Improving the Lives of School Children - III

-



https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Youth-soccer-indiana.jpg

Open areas

When this author was young he lived in towns and cities that had open areas for children to play football, cricket or hockey or just to fly a kite and run around. Since then human population has expanded and many towns and cities are devoid of open areas for children to play in. The ensuing lack of green exposure and playgrounds are leading to nations full of compromised individuals that are low on health and high on stress. What is even sadder is that the same lack of open spaces has crept into schools too and children do not get a respite of green and open spaces even during their school hours.

Perhaps it would be an enlightened government that shall prescribe certain minimum open area that schools for children must have before they are given a license and recognition to operate. The question arises as to what should be done with schools that already exist if new regulations are proposed suddenly. It would be unfair to both the school and the children in it to ask them to close immediately. However older schools may be allowed to continue to operate provided they submit a signed affidavit to the effect that they shall shift to new grounds meeting the requirements within five years or should be deemed as unrecognized to be closed forthwith thereafter. It is enough time for a school to make the change.  Many schools would be able to make the change. Some would not and would have to close down but new ones shall come up in their place that meets requirements. It would be incumbent upon the city and state to assist at least the existing schools in finding such land near to their existing location.

How Much Open area should a School have?


The recommendation of this author is that the open area (free of any construction) required for a school must be 1600 square yards per class level it teaches up to. Thus a nursery school only requires just 1600 square yards. A primary school from class one to four needs 6400 square yards. A middle school up to class eight needs 12800 square yards and a high school to class 12 then needs 19200 square yards of open area with dimensions that are 160 yards into 120 yards. In addition an area for construction equal to 400 square yards multiplied by class level is required. The total land requirement for a high school is thus five acres with dimensions - 120 yards x 200 yards - or more.


The implication of this prescription is that a high school would then be able to create an open hockey/football field of dimensions 100yds x 60 yds with an open belt of 30 yards all around. This comes to 160 yards into 120 yards or precisely 19200 square yards or four acres.

In the peripheral area platforms and steps up to a height of three feet may be permitted in portions but no construction higher then three feet may be allowed. The idea is that the steps can be used for sitting to watch matches and the platform for school public address, assembly, prayer meetings, concerts etc. The same open field may be put to multiple uses for athletics, open school fairs, cricket ground, physical training, yoga etc. No trees must be planted in the core 100 x 60 yards area but portions of the periphery should have many trees for children to sit under during lunch hours etc. Parts of the periphery may also be used for basketball or volleyball/badminton courts and for gardens. The periphery is wide enough to create a swimming pool too if a school can afford it. It would need a net on one side to prevent the football ending up in water and would also need to be set beside school construction area for change rooms.

Constructed area:

Aside from the open area a school also needs constructed area for classrooms etc. and this requirement is 400 yards per class level. Thus a school up to class 12 requires 4800 square yards or approximately an acre. The total land requirement for a high school then becomes five acres (200yards x 120yards) with proportionately less for schools of lower level e.g. a primary school to class four requires 1600 square yards for constructed area and 6400 square yards of open area free of construction

The recommendations here are based on a maximum of two section in each class of fifty students each i.e. 100 students per class. Schools must not be permitted higher number of students unless they have proportionately higher amount of land available. Schools may make such play fields available to children of city or village on holidays and evening hours provided they can have a grilled fencing for their constructed portion with a notice board announcing the timing on a separate outer gate to the field.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GHELT – A Stress Free Higher Education Loan System

-
Image
W hile socialist oriented countries provide free higher education to citizens that wish to pursue it, other countries have left it in private hands to various extents. In order to pay the cost of this education, students often take loans from various financial institutions in the hope that they shall be able to pay it back easily after they graduate with the help of a good job. It does not always turn out that way though. One can be unemployed or underemployed later depending on the state of the economy or the state of the person in future and repayment can become a huge stress compromising the very quality of life. In addition some of the loan givers may be predatory sharks that can harass much later. There are also many persons, including this author, that are in principle against taking a loan for any activity in life except dire life threatening or very short term emergencies (such as losing your wallet on a trip) unless the loan is a forgivable loan from a non-profit maki
Read more

