The Minister of Education, Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, for her part, has argued that several measures have been taken to tackle the problem of indiscipline in schools. The Ministry has now a national counselling service and teachers are trained for this purpose. She also pointed out that counselling offices have been set up in schools and that monitoring efforts are underway. She expressed her total disagreement with critics who suggest a lack of action against such indiscipline in schools. "It's totally inappropriate to say that nothing is working. We know that there has been an increase in the number of cases of indiscipline, but this is a reflection of our society”
Yes , it is true that what takes place in society is reflected in our schools, as our children take with them, to the various places of formal learning, not just their laptops, books, pens and pencils, but all the baggage they are saddled with from their home and community situations. But the approach to tackle these problems has been, like the educational reform, merely cosmetic and outdated-mere tinkering at the edges. The Ministry of Education’s measures to tackle these problems no longer fit the new realities.
One of the main reasons for this state of affairs is that our competitive outdated education system does not prepare our youth for life’s challenges; their ideals are often battered by life’s realities and this increases their frustration and stress levels. Indeed, a balanced development of mind and body in harmony with the spirit is the key to the enrichment of the human personality and an outcome of value-based education.
When children enter formal education, the provision of safe school environments is critical for them to learn and develop new skills. The school must also create environments that strengthen children's life skills. Life skills programmes include those that develop children's social and emotional skills, such as empathy, self-respect, problem-solving, anger management and effective conflict resolution.
Unfortunately, both in terms of imparting academic and life skills that would have helped in violence prevention, our education system’s elitism fails us miserably by reinforcing exclusion. It perpetuates inequality of opportunities. Our elitist education system is perpetuating exclusion and generating the type of violence we have recently been witnessing.
And more importantly the wake-up call for a drastic reform of the old fashioned education system mowed down by the high student/teacher ratio, low pay, students’ indiscipline, rote-learning, lack of support and respect meant it needed a total overhaul for a new dynamic education system and curriculum putting greater emphasis on teaching children to think critically and solve problems, on social and emotional learning and on basic human values and life skills .
A more holistic approach would have provided novel ways of tackling the indiscipline in schools. Educating a child should be holistic not just a process of stuffing their head with information. We have to see the needs for complete development because body and mind are linked . To be truly holistic in its approach, it should involve the school, the teacher , the parents and NGOs which have a proven experience in child empowerment and in training the child to reinforce his values , strengthen the sense of self and the sense of sharing, enhance his creativity, improve his focus & concentration in studies, help him to be independent and responsible, communicate better and respond to stress in an emotional healthy way.
Such an approach with the involvement of NGOs will also help parents to handle their child’s transition to teen, getting them involved in their teens life – physically & emotionally, understand their need to appear trendy and be accepted among peers, and be a friend and guide in choosing their career – what they want to be in life!.
It brings about development of every child in all the three aspects body, mind and spirit. It lays great emphasis on -the logic as well as the aesthetics sides of the brain- Maths and Science as well sports, performing and visual arts and mindfulness. Varied interests of the child are nurtured through activities like creative writing, quizzing, debating, computer programming, out-of-the box arts, martial arts..... The focus is always on encouraging children to excel without compromising on human values. Children will excel when they are in a stress-free environment. Their curriculum includes daily yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, mediation, music arts, mindfulness, nature-loving activities…. which enable a calm and focused mind. This helps discover the inner potential of every child.
We believe that an overhaul of our education system and such collaboration between the Ministry of Education, the teachers, the patents and the specialised NGOs can go a long way towards attenuating the level of indiscipline and violence in schools while equipping our kids with the knowledge to blossom to their full potential.
