Indian secondary education system focuses generally on rote learning, which encourages students to learn the subject matter in a fixed envelope and reproduce from the same, on being questioned during evaluation – tests/examinations, even the test patterns are predefined for the curriculum. The envelope of learning in this environment blinkers the process of learning by questioning / exploring, which encourages the students to collectively realise and learn the various dimensions of a subject/topic. This also challenges the teachers to be on their toes and remain alert and exploratory to be prepared to handle the questioning minds in the class room.
Muktangan makes an effort to fill in the gaps, during the elementary classes, which makes:-
- Education meaningful to children, a constructivist approach towards various concepts in all subjects.
- Provide children freedom to think , act individually and also in a team/group to interact and understand, while participating in the learning process
- Students (children) are encouraged to discover their own processes to reach the correct answers, as “answer” is not all that important but the process to reach answers certainly is.
- Students, in this process, develop & improve upon their physical, mental and thinking skill sets.
- Students are introduced & then led to observation and thinking through interconnecting topics viz. coordinate geometry and geography (on drawing the specific location address, longitude/latitudes) & concepts of deriving formulas for circle, semi-circle, cones and full/semi-sphere
- Inclusive Education:- we believe in education for all the children. Children with special needs are part of all 7 schools. We have a special needs department at each school to cater to the need of such children. Individualised Education plan (IEP) for each child is put in place for effective transfer of knowledge. To drive up the efficiency of the program and ensure a closed loop feedback on the progress of such students, regular parent-teacher interaction is encouraged.
- Socio Emotional Deptt. :- This Deptt keeps a birds eye view on the emotional/health quotients for students as well as teachers through “QUALITY Circle Time” in-house programs.
- In- Service Teacher Training: In order to keep the teacher upto speed and abreast with the latest developments, all departments
- conduct regular (weekly) classes for the teachers to address subjects related to curriculum and their own self development, which empowers them to perform better.
The above case in point can be highlighted with the following example:-
Praveen has to go from Mumbai to Pune (Start to Finish) and he has his GPS (Mental, physical and thinking Skill set). Now you could either give him a simple one route map and ask him to follow the same and reach his destination (Indian Education Board System). While the other option could be to make him utilise his GPS (Skill sets) and learn to utilise his skill sets to get to the end point, while realising and learning the rights and wrongs, he/she did during the process, which is going to be the student’s real learning for future and understanding of the subject that would help in tackling future challenges – basis the lessons learnt therein.
Since each child has a different set of capabilities, such student will learn different lessons from the same test/exams thus would make a great team whenever they get a chance to work together thereafter.
“Muktangan” (Hindi word) means a free courtyard, reflecting the open environment, which helps children learn concepts and grasp the fundamentals in an open, interactive and creative environment. Knowledge thus gained shall help them in future to think individually and creatively to contribute to the overall growth of the society.
Namita Tewari
Dept Leader – Maths; Muktangan, Mumbai