Teaching beyond the books

Education system teaches students to work more on material and less on people. Weapons are not only on the border of China and India but in every class and every house. We tell students to be the best in the whole class and that too to every child. How is it possible?

We have books which teach us opposite of night is day, opposite of man is woman, opposite of sun is moon and opposite of servant is master. But if we will see these words in context of practical world they are complimentary. I think they compete each other. Just to teach a concept of grammar we teach students to make comparison and these words are locked in human mind for whole life.

One such comparison I saw few days back as the headlines of a newspaper. “Girls are leading the race and scoring the highest marks in Class XII”. Was there any gender based competition going on? How does it matter? Teach students to identify people on the base of their talent not on gender.

I saw a picture in one of the books of III grade, a picture of a gentleman who was wearing suit, tie and black shoes. Now if I make a cobbler, a farmer and a businessman (who is well dressed) stand together and ask student a simple question. Who is the gentleman amongst them? They will definitely point out the businessman. Does that mean farmer and cobbler don’t come under the category of a gentleman?

Teach student not to judge people on the basis of their profession and economic status. Classrooms need to be a mission, where students must be prepared to face the challenges of real world and fight against the evils present in the society, smartly and confidently.

We have value based education as a subject but we need to teach the value of education. Let us each make an effort, to teach beyond curriculum.

Heena Nagwani

Educator, Oxford Public School