साथियो!
बेचारी, डरी-सहमी “कमसिन तनख़्वाह” चुपचाप सर झुकाए चली आ रही थी और उसे देखकर किश्त, बिल, खर्चा और "जरुरत" नाम के कुख्यात गुंडे सीटी बजा रहे थे।
आखिरकार “तनख़्वाह” लुट ही गई....!!
Monday, 24 April 2017
Thursday, 20 April 2017
शिक्षा का अधिकार
अनुच्छेद 21-क और आरटीई अधिनियम 1 अप्रैल, 2010 को लागू हुआ। आरटीई अधिनियम के शीर्षक में ''नि:शुल्क और अनिवार्य'' शब्द सम्मिलित हैं। 'नि:शुल्क शिक्षा' का तात्पर्य यह है कि किसी बच्चे जिसको उसके माता-पिता द्वारा स्कूल में दाखिल किया गया है, को छोड़कर कोई बच्चा, जो उचित सरकार द्वारा समर्थित नहीं है, किसी किस्म की फीस या प्रभार या व्यय जो प्रारंभिक शिक्षा जारी रखने और पूरा करने से उसको रोके अदा करने के लिए उत्तरदायी नहीं होगा। 'अनिवार्य शिक्षा' उचित सरकार और स्थानीय प्राधिकारियों पर 6-14 आयु समूह के सभी बच्चों को प्रवेश, उपस्थिति और प्रारंभिक शिक्षा को पूरा करने का प्रावधान करने और सुनिश्चित करने की बाध्यता रखती है। इससे भारत अधिकार आधारित ढांचे के लिए आगे बढ़ा है जो आरटीई अधिनियम के प्रावधानों के अनुसार संविधान के अनुच्छेद 21-क में यथा प्रतिष्ठापित बच्चे के इस मौलिक अधिकार को क्रियान्वित करने के लिए केन्द्र और राज्य सरकारों पर कानूनी बाध्यता रखता है।
आरटीई अधिनियम निम्नलिखित का प्रावधान करता है :
किसी पड़ौस के स्कूल में प्रारंभिक शिक्षा पूरी करने तक नि:शुल्क और अनिवार्य शिक्षा के लिए बच्चों का अधिकार।
यह स्पष्ट करता है कि 'अनिवार्य शिक्षा' का तात्पर्य छह से चौदह आयु समूह के प्रत्येक बच्चे को नि:शुल्क प्रारंभिक शिक्षा प्रदान करने और अनिवार्य प्रवेश, उपस्थिति और प्रारंभिक शिक्षा को पूरा करने को सुनिश्चित करने के लिए उचित सरकार की बाध्यता से है। 'नि:शुल्क' का तात्पर्य यह है कि कोई भी बच्चा प्रारंभिक शिक्षा को जारी रखने और पूरा करने से रोकने वाली फीस या प्रभारों या व्ययों को अदा करने का उत्तरदायी नहीं होगा।
यह गैर-प्रवेश दिए गए बच्चे के लिए उचित आयु कक्षा में प्रवेश किए जाने का प्रावधान करता है।
यह नि:शुल्क और अनिवार्य शिक्षा प्रदान करने में उचित सकारों, स्थानीय प्राधिकारी और अभिभावकों कर्त्तव्यों और दायित्वों और केन्द्र तथा राज्य सरकारों के बीच वित्तीय और अन्य जिम्मेदारियों को विनिर्दिष्ट करता है।
यह, अन्यों के साथ-साथ, छात्र-शिक्षक अनुपात (पीटीआर), भवन और अवसंरचना, स्कूल के कार्य दिवस, शिक्षक के कार्य के घंटों से संबंधित मानदण्डों और मानकों को निर्धारित करता है।
यह राज्य या जिले अथवा ब्लॉक के लिए केवल औसत की बजाए प्रत्येक स्कूल के लिए रखे जाने वाले छात्र और शिक्षक के विनिर्दिष्ट अनुपात को सुनिश्चित करके अध्यापकों की तैनाती के लिए प्रावधान करता है, इस प्रकार यह अध्यापकों की तैनाती में किसी शहरी-ग्रामीण संतुलन को सुनिश्चित करता है। यह दसवर्षीय जनगणना, स्थानीय प्राधिकरण, राज्य विधान सभा और संसद के लिए चुनाव और आपदा राहत को छोड़कर गैर-शैक्षिक कार्य के लिए अध्यापकों की तैनाती का भी निषेध करता है।
यह उपयुक्त रूप से प्रशिक्षित अध्यापकों की नियुक्ति के लिए प्रावधान करता है अर्थात अपेक्षित प्रवेश और शैक्षिक योग्यताओं के साथ अध्यापक।
यह (क) शारीरिक दंड और मानसिक उत्पीड़न; (ख) बच्चों के प्रवेश के लिए अनुवीक्षण प्रक्रियाएं; (ग) प्रति व्यक्ति शुल्क; (घ) अध्यापकों द्वारा निजी ट्यूशन और (ड.) बिना मान्यता के स्कूलों को चलाना निषिद्ध करता है।
यह संविधान में प्रतिष्ठापित मूल्यों के अनुरूप पाठ्यक्रम के विकास के लिए प्रावधान करता है और जो बच्चे के समग्र विकास, बच्चे के ज्ञान, संभाव्यता और प्रतिभा निखारने तथा बच्चे की मित्रवत प्रणाली एवं बच्चा केन्द्रित ज्ञान की प्रणाली के माध्यम से बच्चे को डर, चोट और चिंता से मुक्त बनाने को सुनिश्चित करेगा।
Sunday, 16 April 2017
Privatization of Education: Advantages and Disadvantages
The
most important task in present scenario is to impart better and quality
education. Children are the nation builder of future and to carve them as good
citizen we need to provide them with proper education so that they can become
pillar of the nation's growth. In this aspect, we had wonderful discussion on
the above topic. Here are some important points, which should be taken into
