Reminiscing my school days, I recollect the things that made me happy, the things that made me excited and the things I learnt. But I also remember the things that scared me every Sunday evening – the timetable for the next day! Mom would insist on home work being done the previous night to avoid morning hassles and she would also insist the books be stacked neatly in the school bag according to the next day’s timetable. As kids we all used to wonder if a world would exist without exams, marks, ranks and timetables. We believed such a world never existed and got back to our mundane lives. What if I told you that your dream is now a reality in one part of the world?
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A recent story on the Guardian made me sit up and ensure I read it right. A school in Berlin lays strict rules about no compulsory exams, no grades till the child turns 15 and no timetable. The Evangelical School Berlin Centre, believes that every child is unique and special and that their talents need to be respected. They strive to provide a holistic environment in their ‘Haus des Lernens’ (House of Learning). Apart from basic subjects such as German, Maths, Social Studies and English, the focus in this school remains on abstract courses such as Responsibility and Challenge. The school’s headteacher Margaret Rasfeld talks in this article about how preschoolers are all excited about beginning their school life but no sooner do they enter the regular school, they are robbed of their self-confidence and the excitement levels come crashing down.
She says calls theirs a progressive school that aims at preparing gen-next and coping them for the changes that life throws at them. The students in this school decide what subjects and lessons they would like to learn and the school gives them these flexible options. She nails the concept of learning when she says, “Nothing motivates students more than when they discover the meaning behind a subject of their own accord.â€_x009d_
The school is against the concept of making children sit for 40-45 minutes and teach them concepts they aren’t interested in. Instead based on the child’s interest they are sent trekking or kayaking or even asked to code a computer game.
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The word of mouth success has spread wide and there are plans to adopt similar strategies in many schools across Germany and the logistics are being worked out. In a time, where the education system has hardly had a makeover for over three generations, our country can take a leaf or two out of this and do something for the next generation.
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Image Source:Â www.theguardian.com
KSP Team
Mansi Zaveri
