Hussanara Alvi, their class-teacher asked the students to use their recess time in a constructive manner. While brainstorming for ideas, this group decided to create a detective agency which they called ‘Detective Investigation Department’ or D.I.D. Other groups engaged themselves in teaching English to younger students, creating artistic tattoos with paint and mehndi etc.

About the idea of starting a detective group, Ameya shares, “We used to frequently hear from our friends that they lost some of their belonging. Initially our group used to help our fellow students to trace their belongings, from there we thought why not start our own detective group and solve cases.” The kids of D.I.D spend a lot of time planning their work and thinking about their strategy to solve their cases. They have also put posters on prime locations at school with their names and how to get in touch with them. The group slowly and gradually became popular as they solved every mystery that came up. Till now the six have solved 25 cases on campus. The six have even traced a laptop that belonged to a class tenth student. They read relevant literature such as Sherlock Holmes and have invested their pocket money to buy gadgets to help them work more efficiently.

“I am so happy that the kids’ work is appreciated by the teachers and especially Mr. Pascal Chazot who has given value to their work and made them believe in their potential. MGIS has provided them the space where they can come up with their own ideas. This has helped them come up with innovative ideas” says Ms. Seema Joshi, mother of Ameya Joshi.

MGIS provides a platform where these children can express their own creative ideas. The atmosphere is student centric and is conducive for children to develop their academic pursuits and creative, social and community service interests. The teachers make children believe in themselves and this helps them develop an immense faith and self confidence. The case of D.I.D. reaching out to the school community, creating a city level interest in their efforts through their work and their communication skills and engaging with the print and broadcast media, on their own without the intervention of the school, is not only commendable, it is a also an integral part of the school philosophy. MGIS encourages its students to take initiative and create a space for themselves through constructive action. According to Mr. Chazot-

Although this effort (D.I.D.) can be seen alternatively as a game (fun) or a (serious) enterprise, it can also be seen as a fun enterprise. What is essential is that the students are learning and enjoying, while ‘doing’ and engaging in a specific project or task. The formation and activities of D.I.D reflect this powerful idea.

As these young detectives graduate to grade 5, we wish them luck and success in solving many more cases…

Queency Christ and Lissa Chazot report from MGIS campus with inputs from Ameya Joshi, Seema Joshi and Pascal Chazot.

Here is Pascal Chazot and his wife, with us. They dared to think differently in education, which is the need of the hour.

Pascal Chazot was invited as a speaker at this Summit to address the issue:

Higher, Technical and Vocational Education : Is Integration Possible ?

The Summit was inaugurated by Shri.Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of HRD, Shri.Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Dr. Indu Shahani, Sheriff of Mumbai Convenor, H.E. Paul A Folmsbee, US Consul General among other eminent dignitaries.

Article on MGIS in the Mumbai edition of DNA

Source: http://www.ibo.org/myp

The hall at the French Embassy in New Delhi was fuller than I have ever seen. The get-together was for the French community in honour of the visit of President Nicolas Sarkozy. But more than half of the 1,200 people gathered there were more excited at the prospect of seeing Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France. During his last visit, Sarkozy was not yet married to Carla and the Indians went into a tizzy trying to figure out the demands of protocol for someone who was only ‘a compagnon’ or a friend.

Finally, Carla came, everyone sighed, Carla conquered. Thanks to protocol, I was placed inside the security cordon and got a good look at everyone. The Indian newspapers had already written essays about her body language that signified that everything was nearly over between the two. Now, every eye was on her even as the ears listened to Sarkozy. Carla stood a discrete distance behind her husband with the other ministers. She hardly moved and the only time she decided to clap was when Sarkozy mentioned the strong feminine presence in his ministry. That time, following her cue, everyone burst into applause.

The President made all the right noises about supporting India’s seat in the security council, about closer cultural ties, nuclear cooperation, technical collaborations and educational exchanges. When they left, for the next two hours, French women around me discussed Carla animatedly.

