outcomes of the pupils. With the rise in huge volume of information
on the internet, the material for learning is freed from the teacher
and become impersonal. Student activities are no longer confined to
the classroom. Learning is spilling over into the other areas such as
the playground, the home, in travel or even on a holiday.Learning and
its delivery needs to be revisited and the new modes adapted.
For example, the evaluation of homework project should be done on the
basis of a viva or a class presentation rather than mere correction
of the homework notebooks.
Best Regards,
K.Paranjpe.
On Sat, 31 May 2014 15:45:53 +0530 wrote
> A lesson in dishonesty: inventing and outsourcing homeworkShivani
Singh, Hindustan TimesLast summer, my friend decided to give her
seven-year-old a lesson in self-reliance. She insisted her daughter
complete her holiday project all by herself. She was there to help--
got her the material, offered guidance with the internet research and
also checked if she got her concepts right. The girl was hoping to
turn in a decent project.But she came home all teary-eyed after the
first day back to school. Mostchildren submitted projects of
professional quality while hers looked amateurish. "If you can't make
it for me, let's just buy a project like others do," she told her
mother.Completing their children's holiday homework is an annual
summer ritual for many parents I know. They take off from work or cut
short their vacations to complete their kids' holiday projects. Many
sheepishly tell you how it is more convenient to just "buy"
homework.There are enough freelancers, college students and
homemakers to do holiday projects for you. In fact, it is a mini
cottage industry in Delhi and suburbs. These "homework makers"
advertise on the internet, social networking sites and send out
flyers to homes or just tie up with neighbourhood textbook shops.Last
week, Hindustan Times reported how Delhi's schoolchildren were
shopping for homework online. The advertising portals offered deals
with taglines such as "Leave Holiday Homework Worries. Get Holiday
Homework for all classes done by Experts" and "School Projects and
Chart papers without your mother getting disturbed (sic)."ForRs.250-
2,000, you can pick up anything from a revolving solar system, a
model of a human body, weather systems, plant experiments to collages
on wildlife, climate change, people and places; or a readymade
PowerPoint presentation on any topic for a price. They even provide
book reports, articles and poems at competitive rates.Most schools
issue warning to parents against seeking professional help for
holiday homework. Some even threaten to give negative marks if such
projects are found to be done by anyone else but the student. But
some of these assignments are not age appropriate. How can a four-
year-old, who is yet to handle scissors, be expected to make
complicated photo frames? Or a seven-year-old make accurate model of
a monument in Delhi, with only eco-friendly materials? In fact, even
parents often struggle with their kids' assignments.At a time when
the authorities have tried to de-stress students by making Class X
board exams optional and introducing Continuous and Comprehensive
Evaluation pattern that aims to shift focus from testing memory alone
to judging a range of abilities such as imagination and creativity,
it is surprising that few talk about the practice of holiday
homework.Experts believe that holiday homework is necessary to ensure
retention of concepts over the long break from school. Activity-based
projects assigned to kids during holidays can encourage productive
interaction among the parents and the children. But nobody except for
those "homework makers" stands to gain if the projects are just too
intimidating.But if schools are loading children with age-
inappropriate homework, parents are making it worse by outsourcing
something that is meant to develop their ward's independent learning
skills. This is an early lesson in dishonesty. Lying to her teacher
and friends that she did the project herself also teaches her that
money can buy anything.Instead, parents could suggest projects that
would interest their wards. For this, they need to open communication
channels with the school. The best holiday homework is what stokes
the imagination in young minds. Why not simply ask the children to
maintain vacation diaries, and maybe also prepare a scrapbook of all
the activities. They don't need help with logging their own stories
which, say schools that encourage such simplicity, often turn out to
be surprisingly original and creative.Educate, Empower, ElevateProf.
Bholanath DuttaFounder, Convener & President
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