Elementary School Arithmetic – Sad Modern trends

-
Image
W ith progress of science and knowledge one would have expected that standard of basic arithmetic of school children too would have improved. However, surprisingly, this is one area where instead of improvement deterioration appears to have taken place in recent decades. Several surveys carried out in different parts of the world indicate that while children are becoming better at electronic things like computers, their most basic arithmetic skills are deteriorating. Even fourth or fifth graders are lagging behind in basic skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers. A review of the scenario by this author seems to indicate that a primary reason for this is the fact that curriculums have been expanded much too rapidly with the consequence that far too much knowledge is being thrust upon youngest of children leaving them disinterested in the subject. Attempts have been made to include algebra at elementary school level as well as concepts from s
Read more

Improving School Education in India - The School Board

-
Image
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=1742 V arious schools of India from primary to high school are of two types. First are government or state run schools and the second type are schools run by private parties that include individuals, societies, trusts or companies. Problems exist in both type of schools that compromise quality of education in the country and the quality of life of citizens. Here we shall consider the most important problems that face both type of schools and propose a simple solution that will help to improve the situation considerably. The main problem in state run schools is the quality of education and governance within schools. The major problem with private schools is their greed and ever increasing fees and expenses imposed on hapless parents. Some severe tragedies have taken place in private schools that even include severe beating, rape and murder of little children. Clearly existing mechanisms are insufficient to dea
Read more

An Open Letter

-
Image
Graduate of UBC An Open Letter to The Right Honorable Smriti Z. Irani, Minister for HRD Government of India Dear Minister, Please accept my congratulations at your new appointment. Many highly educated Indians and academics including myself are highly excited and pleased in finally seeing an energetic and capable young Minister for education in India. Unfortunately it has not always been so in India and as a result, standards of education have suffered. It may be mentioned that this letter comes to you from a person who has attained the highest levels of formal education, from the finest of universities as available in our world. These include the Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi for a bachelors plus masters degree (with distinction and top rank) and doctor’s degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada on a doctoral fellowship of the university. Later, there was good fortune to serve on the faculty of these esteemed unive
Read more

A Dress for Nalanda University Convocation

-
Image
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buddhist_monks_%28Laos-2009%29.jpg W hile Nalanda University is regarded as the first university in the world, ancient universities were destroyed by invaders and time. When the British arrived in India some two centuries ago the concept of a university was reintroduced in India. With that came many western customs including western gowns and formal dresses worn at convocations for award of degrees. While this is appropriate for universities developed on the western concept, it is most inappropriate if it is done at the recently revived Nalanda University. The appropriate dress is the same one as must have been worn at the original Nalalnda University on formal occasions and that is the formal Buddhist Monk dress. This author intends to convey this link to the concerned authorities in the hope that the needful will be done. The Convocation Hall? Image Source: http://pediaa.com/what-is-the-historical-importanc
Read more

Teach Your Children Arithmetic at Home

-
Image
  W hile modern children have become wizards at electronic devices with even three year olds using a smart phone like a professional, they are not as good at basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Some of the modern methods of teaching these subjects at school is not helping much either. These are essential skills that a human needs not just through all of their education but also to navigate successfully through life. For my own grandchildren, I had to go back to reviewing what I had learned in primary school and develop teaching material in the simplest possible way to teach them some more arithmetic at home besides what they learned at school. I have to admit that the task was just as challenging as advanced mathematics I used in my career as a scientist and professor of engineering. However, the end result of the effort was completely satisfactory. Realizing it would be useful for other parents as well the material has been compiled in a set of colorful b
Read more

Improving Higher Education in India – I

-
Image
Ruins of Nalanda International University, first university in the world. Higher education here is defined as that education which leads to a university degree such as the bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctoral degrees. It is undertaken usually after twelve years of school education that begins at age six. This article is written with reference to the quality of higher education in India. However what is stated here is equally applicable elsewhere as well. Over the last decade, with the opening of the higher education sector in India to private sector a plethora of educational institutions, both affiliated colleges and universities have emerged in India. They offer courses leading to degrees in various disciplines varying from the humanities to professional areas. However, whereas the quantity of available education has increased drastically, the same cannot be said for the quality. The quality of higher education varies from extremely dismal to good with more of
Read more