I would like to initiate this blog of mine with the famous saying “Where there is a will there is a way”. Men have always wondered that can elephants dance, and has doubted that it may not be possible because of the sheer size that the animal possesses. If I were to equate Tamilnadu with an elephant I feel that the existing humankind would get all convictions wrong. Traditional beliefs have been shattered and Tamilnadu has demonstrated that size does not matter it’s the execution that is important, the mindset that is critical and even mountains can be moved men. Before speaking about the person who has moved the mountain let me demonstrate a fantastic example of what change Tamilnadu has brought in the field of education through two revolutionary methods. A) ABL-Activity Based Learning B) ALM-Active Learning Methodology. Both the methods are totally child centric methods, unlike the teacher centric methods observed in the schools. The methods encourage experimentation and improve learning through methods of demonstration.
Most of the observations that i have done in my career were pre announced which gave an opportunity for the subjects to actually modify their behaviour during the course of observation. At Coimbatore I had an opportunity to visit one of the schools in Coimbatore to observe as to how learning is taking place in the government aided schools and the most important of all our team’s visit was not pre-announced. I enter a classroom and i am surprised that the children are not at all moved by my presence. Children carry out the task they are doing, unlike the traditional classrooms which definitely respond to the visitors and the children get distracted, here is a classroom which is not at all moved by our presence. Reason Activity based learning, it’s true that a child learns better when he is actively involved rather than passive learning. A clear demonstration of a child centred learning rather than teacher oriented learning. Let me list what has made me an ardent supporter of ABL and i believe that my readers would definitely agree with me:
a) Interaction is the way and not instruction – ABL has shown that what the children interact with the teacher there is not instruction during the course of classroom transaction. The teacher does not instruct the child, the child learns the concepts by the way of exploration. A paradigm shift in is observed in the history of teaching in India especially in state run school. The child happily carries out the task without any instruction from the teacher.
b) Joyful learning a reality – I always wondered that is there any school in India where i can see the children happy and joyfully learning it seemed a distant dream to me until i visited this school. Children smiling across the classroom, joyful learning taking place across and every single child are smiling. There is no fear and as i believe that where the mind is without fear the learning is enormous. ABL has brought joy and happiness which our traditional and rote methods failed to do for decades
c) In built assessment system – The beauty of ABL is the, in-built assessment there is no life taking stress on the child. The system is designed in a fashion that the child progresses the ladder only when the concepts are mastered. The child does not feel pressurised to perform, but instead the focus is on mastering the concepts. A child is not graded with other children but his comparison is with himself. The assessment is so beautifully constructed that the child moves on to the next level only after mastering the concepts at the present level
d) Teacher is motivated – There is more reason to cheer and its because the centrifugal force of the teaching community “the teacher” is happy. The teacher comes forward and interacts with the child, there is probing, questioning and responding. I can see the joy on the teachers face, for a second i forgot that it was a government aided school, such is the power of ABL. The teacher happily says that ABL has definitely altered the way the children learn and this learning methodology should be adopted by each and every school in India.
Speak to him and you would come to know why he speaks proudly of the change, “go to any of the 40,000 schools in Tamilnadu you will see joyful learning taking place. Mark the word he says “jofyful learning”.
I am paid to bring the change, what is the use if I cannot do something for the future of the millions of children in this country. He maps the various schools in his mind; he knows his team by name. He believes in execution and he knows it’s the key, he rubbishes big talk and according to him action is the only road to change and not the talks.
I am paid to bring the change, what is the use if I cannot do something for the future of the millions of children in this country. He maps the various schools in his mind; he knows his team by name. He believes in execution and he knows it’s the key, he rubbishes big talk and according to him action is the only road to change and not the talks.
I am honoured to know a person of this stature; we need more Vijaykumar’s in this country to make the education revolution a reality.