consideration while framing the policy.
Privatization
in education has increased the opportunities by increasing the scope of
admissions in all levels of education. Due to ownership, level of quality
increased in few set-ups to great extent however, this is not true with all
private organizations. Most Private institutions are meant for financially
strong strata of the society and the poor children are bound to go to
government schools. This has widened the gap between the poor and the rich. Due
to policies of various states such as, Shikshan Sewak, Shiksha Mitra, Samvida,
Guruji, etc, young talent is not at all interested in government system except
NVS/KVS and Excellence schools. Most of the parents of children enrolled in
government schools are poor and illiterate. Therefore, there is no one to
assist them at home. Government mechanism is utterly failing in this aspect.
Lot of facilities have been provided nowadays to public system but no proper
strategies to utilize and maintain it. Due to this, it is turning to be great
failure. Privatization has no doubt increased the quantity of schools but
quality is yet to be enhanced.
Though
the job opportunities have increased but salary has decreased. Job security and
satisfaction have lost. There seems no freedom for innovations in teaching as
the private schools have their own set rules, methods, which teachers have to
follow. Very less chances of upward mobility. Many times, one has to obey the
management where most of the members who are not qualified to fit into that
position. In this system, buttering has become important.
In
recent 10 years, the quality of education in government schools has degraded
drastically as a result people are opting for private schools. These schools
are making education their business which people generally call
Commercialization of Education. However, in field of higher education situation
has not become so worse. Still various Government Colleges and institutions are
first choice for students.
On
the other hand, due to government's policy of preferring quantity over quality,
private schools colleges are growing daily. Getting registration for school is
too easy. Influential people own most of such institutions where goal is to
extort money in the name of fees for various purposes. Even these institutions
have become source of converting black money into white.
Status
of Engineers in MP has gone down. There are about 200 Engineering colleges in
MP providing about 90,000 seats out of which normally 40-45 thousand are
filled. Students who are passing engineering are now appearing in exams, which
require qualification as Higher Secondary School Certificate (10+2) or plain
graduation. Many private institutions, which are working for many years and
have performed well in providing quality education without any tantrums of
other private schools, are very few. Government institutions, which are
performing comparatively better are very few. Private schools at big cities are
good but quality at small urban areas like tehsil places is not on par. In
addition, in many instance government schools at higher level are performing
better than private schools of same area.
Education
is subject of both State and Central government but more population is covered
by state government agencies where lies our main problem. State government has
to improve education system in primary and middle school level. Elementary
level of schooling is base, which is most important. It is where student
develops interest in studies and any specific subject. However, government is
ignorant on this part.
