Notes on Education

  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 colorf...

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 propose...

A central question that has a huge impact on the lives of young children is of age. What age should formal schooling begin and at what age may the child be sent to a preschool/kindergarten and for how many years?   Different practices prevail in different countries as regards age and preschooling and this is appropriate since social conditions within homes and the resources available to schools vary from country to country. The question that needs to be answered first is - Is it a good idea for government to regulate questions related to age of school going children and the years they may spend in preschools prior to entering class I? As regards government run schools, the government does have to come up with a policy for the same. However, private schools could be left to make their own choice. That could work well in the ideal case since then each school can come up with a policy that is best suited to the area within the country it operates and the kinds of chil...

T his note is with reference to schoolchildren in India although it may have relevance for children of other countries too. While much has been written about and much needs to be done to improve the quality of school education in India, this note is not about that at all but rather the environment in which this education is delivered, something of equal if not greater importance. There are at the present time many issues that add misery rather than joy in the lives of school children. These are things like, weight of school bags, quality of food served free or in schools canteens, commuting to schools, behavior of teachers, disproportionate amounts of homework given, lack of play grounds and open environment, noisy school architecture, schedules and timing etc. Rather than covering all of these topics together and losing focus, we shall take these issues one at a time and see what simple changes can be made to remove this distress. Let us begin with annual school schedules...

  A trend has been noted in arithmetic education of children across many countries around the world. It has been noted that while several fifth and six graders are unable to carry out simple addition and subtraction exercises, leave alone multiplication and divisions, there is a tendency to rush children even as young as three with too much learning by their respective school boards or private managements The need of the day is to slow down the pace at which education is thrust upon children while ensuring that whatever is taught is done so firmly. It goes without saying that the process of learning must be made enjoyable to engage a child. While many schools begin nursery education at three and include pre-primary grades such as lower KG and upper KG, the view of this author as well as several educators around the world is that preschool education must not begin under the age of four under any circumstances. A child under four is best at home under the care of a lov...