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Encouraging spontaneity, thinking among students

A child answers a question during an interactive session of the programme in Little Angels School in Puducherry.

PUDUCHERRY: The question why children were resting their faces on their palms during class elicited the children’s reply in chorus that it was a sign that they were day dreaming. Then the topic moved on to dreams and everyone spoke about what kind of dreams they had.

This is just one example of the kind of interactive sessions students of the Little Angels English Medium School, Arudra Nagar, just off Vazhudhavoor Road, Thilarspet, have as part of a Whole School Transformation (WST) programme.

The programme is being conducted by Educational Initiatives (EI), an effort put together by a group of alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad. The WST programme has been designed by EI for consistent and holistic improvement of student, teacher performance. The programme was started in the school last year and though EI, with sponsorship from Wipro Foundation, is implementing it only in Standards IV and V, the programme is being laterally implemented from the KG level up to Standard VIII.

The programme has helped the children move away from the rote system of learning and encouraged them to be more spontaneous. It has also motivated both teachers and children to ask questions.

School founders Bala Padma Rani and V. Aruna said they were happy to see the children look forward to come to school. “There is a lot of spontaneity in them and it is very fresh … the kind of ideas that they seem to come up with. This EI programme is something very similar to our school’s vision, which is to create lifelong learners with a vision for themselves and humanity; and compassion for all,” they explained.

Chief Coordinator Sugandhi Viswanathan said the programme targeted the cognitive, behaviouristic, affective and psychomotor domains of the children.

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