Another
most crucial part is scarcity of trained teachers. (It is so because level of
B.Ed. in M P is very poor due to numerous B. Ed colleges where degree is almost
sold). As they do not attend regular classes and no training is given to them
whereas Government teachers are employed in various non-educational works e.g.
elections, census etc. Sometimes due to low remuneration (almost one fourth) of
contract teachers, they are disinterested in teaching. Because though they are
recruited through VYAPAM (Samvida Shikshak Pariksha) on temporary basis, they
are given low salary and expected to work more than the permanent employee who
get more than double of their salary.
Stress
and expenditure of government is more on Public Alluring Schemes such as MDM,
uniform/bicycle distribution, Scholarship, haath dhulaai, yoga etc and less on
education. Passing students till class 8 with no detention policy results in
poor performance, as a result private schools are more popular especially,
lower and middle schools. At higher education level, “Mushroom Colleges”have
grown rapidly. Such colleges are even running in a 2-3 story houses and have
become center for selling degrees. After paying money, you are not required to
attend classes. Such institutions are more in professional courses such as
Engineering, MBA, Pharmacy and B. Ed. Due to this Graduates/Post Graduates are
not employable and hence are working on low wages. Except very few private
higher educational institutions, we cannot compare with government owned
institutions like IITs/IIMs/IISERs/AIMS/NITs and so on.
At
the school level, private schools have edge over government schools only in
case of state owned schools but KVS/NVS/Excellence schools are on par with
them. Children admitted in Private Schools are studying at three places.
School, Home and in Coaching Classes. In private schools, children inducted are
from good family background they get good support of parents and hence perform
better.
However,
the teachers and children both have much mental pressure to achieve high score
in these schools. On the other hand, teachers are underpaid but are expected to
give their best by hook or crook. Children do not have time for themselves to
spend on outdoor games and hence confined to Gadgets.
There
are fed concepts and much emphasis is not given on evolving the innovative
ideas. Teachers have tremendous work pressure and job insecurity so they have
to work hard.
So
ultimately seems private schools are better than public schools and no doubt,
some of them are. In state owned schools, it’s just reverse they do not have
proper infrastructure and basic amenities to provide learning environment. Poor
management, scarce resources, lack of will power of teachers deteriorating the
quality.
So
finally, we have to make our foundation very strong that is from elementary
school system to higher learning institutions. For this, we can adopt certain
measures like-
·
To pay proper
wages to the teachers.
·
There should be
no Guruji/Samvida/Shiksha mitra and many more such post, which are not
permanent and low, paid.
·
Proper
monitoring over the teaching learning practices in the schools to ensure the
quality of education.
·
Teachers in
government schools should really toil to bring the name up so that people will
get encouraged to send their ward in government schools.
Finally
very strong will power to bring change from the rudimentary level.
Sunday, 12 February 2017
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Characteristics of
Effective Learning: play and exploration in action
Introduction
Characteristics
of Effective Learning (CoEL) are a revived element in the current Early Years
Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS). CoEL advocate that in planning and guiding
children’s activities, practitioners must reflect on the different ways that
children learn, and then reflect these in their practice. A child’s individual
learning characteristic will determine the way they respond to both the
teaching and learning taking place in the environment. Three
characteristics of effective teaching and learning identified by the EYFS are:
- playing and exploring - children investigate and
experience things, and ‘have a go’;
- active learning - children concentrate and
keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements; and
- creating and thinking critically - children have and develop
their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for
doing things.
The focus
of the CoEL is on how children learn rather than what they learn i.e. process
over outcome. Underpinning the CoEL is the understanding that during their
earliest years, children form attitudes about learning that will last a
lifetime. Children who receive the right sort of support and encouragement
during these years will be creative, and adventurous learners throughout their
lives. Children who do not receive this sort of support and interaction are
likely to have a much different attitude about learning later on in life.
Hence, why the supportive practitioner, and the environment they provide, need
to nurture these CoELs to occur, but without forgetting that children are
individuals who bring their own needs, talents and histories to the learning
environment.
Playing and Exploring
In a busy
foundation stage setting, 3 year old Lara is at the mark making area where the
activity is to trace your names. Lara sits on her chair shifting back and
forth, you can see the concentration on her face as her frown forms and the tip
of her tongue is out as she traces her name. She then looks around at her
friends on the carpet area who are engrossed in a book and giggling. Lara turns
back to her name tracing, she then looks back at them again. A practitioner
deployed at the area is encouraging her to write and notices her distraction.