‘So what did you think?’ asked my wife. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Liar,’ she said through her teeth, ‘You were looking at her all the time.’ By then everyone went into intense speculation and the hall became divided into binary opposites.

‘She’s pretty,’ said one man. ‘Yes, but look at what she was wearing! A dull grey and no jewellery,’ said a woman. ‘Oh, but simplicity is a style statement,’ said another man in gallant defence of poor Carla. ‘That is not being simple, it is being plain. I tell you, she is defying Sarko and saying I won’t be the decorative doll anymore,’ said an animated woman. ‘And high time too,’ added another lady. ‘Do you think she is having an identity crisis?’

‘A contract, that is what it was. It was a marriage of convenience and now she has realised her error,’ said a male hopefully. ‘Nah, she is rich, she can walk away en claquant la porte,’ said a feminist friend.

Ten years ago, when my wife and I were in Paris, we were invited to a French musician’s house for dinner. After chatting, he asked us what we would eat and when we said we were vegetarian, he looked aghast. Then recovering, he said ‘Pas de probleme’, my friend will cook some spaghetti for you. So, we had some boiled spaghetti and ate it while sitting on the floor while she chatted politely with us all the time keeping eye on her young son. She was none other than Carla Bruni! This lady was so casual, yet at ease sitting on the floor. She displayed grace and ease. Now when we saw her in Delhi and later in Mumbai when she participated at the memorial for the victims in the terrorist attack at Oberoi, we could not help noticing how stiff and distant she was. Protocol does strange thing to people!

While being the epitome of grace may be Carla’s forte, I must admit I have tasted better spaghetti!

Mama, why is it that Princesses are always shown as trapped and it is the Prince who rescues them?” asked my 9-year-old daughter. She then continued, “Why can’t a Princess rescue a Prince?” Having had a surfeit of cartoon films during winter break, she had somehow located the stereotypes.

Most of the cartoon films that are based on western fairy tales, no doubt show these stereotypes – from Rapunzel to Snow White. While the hero on a quest is a mythical archetype, the Princess to be rescued is a construct meant to make girls believe that their condition can change only if the knight in shining armour appears.

Tara, my daughter, then continued, “Why are cats always shown to be mean and dogs nice? Why are witches women and why do they have cats on their brooms? Why don’t they roam about with dogs?” She is right. In some ways, cats are supposed to be unpredictable, incapable of being fully tamed, flexible, mysterious and often very pretty. These are associated with feminine qualities. But more importantly, the meaner animals in fairy tales are obviously those that can’t be tamed: cats in western fairy tales and the wily fox in the Indian folk tales.

So these stereotypes contribute to children making their own understanding about themselves and their world. Supergirl has yet to make her impact in cartoon films. Even in Indian cinema, the trapped, kidnapped, abducted woman ruled for many years. She could only await her rescue by the paramour, helpless and weeping.

In complete contradiction of this are our mythologies and folk tales. The former depicts Shakti, the female energy or principle that is both constructive and destructive while the later has stories of women who cajole, manipulate and can be clever. But, nevertheless, while we have stories of Birbal, Tenali Rama and even Mulla Nasruddin, their female equivalent is largely absent.

A couple of recent articles in the press celebrated the Sheila and Munni phenomenon as an expression of the Indian female sexuality. Yet, as item girls, both are again male constructs. The earlier constructs in Indian cinema kept the Indian woman trapped in the image of a self-sacrificing mother. The latest ones keep the females trapped in the image of sexually desirable objects. The salivating males around these gyrating actresses demonstrate this point.

The iconography of the cartoon films too contributes to this. The fairies are anorexic, the princesses have tiny waists and the new supergirls (Lara Croft to take another example) have voluptuous figures that are impossible to achieve.

If both boys and girls have to grow and achieve their potential, then we have to protect them from successive stereotypes about themselves and their bodies. This is as true for young boys who are expected to be strong, the rescuers, and who never cry. My suggestion would be to expose them to diverse forms of literature and films.

