RP Devgan: Homeschooling - a possibility

A few weeks ago before the lockdown, in one of my articles, I had mentioned the possibility of Home Schooling in India. The idea was met with a fair amount of scepticism. Now with three months of Lockdown and hours and hours of online classes, I wonder if the thinking has changed, even if ever so little.

My first experience of meeting a ‘home-schooled’ child in India in the late nineties was a pleasant one. A young couple, family friends, had decided to bring up their daughter at the Tiger Resort they were running in a Wildlife Sanctuary. The girl grew up in the forest, had a menagerie of her own and birds and animals for company. She lived a free, happy life, unaware of the travails of a city school. My wife and I met her when she was about nine years old. The parents needed some advice for she was going to write the entrance exam for a renowned residential school. She turned out to be a charming girl full of incidents and great knowledge of flora and fauna. She had never been to school and carried no baggage whatsoever of competition and expectations. We were extremely pleased to meet a most unusual family. Needless to say, she qualified for the entrance examination and joined the school. Presently, after her graduation
she is getting married and moving to Australia.

My second experience of ‘home-schooled’ children, three of them, was when I went to visit my wife’s cousin about 10 years go, in a village beyond Santiniketan. His NGO runs a school for the Santhals and other tribal groups of that area. Married to a British girl they have two sons and a daughter. The children aged between 7-10 years attended the same village school, dressed the same way and went to school barefooted. I spent a week with them, visited the school every day, played cricket and football with all the children and even crossed a river to pluck local fruit. The three children would return home at 4 pm and had access to the internet. They were then homeschooled by their parents on various subjects.

All three wrote the IGCSE  privately and are now in England. The oldest one has graduated from the University of Warwick in Discrete Maths and Economics, the daughter is to join London School of Economics this September and the youngest sibling will finish his ‘A’ levels next year. This is a great example of ‘Home Schooling’ carried out in a village in West Bengal.

As Principal of an International School in Bali, I would admit a few children every year; children who had never been to school till the age of 11 years. The most interesting of them was a 12-year-old girl whose class for three years, had been her father’s yacht. She had sailed with her parents around the oceans and seas, stopping at any island they fancied. The yacht had been her classroom and the oceans and seas her playground. She had the most fascinating tales to tell about her adventures at sea, her meeting with all kinds of people and sampling different kinds of cuisines. At the age of 12, she was a very confident young lady and I would often make her address the school.

Back to the present and the Lockdown continues. I have been observing that almost every school has been conducting online classes. Over the past three months, I have heard educators and numerous experts giving their views on the future of education, almost creating paranoia among parents and students.

Young, educated parents with two children think of the cost of fifteen years of schooling which is staggering and to add to this, there is no guarantee of the quality of education provided. Would it then be wise to ‘home-school' our children? With knowledge and information available on the Internet through Google and other portals, it seems a possibility. If a couple can balance their act in between their professional lives, it can be done.

Online schooling during the Lockdown has benefited some children. Children who are introverts, under the pressure of peers, bullies and teachers, have found online teaching a boon. These children are at peace and have found the joy of learning. Children who are always short of sleep are relaxed. There is no rush in the mornings and breakfast is enjoyed. Sensible parents have chalked out a timetable where the child has enough time to study and indulge in things that interest him. Some have gradually made fitness a way of life by exercising regularly. It has given children time to pause and think.

Of course, there are many limitations but then there are solutions too.

With education becoming expensive and in most cases with no guarantee of quality, ‘Home-schooling’ could be an alternative. Sometimes for no fault of their own, schools cannot provide facilities in sports, art, music, theatre and other activities. It is possible that Homeschooling overcomes these deficits.

Parents have the choice of the number of years the child needs to attend school. After all, we as Homo sapiens are gregarious by nature and it is important to live with our fellow beings and learn about adaptability, relationships, compassion and tolerance.

A time has come for the parents to pause and think about what is best for their children. Just attending school because everyone is doing it may need a rethink. Education is changing and changing fast. With knowledge and information accessible easily, schools will have to change from educators just teaching their subjects to paying more attention to pastoral care, life skills and values.

In my opinion, children who eventually lead a happy and meaningful life will have to be good at adaptability and building relationships. Though no one can tell what to expect in the years to come, I sincerely hope that as a human race we do not lose our sense of values and lead a meaningful life that makes a difference.

- Rajinder Pal Devgan, Chairperson Learning Forward India
With near five decades of experience as an Educationist and having served as a School Leader for schools in India and overseas, Mr Devgan brings in rich experience as an administrator, sports person and champion for teachers.

