Revolt and revolution the two different words which symbolize the change, the former speaks about the resistance to accepting the existing policies and demands for change, whereas the latter speaks about the changes brought into the system and its implementations. However, the bottom line of both remains the same, and that is change. We experienced many revolutions, like the Green Revolution etc. But when it comes to the matter of education, we talk about revolutions, such revolutions that keep changing, maybe after every decade or two.
However the education revolution is more significant as it has evolved out of a revolt. A silent revolt is a revolt that is not seen directly, but a revolt that can only be felt when a mother or a father sits along with their child in front of a teacher, and they realize the learning difficulties that their child is facing. This is a silent revolt of the young brain, a reluctance, a helplessness in sitting at a single place for one-third of a day, psychological pressure of mugging up the concept and vomiting it on the paper during two to three hours of pen and paper examination. We talk about the future and building a great nation, but as said by a great poet, a country is not just a piece of land with boundaries; a country is people, such as people who are empathetic and feel accountable. Such citizens cannot be born, but they are made. And making depends on the quality and content of education that is delivered in schools, colleges, and universities.
It may be our own old Gurukul system to the British education system, then towards the four pillars of education, followed by the Right to Education, and heading towards new education policies. The ultimate goal of education must be overall development.
Education must not be either teacher-centric or child-centric because if it is teacher-centric, it may not meet the needs of the child, and if it is only child-centric then the main challenge that comes is resource-providing and equipping teachers. Education must always be GROWTH Centric. It must be in sync with both child's needs and teacher's enhancement.
As an example, let’s try to talk about the NO BAG days, the main aim of these days to minimize the physical weight of the school bags which a child of 6 years to 14 years carry to school, many of the scientific research also speak about the physical damage that causes to the tender spine of these young kids and changes the body posture too.
Let’s take that, yes, we are all online now, and implement the NO bag days.
Let’s consider here two schools as cases.
School A: School in a metro city, with AC classes, well-structured infrastructure, and all knowledgeable teachers.
School B: School in a town, with all the best possible resources and undoubtedly knowledgeable teachers.
Now let’s go on with the implementation of No bag days. Both the schools informed the parents, students, and teachers about the why? If? & BUTs? of these days and began to execute. After executing it for three months, when a review was taken, unfortunately, the NO bag days in School A have turned up into Activity days, such days where students play, do some art & craft-based activities and also some lab activities. Now, where is the difference seen. It ends up at only one line that for one day in a week, there will be no heavy bags, that’s all.
Now if we come to school B, this has not done anything in the name of sports or arts and crafts activity but included lab activities, now the result of school B, is that these days have turned into the most desirable days of school as Child is involved in flip mechanisms, Peer evaluations, peer teaching where every child was involved interactively and teachers have become just facilitator and an expert to guide and correct and throw reflections on learnings with all best possible things.
Now as a reader, you can decide and think about where the schools have failed and where they have won. This is a silent revolt of young brains not to carry heavy bags, and once the revolution is brought, they become happy children, and classrooms turn into happy classrooms.
To bring the change, we don’t need strong intellect brains, instead, we need an empathetic brain and a few minutes to think out of box with a point of view toward the solution to the problem. Well, if we talk about the revolt or the revolution that we want, definitely there are challenges and hurdles.
Who drives this Revolt: Students voice, Homeschooling.
Challenges to be addressed: Inequalities, Technology divide, resistance to change.
Revolt must improve individual strengths, interests, global collaborations, and holistic development. As we push boundaries and rethink learning, the goal remains to create a system that empowers every individual to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
About the Author
Dr E Ravi Varma Principal Tagore Group of Schools, with 14 years of experience in the field of education and educational research, promoting the happy learning and happy classrooms concept and resource person.