Bombarded as they are with images from the media, they may end up becoming cultural stereotypes themselves. I hope that our upcoming animation filmmakers will turn to the vast collection of Indian folk tales from various regions and give a greater richness to children as they form their notions about their self.

The TOK syllabus is expected to involve 100 teaching hours over two years of the Diploma Programme. It is assessed in two parts: an externally examined 1,200–1,600 word essay and an internally assessed presentation, termed the TOK presentation. No diploma is awarded if a candidate fails to submit both a TOK essay and TOK presentation, or receives an E for both.

The students of MGIS rise to the challenges that TOK poses. Pascal Chazot, Anita Shah and MGIS alumni Mihir Sharma have combined their academic knowledge and experience to teach TOK to the students of the Diploma Programme. They guide DP 2 students through the five part TOK presentation process, and assess it internally. The presentation is viewed by a minimum of 10 students and the TOK professor and lasts for about 10 minutes.

Topics like “The ethical considerations of Euthanasia”, “Why Indian writers writing in English has affected the sanctity of their mother tongue”, and “Exploring how the Internet affects the individual” have been conceptualized by students, and they are currently in the process of presenting.

The maximum mark awarded is 20, and the TOK presentation is 1/3 of the students’ final TOK grade, and they are assessed within the limits of a five part criteria. MGIS students have and continue to receive excellent marking.

Below are screen shots of video taped presentations.

This day provided the ideal platform for what the student’s quite simply termed “Liberation Day”. The participating students were informed in advance about the objective of this specific day, which was essentially, to present to a class any item, event, medium or idea that they felt would shock, scandalize or unnerve their audience. It could be from popular culture or history, a personal recollection or a vivid description of something they had heard about, as long as it illustrated their freedom of expression and highlighted the purpose of the concept.

On Liberation day, students brought to class an assortment of odd descriptors. Zara Desai brought to class a song and its lyrics, classified under the genre of punk. She explained that the track symbolized a tyrannical government and its overthrowing. The band was called Anti Flag, and their lyrics openly opposed the American government, in the most explicit way possible. She said, “This song was inspired by certain reforms that the government made at that specific period of time, and adversely affected the people. They wrote the track to express their anger.” The reason she proposed it in class was to question whether or not the way they did could be considered a dignified way to utilize their freedom to express.

Two other students, Aakash Sharma and Shriraj Sagara wrote a song about “sexual encounters”. Aakash played the guitar as Shriraj recited the lyrics. The song, they said was designed to “unsettle and amuse the audience!”, as evidenced by its suggestive and blunt wording.

Student Anmol Jain brought to the discussion two videos from a South Park episode. The videos essentially, entailed a great deal of inappropriate swearing and the purpose behind showing it to a class, who were no strangers to such examples from popular culture, was to see if it would unnerve them in the presence of an authority figure.

The entire process was carried out within an enclose room, and the students were especially careful to limit the observations exclusively to the senior class at MGIS.

It was, in the words of a spectator, “Interesting to see how even in a liberal and open environment, people are still prone to discomfort at the slightest mention of things that are considered shameful.” After the class was over, students discussed how best to remedy that, and maintain an insightful outlook on the clearly controversial “freedom of expression.”

Last week, I spent a good amount of time teaching Hamlet’s famous monologue ‘To be, or not to be, – that is the question:’ I realised how Hamlet as a renaissance scholar not only asks questions but listens to himself and reasons.

Asking questions is not only a skill but a culture. Unfortunately, in India, we have created an educational culture where asking questions is an insult to the teacher. In conventional classrooms, it is the teacher who asks questions much like the interrogative methods of the police.

When I was a high school student in a prestigious school in Delhi, I recall the techniques we invented to avoid being asked questions. Firstly, you never looked the teacher in the eye. Secondly, you ducked behind the person sitting in front. You made your body small by hunching it up a bit and crouched behind. As a result one fervently hoped that the teacher would pick the one she saw.

