Should there be admission tests for Nursery?

Indian education system needs a revamp. Children are taught to write from A to Z and from 1 to 10 in the play school and pre KG classes. They are even loaded with homework. At this age, when they could be slowly introduced to alphabets and numbers and should be allowed to play, why are our schools and play homes burdening them with writing exercises?

During my search for a playschool for my son, I could not find one without a conventional teaching method. A majority of the play schools informs the parents that they will prepare these children for the nursery admissions. These small kids are made to write each alphabet 70-90 times a day. Don’t you think it is too much?

Once during a book exhibition, I came across a 160 page book which boasts of “prepared for your child’s admission in renowned & leading public schools”. Should these kids be assessed and tested for knowledge before they start schooling? Will these tests and interviews give a true picture of the ability of a child? Are the schools right in eliminating the children who don’t clear the selection process? Shouldn’t they tap, nurture and develop the potential in each child?

I personally do not agree to this type of screening at this level. Schools cannot ascertain the actual potential of a child through a test or an interview. My own child belongs to that group of children who are quite intelligent and are capable of learning, but won’t communicate easily to strangers. Some children might be good speakers; others might be good learners and still others at something else. It is the responsibility of schools to develop the skills and talent latent in a child. Are the schools worried only about the academic performance of a child? Even the schools who claim to teach through play method end up with less play and more teach and write.

How many school(s) are there in India where the young children are not burdened with homework and projects?

Challenge posed to parents

My toddler son with his abundant inquisitiveness inspires me to learn some new activity. He always gets bored easily with the regular and old games and activities. His boredom was the driving force for me to think and try new activities and games for him. My friends and acquaintances who had no or very little clue about the various ideas of engaging their kids prompted me write this.

An inability to think about what to do next is common among parents of small kids. Keeping little children busy is not an easy task. Very few parents consider this task with due seriousness. They hardly spend time gathering ideas or chart activities for the young children. These type of activities and games are essential for their mental and physical development. This requires some planning, little imagination and the right attitude.

Attitude, because I know parents who are either lazy or are too busy, they don’t have time for their children. Parents belonging to either of this group please remember that these experiences children have during the initial years contribute to their physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth.

Nobody can accurately predict how long an activity can hold a child’s attention. The enjoyment and interest towards a particular activity or game varies from child to child. But if your child is enjoying himself with the activity you suggested, you can consider your efforts successful. Never compel a child to do something in which he/she does not show any interest and does not enjoy doing.

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Fighting odds

Story based on True Incident

Rakesh was a cool guy, easy go lucky chap. His father was an eminent businessman and his mother a devoted housewife. His sister was married to an NRI. Rakesh was doing his MBA from an UK University. Suddenly his life changed. Changed forever.

Rakesh lost his father in an accident. He was dumbfounded by shock to grieve over the death. His mother was hospitalized in a critical state. For a longtime, he refused to believe in God. There after life became a struggle to him. And he fought hard – to take care of his injured mother, to complete his studies, to secure a job, to handle all the chaos and confusion in the business, to handle the futile business partners, to bring peace in his sister’s troubled marriage. He negated his emotions and feelings. People spoke about him as a stone hearted guy. Nobody understood him.

Life is quite unpredictable. Rakesh lost his dreams, ambition, career, comfortable life along with his father. Even after years, life was never kind to him. When he married a girl of his mother’s choice, disagreements and arguments ruled his married life. Neetha was overly possessive. She could not understand him. She was not his type of girl. Whines and complaints, threats and mental abuse became a routine. After much accusations and troubles, they parted ways. Many of his relatives too misunderstood him. They also joined Neetha in accusing him. They accussed him of drinking, smoking, using drugs and even bad company.

Rakesh’s second marriage seemed to work well. But Sarita’s beliefs, culture, language, upbringing was much different from his family’s. Some misunderstandings in communication paved way to soared relationships with the inlaws. Sarita faced lot of difficulties from her inlaws. They blamed her for reasons that she never even imagined. She was depressed and became irritable and short tempered. She even showed her irritability on her kid. Rakesh understood his wife a little. But it was beyond his comprehension that his mother can act and talk like this. But Rakesh felt its his life and since he is having a good rapport with his partner and vice versa, he would not allow others to spoil it. It took a long time for Sarita to recover from the depression. Fighting odds gives you perseverance. Today Rakesh is a changed man. He is matured by age and experience, responsible, with lots of patience.

Today, tough with their ups and downs, Rakesh and Sarita are leading a happy and contented life. May God bless them!

(I’ve changed the names of the characters for maintaining anonymity)

One Monday Morning.

One Monday morning, Rajeev was getting ready for office, Mr. Raman called up and told KK’s “daughter Vidya committed suicide. Cremation will be in the afternoon”. “Tragedy is following that family. Its hardly a month since KK’s brother expired.” This year too seems to be very bad for them”.

We couldn’t believe what we heard. Rajeev left for office, asking me to meet KK and his wife Jaya. Vidya was such an active, extrovert, smart girl. Almost going to complete her studies. How could she do like that? Why did she do that?....All type of questions filled my mind.

After leaving Rohan at school, I went to KK’s house. Few people lingered around. KK seemed to be composed. But Jaya was inconsolable. “Hey God! I prayed to you for a child, and now see what has happened?” “Is this why I prayed for to see this day?” She cried : “How could she do this? She could’ve waited for two more days for us to come back”. Some of her friends too couldn’t control their tears. I also became emotional. Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t wait to see the dead body.

After coming home, Raji told the news has come in the newspaper. The news read: “IIIrd year medico hanged self over lover’s death”. Her boyfriend died two days back in a freak accident. She couldn’t take it and didn’t want to live.

Today’s generation is highly sensitive. Every other day, similar news are reported in media. These youngsters forget their family. Even in Vidya’s case, had she for a second thought about her parents, she wouldn’t have taken such a drastic step. Where have we gone wrong in bringing up our next generation? Is it happening because of the self-centeredness or due to too much of protection and care extended? These incidents remind me a saying that one grown in fire will not sworn in the sun. Probably growing in a nuclear family with all the attention, care and love and facilities are making them vulnerable to stress, tension, troubles and competition.

I personally feel that half the problem lies in the fact that parents and teachers have no time to guide the youngsters in the right direction or channelise their energies. Teachers today are not as committed as before. Parents are setting boundaries for their children. Nor do they spend quality time with their children. On the whole, media excess, cultural attitude, attitude change, self- centered lifestyle, communication gap between parents and children, peer pressure are all contributing to frustrated and deviant or unruly behaviour in youngsters.