Moulding Our Children's Future

At the age of 12, I could not understand why a routine report from my school caused such a lot of concern in my family. It was as if my entire future had been painted black for me and that the focus from then on was not on how well I could do in life, but on how I would be able to complete my schooling.

The report that I mention was from an Education Counsellor stating that I needed special attention and that I had special needs. The fact that I thought I was ‘special’ was my personal opinion! Certainly, I had never imagined that ‘special’ in this case meant that I was considered not only to be slow in my learning and dyslexic in my writing but also that I would need special assistance to cover the gap in my learning ability or else I would not be able to cope with my classmates.

Coming from a certified Counsellor, was perhaps the first time that made me look at education in a negative way. It was no longer fun and games, nor was it any more about art and music which I loved. To my dismay, the fact that I would scrape through my exams, also led to my being labelled as a slow learner.

Ironically today, I am responsible for the future of over 2000 employees and 3000 students (in our educational institutions). Hence, it is my duty to bring the focus of educators, parents and facilitators on this very important aspect of education which deals with children who are at their most impressionable and crucial age of develop- ment. Let us look at some of the challenges and opportunities faced not just by educators and administrators but also from a child’s point of view, because our actions will mould or unmould the child’s future.

Children benefit greatly from positive and active engagement from parents. Parents instil the core values, confidence and thought processes which eventually affect the behavioural and cognitive development of children in pre-school years.

Urban Indian households today predominantly have a double income nuclear family system. The internet and social media take up any free time that the parents are left with. These new generation ‘Google’ parents have norms of raising children which are very different from previous generations.

THEY ‘GOOGLE’ TO FIND ADVICE ON EVERYTHING:

What is the best routine for my child?What should be the ideal weight!How many hours should they sleep?Is my child eating enough?Why is my child angry all the time?

Internet in return, floods them with advice, suggestions, theories and dos and don’ts.

No doubt the schools are gearing up to meet the expectations of these highly informed young parents. Nevertheless, the most important role of parents and grandparents is to pass on traditions, customs, manners, ethics, values and life lessons to them.

PARENTS SHOULD:

Educate young children about their bodies and safe and unsafe touch through age appropriate language.

Nurture the skills that they are born with, because they are born intelligent.

Read story books to children to nurture love for reading.

Encourage children to become selfmotivated/ self-confident and independent.

Visit biological parks/ sanctuaries, museums, botanical gardens, exhibitions.

Provide balanced nutritious diet.

Limit the use of technological devices.

Teach by setting examples themselves.

Encourage outdoor activities/ games.

What is the best medium of teaching - mother tongue or English?

In a country like India where several languages are being spoken, the dilemma of whether to use one’s mother tongue (MT) or English as the medium of teaching for pre-school children always prevails.

Research has shown that young children in bilingual programmes with their mother tongue as the medium of instruction, consistently perform better than their peers. Schools need to seamlessly blend the mother tongue, English and the regional language in their classroom setups so that the children do not feel out of place during their learning sessions.

One needs to promote multilingualism among children to help them perform better. The parents, teachers and the community should work together to make this transition from one language to another, smooth for the children.

CONCLUSION

I sincerely hope that in the years to come we shall be able to invert the pyramid with increased focus on research on Early Childhood Care and Education rather than the later years of education by when it is almost too late for any intervention and/or to reverse the learner’s inadequacies.

I think it is time to row out our boat and meet the currents of challenges that face a child as he/she tries to navigate the high seas of life rather than wait for a wave to carry us unwillingly into the uncharted waters of education tomorrow.