Why did I not like being asked a question? There I’m asking you one but as I have the upper hand in this one-way conversation, I will proceed to explain my understanding. In a classroom situation, if one does not know the answer or gives a wrong one, there is instant humiliation or ridicule. The teacher picks you and this act isolates you from the mass of the class.

More importantly, when a person of a higher status or authority asks questions to one who is in a lower status, the person with a lower status is psychologically disadvantaged. This happens in the classroom, this happens at home when parents ask the child, ‘what did you do at school today?’, ‘whose phone was it?’, ‘what time did you return last night?’ and so on. With a slight twist the same questions can be asked by a suspicious spouse!

So while little children grew up asking questions about the world, they entered the classroom and were taught to keep quiet with a finger on their lips. They were to be seen and not heard. The reason why teachers do not like children asking questions is because they think too many questions will create chaos and more importantly, they think they may not know the answer.

If the teacher becomes open enough to say that all questions are welcome, that there are no stupid questions and that I do not have the answers but we can seek together, we will create questioning and not subservient children.

The culture of the fear of questions permeates the Indian administration too. For very long, administrators took over the role and authority of the colonial masters. Their work was cloaked in secrecy and it was only with the Right to Information Act that we opened the doors to a lower status ordinary citizen asking questions. But as anyone who has used the RTI act will tell you, the upper echelons do not like being asked questions either! It is viewed as an insult and with suspicion.

Journalists and citizens who set out on quests to discover truths paid with their lives for asking the right questions. For too long, asking questions has always been the prerogative of those in power. It is time we changed it because when a child or a citizen asks a question, it empowers the seeker. It makes the person asking more active and engaged. If a person can ask a question, somewhere deep down, he or she already knows the answer. And for those questions for which we have no answers, it is still important to ask them.

Notions of territory and space are related to old animal instincts.

Animals mark their territory and resort to violence when another creature enters that space. We see the same behaviour in public and private life. At home, there is always the chair of the head of the family and each member has a regular spot at the dining table that is rarely breached. In public life, no one would dare to sit on the boss’s chair. Primitive societies that evolved into agricultural societies became attached to land. Both subsistence and survival depended upon it.

But why do we look at adult examples? It is enough to see how this is part of classroom culture.

After all, each child has a designated seat in the class. There are backbenchers and front benchers with all the hierarchical connotations reflected. Rarely do the twain meet. It would never cross a child’s mind to cross over those invisible lines drawn by wooden desks and benches to change seats.

The fixed seating area leads to a routine fixed perception. If as a child you were ever told by your teacher to go to another spot, what a disorientation was felt! One felt one had entered a new world. So, notions of territorial space are reinforced in the fixed seating arrangements in classrooms which leads to limited perceptions. The interaction in large classrooms is limited to your immediate neigbour.

When we embarked on the designing of classrooms for our school twelve years ago, we soon became exasperated at the aesthetic or functional designs offered by professionals that refused to integrate our educational philosophy of flexibility and sharing of spaces. Finally, we did the job as teachers ourselves. We simply put tables on the walls around that could be latched up and children could either use the tables or sit on the floor when the pedagogy demanded it. This led to interesting developments. There was never a fixed seat for any child. Children were required to move from table to table, group to group leading to multiple interactions and sharing of space. Children of different religions, socio-economic backgrounds and intellectual and physical abilities, sat, worked and played together.

The school being small in size, children had to jostle, argue, negotiate and adjust for space whether it be the library or the small sports ground. Older children always gave way to younger ones in the play area and the corridors. Notions of classrooms spilled over to using any space as a classroom even if it was at times sitting under a tree. As a result I always observed the ease with which children were willing to negotiate space.

