The Ganesh Chaturthi academic break has ended and for most youngsters, it is back to the grind as of today. Students trudging to school with heavy shoulder bags in tow will once again become a common sight after a week’s respite. And, after school hours, one will see them trudging heavy shoulder bags once again as they make their way to tuition classes. By the time those sessions are over, dusk falls and there is very little or no time for children to be, well, children and indulge in some fun and games to unwind.
The concept of additional tuition after school hours does not just sound burdensome; it actually is. If the mere thought of it can exasperate adults, a moment should be spared to imagine what it must do to the tender mind of a child whose younger years should ideally be spent playing and learning by doing. In fact, after-class tuitions are virtually unheard of in other countries, where students at both schools and colleges complete their learning modules during instructional hours itself. This gives them enough free time to indulge in extra-curricular activities that could interest them – such as a sport or a performing art. This not only helps them pick up a new skill but also serves to give their minds a much-needed rest from academics, which actually results in them becoming sharper and more proficient at their respective schools and colleges.
Mugging and vomiting on paper is definitely not the way to go for the education system here, but it appears to be the order of the day because hapless children, who fail to understand new concepts during class either due to crowded classrooms or ineffective methods of teaching, are left with no option but to cram without understanding. Many also complain of getting further confused during their after-class tuitions as the methods of teaching particular concepts vary from their teacher at school to the tuition teacher they later go to.
The ambitious National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, aims to streamline the country’s education system and bring it on par with those around the world by bridging the gap between arts, sciences and the humanities, reducing content overload in the curriculum, promoting skill development and vocational education, encouraging the use of technology and IT in classrooms, and focusing on continuous assessment of students instead of the currently pressurising big-ticket examinations.
It will take a while for the lofty objectives of the NEP 2020 to percolate to educational institutions across India, Goa included. Until then, it would greatly benefit our youngsters if the institutions themselves could alleviate their plight by trying to steer clear of dishing out mere theory during classes and instead use audio-visual aids and smart devices such as educational tablets and mobile apps to enhance retention and make education a more interactive and fun experience.
Everything begins with baby steps and if our education department does indeed follow through on this, it will slowly but surely transform the way our young minds learn. Consequently, the need for after-class tuitions will gradually diminish as students will become more and more capable of understanding concepts during school hours itself and using these while they study. It could also promote independent learning, wherein a student devises a study plan by himself/herself and manages to revise new concepts that were learnt at school with minimal external help.
This will, in turn, give them time to freely indulge in extra-curricular activities that they enjoy and make them confident, self-sufficient and skilled young people who will grow up to be more than able to take nation-building to a whole new level.