The team of project blackboard held a morning session with parents of Rajiv Gandhi Higher Secondary School in Shahpura.
The session was organised in conjunction with the Parents teacher meet and several teachers of the school and some students were also in attendance. The various activities and discussions organised focused on how parents can facilitate and complement children’s education in schools.
The team consisted young professionals and college students including Sunny, Varun, Piyuli, Asmi, Krishna, Soumya and Shreya.
The idea behind the project is to work on the demand side of education - parents play an important role in providing the support, the environment, and the values necessary for children to get a successful and wholistic education.
A child only spends six hours in the school; and her learning outcomes depend not only on the time she spends studying outside school, but also from what she learns at home and her neighbourhood.
To make parents understand the various ways in which this happens, the session began with a game of Chinese whispers.
Parents saw how the message circulated communicated changed completely in its meaning and form as it travelled from one person to another.
Sunny emphasised that this is what often happens when we hear about our children from others - we often react without understanding what really happened from the child.
The lack of direct communication leads to distrust and less expressiveness from children which also exacerbates safety concerns for our children. Some parents discussed concern for sending children out to play when the neighbourhood atmosphere is not congenial.
In this sense too, establishing conversations with children can helpful in building for them the safe atmosphere need to explore.
Next Piyuli talked about the purpose of education; how a complete education consists of cultivating curiosity and teaching children to ask questions, of teaching them good manners and moral conduct, and making them aware citizens.
Parents need to ask themselves how to expand children’s skill sets in these direction, and take care of the role models they present through their behaviour.
Asmi talked of how learning can be tested through children’s conduct at home, their ability to read and understand messages around them and explain various phenomenon in their day to day life - thus parents don’t need to specially take out time to sit with their children’s book if they don’t have the ability to do so, but can do it by asking children to assist them in tiny day to day tasks.
Finally the team did a session on non verbal communication which was received with much excitement by parents, teachers and children alike.
Four groups were made which were given cutouts of various shapes and colours who had to trade with each other without verbal communication, and those who managed to get all the items required by them would win.
This was the second session for the Project Blackboard team, after the initial session at Rajpushpa school in Arera Colony.
Both the sessions ended with parents agreeing with the need for more such sessions to discuss how they can come together play a more important role in their children’s education.