A few years ago, at an international meet I sat discussing schools with another teacher. She worked in a school in Ireland. It was a large international school with few students. I envied her the space they had at their disposal.  Then suddenly, we began to speak of sharing and she explained how difficult it was to even get a marker pen from another classroom! This example found echo in other school-teachers. Each teacher had her class and no material could be lent or borrowed.

I then realised how lucky we were to have less! We borrow chairs, pens, laptops from each other as students and teachers. We adjust for space according to whose need is higher. Because the school is small, we bump into each other continually and exchange pleasantries. Sharing leads to caring.

When people suggested that we move to a bigger school, I declined giving my reasons. I enjoy this scale of operation. It is like a large family, not a big factory.

If you grow up thinking that you have only this one chair as yours, you will always be insecure. If you grow up realising that the planet has enough to offer and that you will always find your space, you will be secure and peaceful. I hope adults will give the gift of a culture of sharing to children.

This article was published on 5/10/10

Instead of an abrupt return from the holiday mood to the academic rigor of schoolwork, the first day here is all about getting readjusted to being a student, and predisposing yourself to some of the material you will be tackling over the term.

It is set up as a sequence of different activities throughout the day, ranging from those that work towards group-formation – getting acquainted with new classmates and making them feel comfortable – to activities that implicitly introduce the kids to some of the projects and modules they will be working on.

Of course, the intent is also that the return to school be a joyous occasion, and the MGIS first day of school is also largely about just having fun!

Here are some pictures from this term’s start:

Being an active and engaged educational practitioner and academician since twenty years, Anju presented incisive insights and knowledge about the Great Indian Classroom which she brought alive with anecdotes and real-life incidents.

For more information, click here

•   The function and purpose of the report card.

•   The manner of reporting and its consequences.

•   The issue of repeating a year.

The purpose of the report card is construed to give feedback to the parents. Actually, its original purpose is and ought to be primarily for the teacher. The kind of mistakes a child makes or the conceptual difficulties a child may have, should give the teacher and school a feedback about strategies to be adopted or changed. Instead, it becomes a judgment on the child.

There are two kinds of reports. One is the quantitative one which simply informs the child and parent how much a child got out of how much. This kind of reporting does not give any idea to the child, parent or teacher as to the exact nature of strengths and weaknesses. As most of the tests are written, they only test the written understanding. Often, teachers are not clear as to what is being tested. For example, in a fill in the blank question in geography where lets say, the answer is a ‘deciduous forest.’ If a child spells it wrong, often the teacher cuts the marks. But what was being tested here: the concept of the deciduous forest (a fill in the blank is not the best way to test concepts), or the spelling of the terminology? Spellings are a language test. If the terminology is to be tested then that should be a clear objective. So maybe this child understands what a deciduous forest is, what a tree in this forest looks like, where it grows and can even pronounce it, but gets it wrong in writing. So the marks are cut. I could give more examples of this kind where expectations from a test are not made clear and children are penalised. When marks are given, there is no real idea given to the child as to where to improve.

The other issue with a quantitative reporting is that it immediately positions children in a hierarchical relationship with others. This is obviously a normative system that does not look at the individual child but at a population. I won’t go into details here but this does not help a child improve. A quantitative evaluation is like saying that if someone earns more, he/she is better. Firstly, more is a relative term. Secondly, it does not take into account the context of evaluation, the other qualities and human values, life skills, etc. So a child who has great leadership skills but is bad at written expression gets penalized. Finally, what is being tested is not clear either. So children get marks for mugged up definitions but will get a zero for expressing their understanding in their own words. Obviously, mugging up is a lower order thinking skill whereas expression in one’s own words (whether oral or written) is a higher order thinking skill.

Somehow, marking to me appears much like branding a child. Labels of percentage are stuck onto a child that shelve children into slots. Obviously, quantitative evaluation such as objective type tests have their place in entrance exams, etc. But in the primary and secondary education, they are artificial and contrived.

