Notes on Education

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...

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...