A School where students don’t study; they learn by doing.
“One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.”— Thomas More
After spending 12 years in school and few more years in college, almost everyone feels that he/she has wasted productive age of his/her life mugging up complicated theories, when he/she realizes hardly any of those theories come handy as one enters into a professional life. Tom Hierick has rightly said, “21st century kids are being taught by 20th century adults using 19th century curriculum and techniques on an 18th century calendar.”
Education is supposed to teach life skills or at least the skills that comes useful after entering into a profession or starting an enterprise. However, current education system prevailing in many orthodox countries, including Nepal, isn’t doing so.
Meanwhile, Jana Jagriti Basic School, operated by Shubham Foundation in Khotang, is using eccentric methodology to “teach” its students. Besides the conventional subjects like Maths, Science and other curriculums approved by the government, students gets knowledge on the skills an ordinary person requires in everyday life. Students literally don’t study in this school; they learn by doing.
Here are some photos of this eccentric school which perfectly describes how the students learn the lessons of life.
It’s 5:00am. After the 4:30am wake up song “Utha hey! suteka manchhe…” “Wake up! O Slumbers…”, every students and teachers have 30 minutes to get ready for the national anthem and a drill that follows.
Football players are exempted for drill. Some of them are potential to be part of National team.
While rest of the students are engaged in physical exercise, students in the Kitchen Science Department would be busy preparing breakfast for all. Every student is transferred to this department routinely to teach them the skills of cooking and kitchen management.
Students in the Livestock Department are liable to supply milk to the Kitchen Department in time.
“Life is the blend of sorrow and happiness; the school teaches to undertake the sorrow.”There’s no distinction between Teachers and Students in the school. It’s no surprise to see a Teacher taking Taekwondo lessons from his/her students.
Boys don’t hesitate to take Taekwondo lessons from a girl. Students are taught gender equality in the very tender age.
7:00am. Breakfast time. Students serve each other in turn.
“Child labor is a crime. But teaching a child to work is a virtue.”Students learning properties of convex lens – when parallel rays of light pass through it, the refracted rays converge at one point.
Wheel Barrow: ‘Load’ is in between ‘Effort’ and ‘Fulcrum’. Hence, it’s a Second Class Lever.
A student playing with self-made wheel and axle.
Future Architecture Engineer drawing an equilateral triangle with compass and scale.
Future Mechanical Engineer studying the properties of wheel.
Future fashion designers.
Future Doctor treating minor bruises.
Future Musicians. Every Friday, the students of Cultural Department have to organize cultural programs.
Learning Law of floatation on a swimming pool, all prepared by the students.
Studying Botany from the Nature; floriculture, more specifically.
Future Agriculture scientists sowing seeds for rice nursery
3:00pm: Recreation time. Students learn riding bicycle, motor bike and even a horse. And teachers are liable to keep records of their performance. Learning continues even in leisure.
Lawn seen in the background was prepared by students of Grade 3; horse serving as a natural mower. Every structures of the school are built by the students themselves.
While conventional teachers of conventional schools don’t allow their students to play marbles, it’s considered a decent game of mind and sleight of hands in this part of the world.
8:00pm. Bell rings signaling it is dinner time; the only occasion when bell rings in the school. One of the student acts as a security who checks if everyone has cleaned hands and feet properly before entering the dining hall. At the dining hall, they don’t just eat; they also learn the dining etiquettes and the culinary arts. After dining, everyone is liable to clean their own dishes.
Before going to bed, every students has to write a diary mentioning what they learnt throughout the day.
Surya Rai- man behind the curtain. Envisioned by Madan Rai, an agriculturist and a former FAO staff, the school aims to teach life skills for the living of an ‘individual’; income generating skills for economic development of the ‘country’; love for nature to serve the ‘planet’. Surya Rai has been working for 15 years to materialize the vision.
Having studied school level for 14 years, B.Sc.Ag for 4 years and M.Sc. Ag for 2 years, I felt 20 years of my life was a complete waste of time when I visited this school. I seldom had to get my hands dirty during 4 plus 2 years of my agriculture studies; and I got convocated with “Master of Science in Agriculture” last year. Even a layman of this school is more knowledgeable and skillful than agriculture graduates like me. There might be drawbacks on my part for not willing to get my hands dirty while studying the technical and practical courses that an agriculture science requires. However, there’s a serious problem with our education system, as well, which didn’t make me get my hands dirty even while studying graduate course like agriculture. All I can say is, the education model of this school needs to be replicated throughout the country. Being a father of a baby who just turned two months last week, I returned from Khotang with a plan for his future. He will be admitted to this school after he turns 9.