The above article was published in the Ahmedabad Mirror on 20/04/2010

In April, 14 students and two teachers from MGIS went to France for a creative and cultural exchange programme. “We had a great time introducing Gandhiji and his philosophy of Ahimsa to French children from Class VI to XI, through interactive activities and a short film prepared by students,” says Minoo Joshi, a teacher who was a part of the exchange programme. The students who went to France elaborate on the warmth with which they were treated in the foreign land.

“The French people are really loving and their art is also impressive. Gandhiji is really respected there so the students were eager to learn more about his principles,” says Ahalya Gandhi who visited France.In February 2010, 15 students of Lycee International will come for two weeks to MGIS and collaborate on a series of community service projects and a micro-credit programme for the underprivileged. After this, another team from MGIS will visit France.
My friends Simon Behr, William Puyo and I have come down to work with the underprivileged in Kutch. We plan to start a micro-credit programme for them. Our other batchmates will arrive in February next year,” says Edward de Souchier, a visiting student from Lycée International.

Anju Musafir, the founder director of MGIS, explains the programme, saying, “Lycée International  is a very prestigious school in France. What’s special about this particular programme is that there is a lot of student-to-student and teacher-to-teacher interaction.”

She says that the students decide the projects well in advance and work on them together. “Schools in Gujarat are generally not the first choice when it comes to exchange programmes. This is a way of encouraging them to have many such cultural exchanges in Ahmedabad,” she adds.

The above article was published in the Ahmedabad Mirror on 21/7/2009

Obviously, the first point is that the large numbers of school children indulging in showing off by using their vehicles are boys. One of the main causes is the rise in testosterone that urges the young to indulge in ways of attracting the attention of the opposite sex. This is much akin to the peacock that spreads its feathers or other animals that try different antics to attract. This is of course a kind of old primal instinct. Boys full of testosterone will try to demonstrate their virility and their behaviour is driven by the urges that are quite out of their control. The driving impulse (no pun intended) is the instinct to procreate but ironically, when the instinct is misunderstood or ignored, it leads to its opposite.

Obviously, both the society and educational institutions as well as the family as a unit all have to manage this. The reason for some of the boys playing dangerous games is that the interactions between boys and girls are being reduced. What do you expect when boys and girls sit in different blocks in class with a thick invisible line that divides them? They will go out and try and impress one another using means that are not always appropriate.

They need to have structured interactions in order to be able to show off their prowess in diverse ways: sports, musical or cultural evenings, debates, theatre and even a good deal of classroom discussions. The schools must put these interactions in place so that the adolescents will get a chance through diverse legitimate means to “show off” to the opposite sex or even to their friends. When the space for social interaction gets narrower, the spill over is on the roads with serious consequences. The adolescents nearing adulthood have a surge of physical energy that needs to be channelised. For example, all societies have always encouraged different forms of sports or dance. Our own garba in Gujarat is an occasion for boys and girls to impress each other with their grace and ability. The adolescents are driven by an instinct to choose a mate much like other animals. But at this stage they do not all end up mating! Civilization teaches them to learn to control that instinct and wait for maturity.

As for the parents, they really must not give in to the demand of a child wanting a vehicle and driving it without a license. In that sense, it is entirely the parent’s fault. If a teenager has a vehicle, will he stop using it because the school prohibits it? I think it is now common sense that if you put in place a taboo, the child or the teenager will want to break it. It will become the new reason to show off. I know from experience that teenagers would come to school on a two-wheeler and park it away from the school gate. They may even borrow and drive someone else’s vehicle. I fail to understand how parents do not even think of their own child’s safety, driving around (without a helmet) a vehicle that is powerful. So a gearless vehicle is a good option till the teenager has proved that he or she is capable of moving on to a larger one. Responsibility is something that can be both taught and learnt in doses. The police must of course take strict action against under-age drivers. But in reality, tell me, how does the ordinary traffic cop do his duty? After all, won’t ‘baba’ call up hotshot daddy who will call up another influential person and get ‘baba’ out of the soup?

