Burden of Learning!

As Anna and I watched these children and  others  return from the school on Monday, we were reminded of our  early childhood learning days, where we went to school empty handed and returned with no home work to do.

Although ‘learning without burden’ during the pre-school years has been an oft discussed philosophy  of pre-school education, most pre-schools would insist on wearing uniforms, and  carry a bag with books, writing pads, water, towel, a change of clothes, etc. 

I remember weighing bags of lower kindergarten children a few years back. The average weight was 4 kilograms. Children at that age would normally weigh around 14 kilograms with a height of around 90 Cms. Carrying those bags on the back often made them walk with a slight bent forward which added stress to the spine and its curvature. 

I do not think that  it has changed in spite of much lobbying by the educationalists to make the pre-school years exploratory, child friendly and informal academically. The pressure to read, write and perform was to have been replaced by a child driven learning process and giving a child a sense of orientation to learning. The content was to be less important; the process was to be the focus. 

However, pre-school children even now remain burdened to learn!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)