She says to Lara “when you finish what you are doing then you can go and play”.
Lara continues being distracted by the group and the completion of her task.
The practitioner then intervenes and says “Lara what do you want to do? You
either finish this or go and play”. Naturally Lara opts for the play and runs
off to the group on the carpet. After a few minutes, Lara returns to the mark
making table and sits back to trace her name. The practitioner turns to her and
says “I thought you went to play?” Lara’s response “But I am playing!”
This
observation of practice taken from my visit records is a vital start to this
article when discussing one of the three characteristics of effective learning
– playing and exploring. Lara’s response “But I am playing!” is
evidence that playing and exploring is a child’s work; it’s what they do, and
they do not separate it from what is happening around them in their learning
environment. It is therefore a vital characteristic of their effective
learning. A characteristic is a trait or quality of something, and therefore
playing and exploring is regarded as a key characteristic because it is about
engaging the child through a trait that comes naturally to them – “But I am
playing!” An engaging and stimulating play environment provides opportunities
for this CoEL to be experienced and crafted (Haughton and Ellis, 2013, p.82).
Play and
exploration in early years settings means children are able to choose
activities (or create experiences) where they can engage with other children or
adults or sometimes play alone, and during these activities and experiences
they learn by firsthand experience – by actively ‘doing’ (DCSF, 2007). In order
for this characteristic to come alive in the environment children need
sufficient space, time and choice with a range of activities and experiences,
some of which have been planned and prepared by the practitioners on the basis
of their observations of individual children’s current interests, talents,
learning styles and stages of development. Therefore the playing and exploring
element of the CoEL is all about the engagement of children with their learning
environment.
Taking
the criteria from page 6 of the Development Matters Framework, I
have provided some observation records where clearly the CoEL of playing and
exploring can be observed in action. Can you identify the stated bullet points
below from the Development Matters document within the
observations that follow?
Finding out and exploring
This is
when children use open-ended, hands on experiences which arise from curiosity.
These provide the basis on which the child builds concepts, tests ideas and
finds out how things work:
• Showing
curiosity about objects, events and people
• Using
senses to explore the world around them
•
Engaging in open-ended activity
• Showing
particular interests
9 month
Jerry crawled along the floor near to a mirror which was the length of the
wall. He sat and looked at himself and then raised his hands to touch the
mirror, he giggled. Jerry then noticed another child through the mirror and
squealed. He babbled something and raised both hands as to grab the other child
through the mirror. At that moment a practitioner came along and hung some
aprons on a hook over one part of the mirror. As she did this, Jerry could not
see himself in the mirror nor the other child. Instead the aprons were in his
sight. He looked at them for a while and then turned around, he could now see
the other child again. He looks back to the mirror and sees the apron. Jerry
does this three times. He then decides to bend right down under the aprons and
can see the mirror again and smiles through it as he sees the other child. He
looks around at him, he then bends down again and sees him and giggles. Jerry
then sits up in front of the aprons and this time tilts to the side where he
sees the child through the mirror again.
This
observation record makes evident that children learn from everything that they
do. During play children will begin by exploring and experimenting with what
interests them by looking about, listening to and taking in the goings on of
their environment by observing, clearly demonstrated by Jerry. Jerry touched
the mirror and moved around the space as if seeking answers to the
question ‘how does this work?’ Jerry, through his play and
exploration, investigated that when he turned he saw the child, but when back
to the mirror it was blocked by the aprons. He then worked through his
curiosity and exploration to find out how he needed to move in order to see the
other child through the mirror again.
Playing with what they know
This
refers to how a child uses imaginative play to understand, explore and embed
ideas. Children use imaginative play to re-create experiences:
• Pretending
objects are things from their experience
•
Representing their experiences in play
• Taking
on a role in their play
• Acting
out experiences with other people
2 and
half year old Shola is in the home corner and role playing a doctor. Using a
funnel from the sand and water area, Shola places it on a teddy bears chest and
puts her ear to the funnel. Another child comes in and Shola tells her that she
is “listening to teddy, he is sick”. She then asks teddy to open his eyes wide
and show her his tongue. She praises the teddy and rewards him with a sticker.
Later that day, a practitioner shared this observation with Shola’s father. He
told the practitioner that Shola had visited the GP the evening before for a
routine check up.