My intention in writing all this is that rather than blaming, we need to understand the reasons and find the solutions.

The above article was published in the Ahmedabad Mirror on 22/9/2009

Recently, a parent asked, ‘What’s the roadmap in terms of milestones for children? Have you decided what children should know in every class?’ The question was, of course, pertaining to curriculum. This appears to be the main concern for a lot of parents. Parents and even teachers are reassured the moment they can hang on to neatly typed pages that announce what the child will be learning in terms of content.

But there is an issue here. The issue is that the content will change according to the child’s age, culture and the progress in the world in terms of science, technology and human sciences. New theories will replace the old. So the content cannot be static. It must be developed according to the learner group. To take an example, doing Charles Dickens (which seems to be included in every school curriculum in India) may be at odds with a group. After all what link does it have with the child’s life? What is important, the particular author or the fact that the children have to be exposed to good literature? And if so, then why not another contemporary author?

Content is often designed by adults who have decided on what the children should know. It is of course built on the premise of ‘tabula rasa’ or that the child’s mind is an empty slate that needs to be filled up. Content is like stuffing mashed solids into a container. No one takes into consideration what kind of a container it is and whether the particular stuffing is appropriate at all for the different kinds of containers. I may be stretching the metaphor a bit but can one type of content suit the diversity of children with their individual traits and gifts?

The designing of the curriculum must take into consideration the likes and dislikes and abilities of the learner group. To ask children to decide on what works they may want to study, what periods in history etc, is not difficult. It puts the onus of choice on them and they have a greater involvement in what they have decided.

What then should be the school’s role in designing the curriculum? It should be in terms of skills and competencies. Learning to read, to write, to sequence, to count are competencies. To take another example, designing a brochure is a skill that will integrate the content: the software applications, language skills, artistic and graphic choices etc as opposed to content that states that children will learn particular softwares in computer classes, learn tenses and adjectives in language etc.

There is one more important issue. All children do not mature at the same rate. Some children learn fractions sooner, some later. Does it really matter by the time you are 18 whether you learnt writing at the age of 5 or 7? Each child has a different roadmap because each child is unique.

Content can be the same for years. After all, you can learn about the human body at the age of 5, at 15 and 25 with different levels of challenges. And it can be a life long process.

So, it is the process that is important. The way children learn, not what they learn. The ‘what’ can change but the ‘how’ remains the same. As someone so beautifully put it: ‘The journey is the destination,’ and sometimes one has to take some detours or pause to admire the scenery or to try new paths.

The above article was published in the Ahmedabad Mirror on 01/9/2009

Procedures are imposed from outside whereas process is developed from within. Procedures to solve sums or formulae are given to the students. They remain the same and all students need to learn them.

The process, on the other hand, is experiential. It is internal and it is the sense we give to things. There is a great deal of interpretation and is thus more individual and more personal. 2+2=4 is a procedure. But the meaning and the sense of putting two and another two objects together is a process. In the current examination system, there is little scope to understand whether the child has crammed the procedure and is demonstrating that or whether the child has really understood.

Procedures are visible and external. You can see the procedure but not the process. So a process driven education scares insecure parents who want to see results. In temporal terms, the process can take much longer whereas a procedure is learnt quickly. Procedures are mechanical. They can be applied mechanically without any understanding. Procedures can be taught to masses but a process is personal and individual. It is the internal understanding of a concept or phenomenon.

There was a study done in Brazil where a group of researchers studied street children selling coconuts. They purchased the coconuts, gave the money and asked for change. Then they asked for more coconuts and asked how much it came to. Some children added smaller units successively, some added the even numbers and added the remainder at the end arriving at the correct result. Their result was correct but their process was different.

