This classroom has no walls; no demands on time; no
competitions or tuitions and is not restricted to bookish knowledge. Rather all the world is an enthusiastic
learning experience for this class of privileged homeschoolers.
At 10, Advait has the freedom to choose what he wants to
learn and when. “It’s a positive freedom from structured, artificial system of
education. True learning can happen
outside school. It is based more on the child’s interest rather than just
making them cram bookish knowledge. It’s a more real and lifelong experience.
Each child is unique and their learning process is different, so it is up to
the parent to be adaptable,” avers dad Jaydeep Desothale from Sangolda.
Bina Bernard, based
in Miramar, who has been homeschooling her three children for the past nine
years, is in agreement. “The main reason for homeschooling is that children are
able to do it themselves. I help and
guide them with the problems, but they can do it in their own time. With the aid of internet and projects, they
are able to create their own worksheets, create questions. So, their
understanding of the subject is more thorough. It also makes them more
responsible and confident in the process,” shares this working mother.
The concept of homeschooling has been gaining momentum in Goa,
with over 20 families successfully homeschooling their children, ever since
Anna Coelho from Soccoro spearheaded the movement 20 years ago when she
homeschooled her five children. “Mum did a lot of research about open schools
before she decided to home school us and it has been a wholesome experience,”
states her daughter Kadisha who is doing her PhD.
The Goa Can Now School (network on parents on Face Book) has
been a guide for parents like Muriel and Mario from Saligao who had been
apprehensive about homeschooling. “We
had no teaching skills. We did a lot of research and thanks to the network we
were able to move in the right direction. We enrolled our children at the
National Institute of Open Schooling, but did not put them through any exams,
except for the SSC and XII,” explains Muriel. “Homeschooling allows us to guide
our children’s values. They have learnt from every moment in life.” While
daughter Tarika Kiran (20) is working towards her BSW through IGNOU, son Suhail
(17) has finished high school.
As to the inevitable question about peer interaction, there
are plenty, aver the parents. With many school-going children in the vicinity,
playtime is unlimited and un-tethered, like the others, by tuitions. On the
contrary, their activities are unrestrained – from home chores to building mud
pies and trekking in the forests, these children’s education has stretched
beyond the confines of the books and the school walls.