More parents are now choosing to homeschool instead of sending their children to public or private schools. Learn more about the homeschooling movement and what's involved when parents educate their kids at home.
https://www.parents.com/kids/education/home-schooling/homeschooling-101-what-is-homeschooling/

Thoughtfulness & Understanding - Super7 BHIS

HELPING HANDS

Different people see the world from different perspectives. Very often people do not see eye to eye with one another which leads to misunderstandings. Some choose to mope, groan, and even get angry about the way that themselves or others are treated while some decide to try and do something about it. Still, there are others who think to themselves that maybe the best way to deal with disagreements is to try and comprehend what others mean. This can be done only by the power of understanding. This is a very powerful virtue - if one is understanding enough, he can win the world very easily. An understanding person has more friends than foes and in case of any predicament, he will always have his well-wishers stand up for him as a wall of strength.

Thoughtfulness and understanding are two sides of the same coin- you possibly cannot be one without being the other. A thoughtful person is always considerate about others - he will never spell out anything that might be a cause of pain for someone else.

Thoughtfulness can also describe the intellectual depth - we have all read poems, stories and essays which speak of the thoughtfulness of the writer. Such works can be inspirational - they can motivate others to tread the same path. Only if the members are compassionate enough, can the society progress.

A perfect example to illustrate this would definitely be the current scenario - the unprecedented pandemic has perhaps been the greatest test of the two virtues. This is the time when we had to be thoughtful of each other's needs and work together to combat the disaster. We have seen workers from several sectors such as healthcare, police, emergency workers working on the front line to help others. Each member of the society had to understand the need of the hour and work accordingly. In the field of education, the teachers needed to quickly learn the various facets of technology in order to facilitate uninterrupted learning. Teachers also had to be understanding of the needs and restrictions of the learners and modify the curriculum accordingly. In most sectors, workers tried their best to work from home and employers had been considerate about the requirements of the employees. These are the two virtues which helped the society to move forward even during the phase of lockdown.

Online classes have proved to helpful for the children - the classes reduced their boredom and tried to bring about a little colour and cheer in their lives. Students were enthusiastic about trying on the new platform and could quickly adapt to the change from real to virtual. Students were able to devote time to learning new things without having to visit the schools. They were excited at being able to meet their peers and teachers, albeit virtually. Apart from studies, schools have also planned several Co-Curricular Activities, Yoga Sessions, Motivational Talks to keep the young minds happy and fresh. Rudransh Awasthi, a student of BHIS Thane, will share his views on this topic.

Super 7 @ Billabong High International School, Thane - Sayantani Mukherjee, Dimple Awasthi, Ritu Chitnis, Manjusha Saji, Jyoti Ramdhave, Vijaylaxmi Ramesh & Sumati Muthukumar

The quality quarantine time - Parivartan SHS

Empty streets, barricaded areas, shuttered down shops, and deserted malls- sights never observed or thought of has conjured up. The phrase “Stay home, stay safe” has been etched in every individual’s heart, with the various television advertisements promoting the essential
benefits of washing one’s hands regularly, the market value of hand sanitizers and masks sky-rocketing, and the announcements of nationwide lockdown and curfews- all because of the onset of a viral contagious disease called The COVID-19, the world seems to have come to a standstill.

The sudden lockdown has stirred up some chaos within many individuals, the once busy set of people have now suddenly been presented with an ample free time devoid of the usual work-load and traffic. With the closing down of educational institutions everywhere, many parents of the school-going children have been faced with a pivotal question- ‘Will my child lose a year of education?’ But, education isn’t always limited inside the walls of schools and colleges; it begins at home, like everything else.

The lockdown has presented the parents and their children valuable time to spend together, to have a quality time of learning from each other. Usually, the busy schedule of both the child and the parents bar them from having extra time to converse, now this time could be utilized to do the same. Parents could teach their children many things, passing down their blessings in the form of hobbies like reading, painting, and cooking, baking, gardening or even through games of chess, board games, etc. This is a perfect time for the parents to listen to their children and learn more about his/her aspirations, interests and dreams, which further help a child to be more close to his/her family.

A teacher could also utilize this time to re-connect with themselves and their family. It’s a
perfect time to embark on their creative journey by writing or painting, even reading those old
books that have been stacked and forgotten for ages. It’s also a good time to go through
various articles to read about the subjects of their interest and also to try new things within
the available space of our comfortable rooms.

The available time is also an opportunity to reminisce about the importance of time and
appreciate how valuable it is, it is an opportunity to just relax and sit back for a while and enjoy
what nature has to offer.

“Stay home and stay safe” could be utilized in a valuable way once we remember the
importance of time and spend it efficiently. We are contributing to a healthier environment by staying inside our houses and spending the precious available moments with ourselves and with our family. It’s a perfect time to rejuvenate ourselves and get in touch with our creative sides - turning quarantine time into quality time.     

- Anand Acharya for Parivartan Team of Sacred Heart School < hianand2008@gmail.com>