Opinion
Part 3 – Students themselves tell us what they want in a school! Are we ready to listen, minus judgement?
Forget about what students ‘need’. Students themselves tell us what they want! Are we ready to listen, minus judgement? Here is the third part in our series on children’s views on their dream school.
From the government to the management to educators to parents – everyone seems to have a say in the school system but for the main stakeholders: the children themselves. With World Children’s Day (November 20) and National Children's Day (November 14) this month, ScooNews threw open its pages, inviting this long-neglected and most important segment – children – to tell us exactly how they envision their dream school. Read on, educators, there might be nuggets of value for us all in here…
“Class time would be approximately 20 minutes”
Shreya Menon
Schools are meant for learning, and to be honest, I would like a school where there is actually more focus on sports, and physical activity. Many schools need more physical activity, and the students are getting frustrated. The school that I currently go to does not even have a gym yet! They are working on getting a gym by December, and this is really annoying, because we have to learn about health, and that is NOT fun.
Another concept that would be applied to my dream school would be that the class time would be approximately 20 minutes. The reason why is because kids can find school a little tedious if the lessons are stretched for a long time. Also, school HAS to start at 12:00, because all of us do NOT like to wake up early. My school bus comes at 6:55! At my dream school, nobody has to wake up that early. Also, my school must only teach adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying. There is no need to learn about algebra, calculus, or anything else for that matter. Tell me, when are we going to use this in our life?
Teachers also must have a fun type of curriculum.
Some schools need to have more free time, and that is what I am going to give them. Teachers and students need longer break-time! Both complain about how their time at school is all about teaching and learning, and there is no time for themselves! This brings me to another topic… HOMEWORK. Homework is something NOBODY enjoys, and I feel that teachers sometimes go a little over-the-top with homework. Like yesterday, (October 27), I had 72 math questions online, and I had to show work for it, and I had to finish all of them by 11:59! Don’t you think that is going too overboard? Honestly, teachers should think that the students have a life too, and not of just learning! That’s why, at my dream school, there would only be homework one day of the week, and that would be Wednesday. That being said, the homework MUST be only one page per class, and the page should not be double-sided. Teachers sometimes do not think that students may have after-school activities, and that they may have their own plans. Students often complain, and I am one of them, about their own activities, and how their life is overloaded.
A concept that is vital to the school that I dream of would be that there would be three days holiday per week. Students need their own free time, and they dread the last day of their weekend, knowing that they have to go to school the next day. That is going to change. School should have only four days of learning, and not five. People need more rest from school.
(Shreya Menon is 12 and studies in grade VII, at Central Jersey College Prep, New Jersey, USA)
“Behaviour must come before studies”
Arhan Raj Patnaik
I want my school to be simple. It should have a lot of activities which involve every subject. I want a school which does not assess our performance by exams – in simple words no pressure of exams should be there. I believe behaviour must come before studies. Many students get spoilt with gadgets and are lost in the tech world and they do not know that there could be bad consequences of over-using gadgets.
The school should take the responsibility of educating its students on what the cons of using gadgets are. It should be secure for students and should be the safest place for the kids.
School should be a place to make friends, and learn good things. We have seen poor children who can’t afford to pay the fees. I want my dream school to give free education to under-privileged children. There should not be any comparison between students like rich and poor in my school.
(Arhan Raj Patnaik studies in grade VIII B at Ryan International School, Yelahanka)
“I want two periods of art everyday”
Vyshnavi Arun
Why does school have nothing else but studies? I am not saying it should not have studies but I think it should have more playtime and less of studies. I want two periods of art every day and I wish my English teacher would not be so strict. I want to be the class monitor for a whole year. I think my present school will look a lot better if it wasn’t so big. I want my dream school to have a big beautiful garden with birds, butterflies, flowers and plants. I want to go to the computer science lab. These are few of the things I would like my dream school to have.
(Vyshnavi Arun studies in class II at Delhi Public School (North), Bangalore. The 7-year-old loves nature, animals, art, listening to stories, reading Roald Dahl, and playing with her friends.)
“A good counselling centre will be available to students”
Tanya Amrita Jaishankar
My dream school is where life begins, which is full of passion and liveliness. The teacher not only grabs the students’ attention but keeps them on the edge of their seats wanting to know more. My dream school would be complete with amazing facilities like classroom, labs, pools and gym. A good canteen facility with healthy food is a must for students as they get deprived when spending long hours in school. A good library, a combination of arts and crafts would help develop the inner talents of students. An awesome sports facility will bring out the great athletes among students. A good counselling centre must be available to students so they can get help at any time.
The school should have its syllabus modulated in such a manner where it should be interactive and have a perfect blend of theory and practical oriented classes. Visualizing helps in better understanding and therefore the methodology should also change from text books to tabs and hi-tech gadgets for easy understanding. Every student should be allotted tabs, so that the heavy bag or sack system would be avoided and all notes and lecture classes could be stored in them.
Though schools are the best thing that’s happened to mankind, there is room for improvement for better and interactive education. The syllabus must be relevant; it would impact significant impact fields like environmental studies, political views and economic struggles. It would grab the attention of students and lead them to action. Improving schools would require international collaboration. This would encourage dialogue and lead to common standards. Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the great engine of development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation.” Education can bring change in someone’s future. The struggle to keep fulfilling that observation must be made by us.
Students need to be inspired, amazed and be aware of endless opportunities. We can choose our favourite lessons to learn. We can spend more time doing some outside reading. The students do after-school activities for one and a half hours every day. We needn’t do a lot of homework and we are happy to stay at school.
My dream school will look like a big garden. The teachers here are kind and helpful. They are not only our teachers but also our good friends. The students are polite and friendly and we all know how to keep our school neat and tidy and there is no litter around.
My thought and belief is if teachers stick to high expectations for all, then all students will succeed. The core to my dream is broken up into three components: the teacher/staff, students and parents. I love my dream school and we’ll grow up to be happier there.
(Tanya Amrita Jaishankar is in grade XI at Vivekalaya School, Coimbatore)
“We could do organic gardening every day”
Sharanya Ghosh
My ideal school would be big enough to fit a huge play area, trampoline, football field, classrooms and our own garden. For an hour and a half every day we could do organic gardening, and the fruits, veggies and herbs that grow could be used for cooking for the children at our school. We could divide the day into playtime, gardening time and study time. In school, it would be nice to have a movie theatre, where we could sometimes watch movies. We could have no uniforms and wear just coloured clothes to school. I would like the teachers to be sweet and kind, but also be a little strict sometimes. We could have a cold room, which could have an ice skating rink. We could go there during our playtime with a buddy. I would like to have sections till 'J' and have only 10 kids in each class, so that every kid got equal attention. I like the way my school is, but I also wish I could study in a school like my ideal school.
(Sharanya Ghosh, age 8, studies in class III at Inventure Academy)
This story was our Childrens' Day special feature in the November 2017 issue.
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