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From the BBC, under the headline Call for lessons to begin at six:

Children should not start formal learning until they are six, a review of primary education in England says.

Instead they should continue the kind of play-based learning that features in nursery schools and reception classes, the Cambridge Primary Review says.

There is no evidence that an early introduction to formal learning has any benefit, the review says, but there are suggestions it can do some harm…

It is good to see that education system isn’t completely dead to the idea that it is damaging children.

Ash’s Dad forwarded me an article about Babar Ali who, age 16, has opened a school for 800 children. It’s typical rubbishy BBC prose, but interesting to see what he is doing. I think it fantastic he has taken the initiative to do something about starting a school. He thinks it will be good for the children so rather than wait for someone else to do something, he has just got on and created what he wants to see. However, I’m reserved as to what the outcome will be. We at Educate for Life are less than enamored with the national government education system in India (and may other places).

Although in the surface of it he is doing a Good Thing, and the children will certainly learn good useful skills, it may be that he is also stunting them in the ways that the government schools typically do: Putting to much importance on academic study alone; dissociating learning from body and expression so it is bastardised to an act of knowledge gathering; grooming them to to be dependent on teachers and orders to learn; creating the impression that things learnt in school are more valuable than ‘backward’ village knowledge; reducing their base, through lack of use, of skills needed to live in that area, forcing migration to already supersaturated towns and cities. He may be doing the government’s dirty work for them. This is a major danger of modern education, that which is bad is thought to be good.

Fortunately it may be that his lack of money helps him make the school better; he cannot afford school uniforms and he cannot afford teachers. Adult teachers may think that children should only do what they say, causing the children to learn subservience, which is compounded through beatings, and the children will learn the habit of learning and action being the resultant of reward/punishment stimuli.

Hopefully if he has the inspiration to start a school he may have the inspiration to really look at what schools are providing and adjust his accordingly. And the children that attend may be led by his get-up-and-go attitude to also get in control of their own learning.

Diversity at Hunar Ghar

At Hunar Ghar lot of diversity.

Diversity in children: – Hunar Ghar read lot of children. Diversity in age, diversity in clothes, diversity in interest, diversity in understanding, diversity in cleaning, diversity in does work, reading.

Hunar Ghar has many age children. All children interest is different. Children interest in play game, painting, cleaning, food work, does jocks, interest in sing a song. Little children interest in listing story and run one palace  to other palace, fight, cry & forget all think.

All children understanding are very different. Some children understanding are very good in role-play. Some children understanding are very good in painting, some children understanding are very good in play game, and some children understanding are very good in reading.

All children have different skills & Hunar.

Diversity in palace: -

Diversity in Hunar Ghar palaces. Hunar Ghar some palaces is plan, some palaces is hilly & stone, some palace is step, some palace is clean, some palace is dirty, Some palace mud, some palace is little stone, some palace is hard, some palace is soft. Some palace is dark, some palace is sunlight palace.

Diversity in room: -

Hunar Ghar some room is round, some room is triangle, some room is not full round size, diversity in window& door colour, diversity in window& door time, diversity in strong& week window & door, diversity in window & door size, diversity in repair time.

Diversity in teacher: -

Lot of diversity in Hunar Ghar teacher.  Diversity in gender both male and female teacher.  Diversity in knowledge some have good knowledge of project, some teacher is learning about project-based learning. Diversity in incentive some teacher take good incentive some take slow incentive, some teacher make good planning, some is learning. Diversity in behaviour. Diversity in attitude me attitude very good for do work in Hunar Ghar, some teacher attitude in Government jobs. Diversity in learning and out put some teacher learns fast and give well out put, some teacher learns slow and less out put come.

Diversity in my Name

Children, teacher & community people give lot name me. My name is Deepak, Deepakji, Sir, Dipali, Uncle Deepak, and aunty Deepak. For different people, children, people use different name for me. It is diversity for me.

Why need diversity in Hunar Ghar.

One person have some skills is good and other person different skills is good. So we can learn each other. Good learning come to each other & make good capacity.

Diversity for knows more about new knowledge, skills and interest.

Understanding each other.

Make more interesting palace to Hunar Ghar.

Give different knowledge to children & make children more knowledgeable.

Growth incentive each other & make more good planning.

Navaratri festival

Navarati festival is very good festival in India. Navaratri festival of mataji. This festival celebrates 9 days so we say Navaratri. 9 days celebrate 9 Mataji festivals.   In this festival some people 9 days do fast.

This is important for me

Decorations: – in this festival people decorate very goods special girls and women decorate very goods.  People use very good and decorated clothes. People decorate temple this is very good. All temples decorate to lights, clothes, goods paintings & colour, some artificial material.

Last time I was see one mataji temple at Rohida. 9 days decorate to different types. One statuses of mataji decorates 9 days different mataji. It is wonderful one status change in 9 different statuses. 9 days mataji status decorate to new & different types colours.

Use traditional dress: – people use traditional dress. It dress look very nice but some people use jeans and other dresses. Girls also use decorate saris in saris girls look very beautiful. It is also diversity in dress. All people try to look himself very beautiful.

Participations of alls:  – in this festival Girls, Boys, Old, Youth. Little person does participations together. All person comes at temple. Boys, Girls, Youth all play garaba and dances together. Old people sits one palace and discuss.

All time Girls & Boys not speck each other, not dance together, not participated each other. All times Old persons of village not sit together. So this is important. Some person goes outside to village come in navaratri festival. All people of village meet and discuss about other palaces and what happened in our village, what changes came.

Creative works: – Navaratri time’s people decorate himself. People do dance in different style. People sing song. That time some new learners learn dance, songs and other activities.

Navaratri good for culture. Many cultural activities people do & automatically children learn and part of learning exchange. Navaratri time people do goods work, people not fight each other, do prayer and other good activities in Navaratri festivals.

Much way Navaratri is very useful but some way harm of Navaratri. Lot of west of electricity, people do dance late night next day woke up late, some children not go school, some not go on time. People do competitions to each other’s for how is best.

After one-day people celebrate Dashahara. This day is very important in India. This day Raja Ram was killed Rawan. This day people celebrate tradition of India.  people make Raja Ram & Rawan both fight at list Ram win.

As an aside, I just made it to Japan, after travelling from Hunar Ghar through Pakistan and China, taking a boat from Shanghai to Osaka. It`s great to be here!

But my main posting point:

Anjou and Pascal are the founders and runners of MGIS, the school that we have visited with our teachers and that I will be working in next year. As well as running the sch0ol they both write for for a daily newspaper in Ahmedabad. Their articles can be read online. A sample of a recent interesting post about procedures and processes by Anjou:

…there is no doubt that procedures are necessary to be followed for a system to function, for machines to be operated. But in the education system, the procedure has been given more importance than the process. Why? Because procedures are easier and being visible, they reassure both parents and educators.

Procedures are imposed from outside whereas process is developed from within…