These same children were given basic training as in a formal education system. Then the same calculation in the form of a formal sum was given to them. Many could not do it and the rate of success was low. Yet it was the same sum. The reason for their failure was that they were not familiar with the procedures. They could calculate but not follow the procedures. So such children would fail in a school system, right? (Conversely, I assume, school children would not be able to deal with selling coconuts without making computing mistakes).

The procedures can vary. For example, the French divide in an opposite way as compared to the English. Vedic maths would have different procedures and children in China would learn yet different procedures. Yet, we fail children for making mistakes in a contrived procedure. Even in other domains, for example, in legal systems or even getting a visa, if procedures are not met, the file is rejected. That is why good universities are flexible. They take a meritorious student even if there is a gap in the admission procedure.

Focusing only on the procedures means we view children as machines instead of complex, feeling, thinking and enriching humans.

There arose an interest in International games and sports through the upcoming Olympic Games at Beijing. They researched about the history of the Olympics, depicted on the world map the countries that participated, identified popular sport events in this year’s summer Olympics, read newspaper articles about heroes of the Olympics from all over the world as well as from India, past and present.

They looked at the games played in the Olympics and chose to research some of them – their rules, procedure, symbol, made flash cards of heroes in that sport and identified countries on the world map to locate where those sports were played. They followed the opening ceremony and other important events on television and followed up with class discussions based on newspaper articles about those events and sports persons. They were amazed to learn about the history and culture of the people of China and viewed the Reader’s Digest Documentary “The Great Wall of China”. A regular follow up of events was carried out involving the whole school through the school bulletin board. Students took responsibility to select articles and photographs from different newspapers and display them.

On the World map display on the school bulletin board, they depicted continents, winners from different countries, newspaper articles about Olympics, along with an interactive sharing of favourite sportspersons from across the world. Choosing countries from different continents, they made booklets and gave oral presentations with maps to show the geographical location, described famous natural and man-made landmarks, culture and life of people, flora and fauna, etc. Learning and understanding about these facts and much more was also achieved through accessing interactive websites of National Geographic for kids and sheppardsoftware.com

After the Olympics were over they decided to make their own Olympic logo for the school after analyzing logos of different companies. They conducted interclass competitions for shot putt, relay race, 100 m running race and hurdles. They represented the statistical data collected with the help of graphs.
They read life stories of world famous sports heroes like Arthur Ashe, Lance Armstrong, Nadia Comaneci, Scott Hamilton – the contributions they made to society and qualities that led to their success. Understanding the struggles and challenges that they overcame, students write a letter of appreciation, identifying qualities that they’d like to imbibe from their lives.

They also create an awareness and understanding about Cancer, celebrating 4th February – World Cancer Awareness Day, by making wrist bands with slogans about cancer and interacting with the school community. They make placemats for themselves that depict healthy food options using the Food pyramid guide, and show their own daily diet. They measure their height and weight and find the Body Mass Index ratio. Meeting a nutritionist, Mrs. Sonal Shah (a parent) and discussing their eating habits they identify the harmful effects of processed foods and plan a nutritious diet that will be suitable for them as sports persons. They initiate the café module to give a taste of healthy food options, make wise choices to plan a menu, purchase ingredients, cook according to the recipe, keep accounts, display facts about food nutrients, and work in collaboration with the café chef as well as within the peer group.

Project initiated by Anita Shah

The message from the former President of India to MGIS Students

Anjou and Pascal met Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Presidential Headquarters) in Delhi. They presented the school and screened a documentary made by the students of grade 8- ‘The Matka Fridge Project’, a community service project done in collaboration with underprivileged students from a school in Bopal. It was an initiative to learn how to make a cooling device using artisanal techniques to preserve milk and vegetables in order to help the villagers preserve their perishable goods. The students then created about 25 matka fridges on demand, raised funds to subsidise the rate and distributed them to families living in that area.

Click here to read the article published in the IB World Magazine about this project. Please refer to Page 12 in the magazine.

Click on the link below to view (a shorterned version of) the documentary made by the students:

Matka Fridge Project