Shola’s
father’s input has placed into context the imaginative play being experienced
by her. She used the teddy and funnel as objects from her experience and
represented her own experience of visiting a doctor through the teddy. However,
this time she decided to take on the role of the doctor rather than the
patient. Play and learning takes place in contexts that are familiar to Shola.
She shared her experience and understanding with the other child who joined in
the play and exploration. This emphasises what Vygotsky (1978) states as
learning being a social activity. Shola’s play is shaped by the interactions
she has with people in her life, and she was able to co-construct her
understanding of the world and how she lives in it. Understanding and making
sense of the world is very much rooted in what Shola knows and the everyday
events in her life by re-creating new (the doctor) and familiar roles (her as
the teddy), by playing with what she knows.
Being willing to have a go
This is
when children use their particular interests to initiate activity ideas, look
for challenges and opportunities within new experiences and to take risks.
Children demonstrate a ‘have a go’ attitude and use new opportunities to learn:
•
Initiating activities
• Seeking
challenge
• Showing
a ‘can do’ attitude
• Taking
a risk, engaging in new experiences, and learning by trial and error
3 ½ year
old Gassy was in the outdoor area and as she knelt down near the soil on the
grass she found something poking out at her. She plucked it out with her
fingers and looked at it. It was a toy car full of dirt. She brought it over to
the practitioner and explained how she found it. Gassy then said “what else
could be buried there?” the practitioner said “I wonder too, are you going to
find out?”. Gassy jumped and said yes, so the practitioner asked her how she
intended to do so. Gassy responded by saying she didn’t know but will see. She
then went over to the sand tray and took a small plastic spade and went back to
the area where she found the car. Here she dug at the soil which was quite
hard, after a few tries, she could not do it so paused and looked around her.
She went over to the shed area and found a bigger garden spade and took it back
to the soil. She then dug slightly, she tried again but this time using her
foot to push in the spade. As a hole appeared, Gassy then used her hands to dig
up more dirt. Another child approached and they squealed with laughter and
continued digging up the dirt until Gassy found a large stone. She went over
and found a container and brought it back and placed the toy car and stone in
it. “This is our treasure” she says. The children continue to dig.
The
observation record clearly makes evident how play and exploration is a
characteristic that is continually present and in action through the
interaction the child has with their environment. The finding of the toy car
prompted Gassy to initiate and explore the digging to find what else may be
hidden. The adult challenged her further in encouraging her and making her
think about how she was going to do so. She used trial and error with the
different digging tools, in the end her hands being the best! What is also
clear is the vital role of the practitioner who challenged the child to take
her ideas forward and try them out. This clearly embedding a love to always try
and have a go!
How effective is your
environment in engaging children through play and exploration?
Use the
following questions as prompts to further explore your provision for play and
exploration.
- Is there sufficient space both indoors and out
for children to play and explore?
- Do children have uninterrupted time to play
and explore?
- Does the learning environment allow the
engagement of all the senses?
- Is the learning environment challenging and
full of creative and innovative opportunities?
- How are resources or equipment actually used
by children? And how can these be built on?
- Are resources open-ended so that they can be
used, moved and combined in a variety of ways?
- Do resources reflect children’s interests?
- Can children make choices and decisions?
- Are children’s ideas and imagination
developed?
- Are children given opportunities to test their
ideas, themselves, their relationships and materials?
- Are children’s concepts, skills, attitudes and
achievements extended through play and exploration?
- Can children follow an interest or line of
enquiry? (As in Gassy’s observation)
How can you observe the
CoEL – playing and exploring in action
Use the
following questions to identify this CoEL within your observations, but also to
learn from them to further enhance your provision.
Finding
out and exploring
|
What
areas/activities is the child drawn to?
|
Do they
prefer to work in a group/alone?
|
|
Do they
initiate activities/experiences themselves or join in existing ones?
|
|
Do they
think aloud describing what they do?
|
|
How do
they use resources?
|
|
Using
what they know in their play
|
In play
do they draw on experiences from home/outside the setting
|
Do they
act out situations in the role play/home area?
|
|
Are
they confident in finding tools, materials and resources they need for their
ideas?
|
|
Being
willing to have a go
|
Levels
of persistence – do they give up at first hurdle or keep trying?
|
Are
they eager to try new ideas or do they stay with what they are familiar with?
|
|
Are
they able to talk about/review what they have done? Even if it has not
worked?
|
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Do they
work best with continual support or prefer to get on with activities
themselves?
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