Keeping wonder alive

Author - Shafia Parveen

Forty-two-year-old Samim Ahmed showed his three-year-old daughter the rotary dial telephone. He told her that it helped people communicate in the past. The little girl held the heavy handset in her hand. She looked at it and asked how one played games on it. Ahmed smiled and said that games couldn’t be played on it. The phone was used only for communication. Little Aaliya immediately returned the phone to her father and said, “Boring!” Although the internet is considered one of the greatest inventions ever, it has contributed to the erosion of curiosity — the essence of progress — in children and adults. Children are born curious. They use all their senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight to explore the world. As children investigate, the experiences fuel emotional, social, intellectual, physical, and ethical development. And curious children grow up to be humans interested in asking whys and hungry for knowledge.

A page out of a notebook belonging to famous artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci reveals a to-do list of wide-ranging interests. Most of these require going and speaking to a person, or trying something out to see what might happen. But with increased usage of phones in the early years, a child’s sense of wonder and curiosity and the need to explore to quench the thirst for knowledge is being replaced by a sense of transaction. Everything is just a click away. This habit adversely affects the child. It makes the process of adjusting to society and its systems, which cannot be navigated by a mere click of a button, more complex. Several organizations invested in early childhood education are taking up more activities to keep the children’s sense of wonder and curiosity intact.

Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district-based organization Avaniti Education and Training Foundation has been working with children, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders to promote a quality learning environment for children in their early age groups (3 to 8 years). Avaniti works on cultivating curiosity by taking up group and field activities and developing sustainable TLM specific to the learner’s context and culture (especially to the tribal culture and knowledge). Assam’s Guwahati-based North East Educational Trust (NEET) works with children, communities, educators and schools. The goal is to foster a learning environment that encourages critical thinking and creative expression among children through a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. Kolkatabased Vikramshila Education Resource Society, which works across several states, including Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, believes in children’s autonomy. It believes that as children become more independent, they explore the world on their own and discover how to express themselves.

Shafia Parveen has eight years of media and publishing experience. She currently works with Vikramshila and may be contacted at parveenshafia17@gmail.com.

Avaniti Education and Training Foundation

Chhattisgarh

Tea party: Children participate in a group activity in Chandanpur, Bastar district, on October 31, 2022. Under the supervision of Krishna Puri and Ashwini Patil, founders of the organization, they made tea. They also made cups out of leaves.

Children explore height and balance on the ‘bhootwala tree’ in Banbagaud, Dhamtari District, on November 9, 2022.

Vikramshila Education Resource Society

Chhattisgarh

Posham Pa Bhai Posham Pa: Children play ‘Posham Pa Bhai Posham Pa’ in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. The game known as ‘Hill and Tunnel and London Bridge.’ The popular outdoor game is often played to teach children traditional songs and help them move to rhythm.

Playing house: The photo taken at an Anganwadi Centre in Bijapur in April 2023 shows a child roleplaying as a mother and soothing her doll. Developmental psychologists believe that young children can learn quickly through their extraordinary ability to imitate.

Vikramshila Education Resource Society

Jharkhand

Weighty affairs: children engaged in a ‘sink and float’ experiment at Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, in April 2023.

North East Educational Trust (NEET)

Assam

Free Play: A child engages in outdoor activity at the NEET Community Library in Guwahati, Assam, in November 2022. Free play helps children improve their creativity and motor skills.

Photo credits: Avaniti Education and Training Foundation, North East Educational Trust (NEET) and Vikramshila Education Resource Society