Children speak on class room learning

At a conference held recently at Nagpur on learning issues children face at school, children put up a skit to give vent to their feelings about being forced to learn in one particular way alone. The learning method as of now in the school education system consists of reading, writing, memorising, writing tests  and examinations for performance assessments, etc.

There are children who cannot do well in this system as they are not good in reading, writing or memorising. They therefore suffer because there is very little scope for them to pursue education through the current educational system.

I heard the children discuss between themselves in the skit their feelings about the pressure to do everything at school like the way most students do. One of them said, ' I use a software to dictate to the computer which gets transcribed into a text. Why can't I use this to write my assignments?'. Another child said, 'My mother reads the text book to me and after hearing it read to me couple of times, I can recall it verbally. Why can't the teacher test me orally'. A third child mentioned that 'I lose marks in the tests and examinations, because my spellings are not correct. Is spelling all that important? I use spell check when I write on the computer'.

As I heard this conversation taking place before an audience of few hundred delegates, I felt distressed that children's needs and voices are not alerting the educational policy makers to look at our educational system with an open mind. Some children go to school only to get discouraged because they can't learn the usual way.  

A child whom I met around eight years of age with the above special educational needs had to move to another country to continue his education. He is now completing a master's course in architecture. He learned in his own way and he was assessed differently all along. He received some concessions and personal tutoring to compensate for his lack. He excelled in many areas and was ahead of others in understanding and expression of his thoughts in graphics.

Let me suggest that parents need to develop a supportive role when children struggle with learning rather than force them to learn in the usual way. There are alternative methods to help them to learn and there are several resources available on the inter-net to help in this process.

A child during a consultation told me, 'I cannot read the wall texts in your room. But I can follow all the pictures and photographs. Thank you for remembering children like me when you decorated your room'.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)