstores during the pre-independence era stymied the progress of bibliophiles in the country. Cut to post-independence, books were expensive, inaccessible and it took a few years for people to access pocket-friendly reading materials. Today, we have home grown authors with a robust ecosystem of publishing and reprinting stories.

But, there exists a part of India where neither teacher nor student has experienced a bus ride, leave alone an access to a library or a bookshop. How do we do any justice to their situation?

The Art of Reading

The art of reading converts the art of thinking to the art of reflection, and that in turn gets made into a blog, a video log, a podcast, or a reel. Reading does two clearly good things; it slows you down to a melody or a pace and secondly, it helps you look and use your gaze in a pinpointed manner. Reading helps you achieve a great depth of focus.

Personal Reading Journey and Recommendation

Sandeep Dutt was born into a family of bibliophiles. His grandfather owned a bookstore that was handed over to his father and mother. A post-graduate in Sanskrit, his mother monitored reading activities of the children, be it pedagogical or otherwise. She would read to them from the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita, and brought about a healthy habit of reading, says Sandeep.

Sandeep Dutt Recommends these three books for the bibliophile in us.

 1.   Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give 'a last lecture', he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. But the lecture he gave, 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams', wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment because 'time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think'. It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

Randy's lecture about the joy of life – his legacy to his three young children – has become a worldwide phenomenon, as has his book written on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all try to make a reality. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

2.   Ratan Tata: A Life by Thomas Mathew

This fascinating biography traces Ratan Tata’s years in immaculate detail, from his lonely childhood to his irrepressible youthful exuberance, from his first major job in the conglomerate to being appointed chairman of Tata Sons in 1991 to his role as the head of Tata Trusts, India’s largest philanthropic enterprise. It is as much a story of determination and an unwavering commitment to enduring principles and values as it is a testament to achieving unprecedented corporate success.

3.  The Man Who Saw Tomorrow by Naga Tummala

The story of former Doon School headmaster Shomie Das and childhood friends turned business partners, Naga Tummala and Raj Yarlagadda is a fascinating account of vision and enterprise, and the struggle that went into setting up the institution of their dream.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow details Shomie Das’s ideas about how education should be an experience that children enjoy and not one that has been thrust upon them. What that entails is a deep acknowledgement and respect for the child as a unique individual.

Originally published: Mentor | mentor.lxl.in | Dec 30, 2024 | 6 min read

https://www.mentor.lxl.in/post/from-classrooms-to-bookshelves-creating-a-reading-journey-for-children