RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR FOR OUR CHILDREN

The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions.

Let us dedicate 2015 to our children and as parents, teachers and educators resolve to:

• Recognise that each child is unique and promise to accept, nurture and celebrate each child’s individual capabilities at school and at home
• Grant each child a right to education that is enlightening, enriching and enabling; education that helps them imbibe the best of traditional values and scientific knowledge
• Give each child a gift of laughter and play by providing them safe, clean and green spaces to run, jump, explore and experience nature.
• Create conditions that help each child enjoy good health by providing them with good nutrition, clean air and water
• Provide children physical and emotional safety and protection from abuse at home, in schools and in public places
• To nurture the inherent creativity in each child by providing them opportunity to express and by encouraging and appreciating their creative expression 

Another Step Towards Confident & Skilled Children

Inspire believes that one of the goals of education is to help children become confident and skilled communicators. Navjyoti Foundation runs remedial education programs that prevent vulnerable children to drop out from the mainstream education. 

Recognising children's aspirations to become skilled communicators in English along with their mother tongue, Navjyoti and Inspire have launched a Foundation program to enhance children's English language capabilities. 

Training sessions for mentors on teaching English through a balanced approach was conducted at the Navjyoti centre in Bawana. Teachers practiced storytelling, teaching of phonics and understood the importance of creating a print rich environment amongst much laughter and camaraderie.

Inspire reiterates its commitment to making this program a success in this season of cheer and goodwill.

OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT GUINEA PIGS

Newspaper headlines in the recent weeks have focused around issues related to schools and curriculum. One report suggests that CBSE is thinking of withdrawing the CCE scheme for grades 9 and 10. There has been widespread resentment at the decision of replacing German with Sanskrit as the third language at Kendriya Vidyalayas. Parents of young children still recall with horror the nursery school admission mess last year; even as another set of parents anxiously await the outcome of the legal battle between private schools and Delhi Government for this year.

Without going into the merit of these decisions, Inspire would like to protest at the ad hoc and arbitrary ways in which decisions are taken by the education boards and the government agencies. It is time that we stand up against these poorly thought through decisions made to further the political agenda or pet theories of the so called experts who have had limited interaction with children in a classroom.

Each decision that impacts what or how children will learn in school should be carefully taken after due deliberation and discussion on how it will be implemented and its outcomes. A classic case is the CCE scheme. No one can quarrel with the fact that children should not be assessed on the basis of one time performance. But did the so that called experts think of how CCE would roll out in schools? Was any thought paid to training teachers BEFORE introducing CCE? Did the experts consider how parents would perceive it?  As a result of poor implementation CCE has been reduced to ‘project making’. Teachers grade students on these projects well aware that these projects are the work of parents or tuition teachers.

At the end of the day each decisions that impact our children, their education and their future has to be based on current research, best practices as well as the ground realities in our country. Let us stop treating our children as Guinea PIGS.