Category: School

“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”
-Kofi Annan

Education is an act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical potential of an individual. A vital element to balance the societal factors, education contributes to the economic development of a country. Countries without educated population cannot foresee and implement the best policies necessary for the growth of an otherwise developing country.

The battle to make elementary education imperative for everyone was started by the great son of India, Gopal Krishna Gokhale about hundred years ago. He urged before the Imperial Legislative Assembly to confer upon the Indians the Right to Education. It was only after ninety years in August 2009 that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was enacted by the Parliament.

According to this act, education is declared as a fundamental right for all children of the age group of 6 to 14 years, irrespective of any caste, color or creed. The Right to Education provision eliminates discrimination in the educational system at all levels, thereby, setting standards. The fundamental right to education is explicitly set out in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This act also ensures that private school needs to reserve at least 25 percent seats for the students of weaker section.

However, the fundamental right to education can only be considered accomplished when it strictly adheres to the “4A” components, which precisely refers to Availability (free education), Accessibility (non-discriminatory system), Acceptability (culturally acceptable content) and Adaptability (evolve with changing times).

The free and compulsory education gives children the required sense of independence and empowers them to make a respectful livelihood on their own. One of the recent initiatives of the Indian Government launched in 2001, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), universalizes the elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. It aims at allowing children to learn and become proficient in their natural environment in a manner which allows human fulfillment in a holistic sense. The scheme under the fundamental right of education also include facilities like free school books, uniform and mid day meal.

Role of the Parents

A child’s school years plays an imperative role in his overall development process and future growth. So, it becomes integral for the parents to get actively involved in their child’s activity. And as a responsible parent, their priority should be towards providing the best education to their children irrespective of any law.

Role of the State

The State is the chief guardian where the Right to Education act is concerned. It functions as a crucial contributor in regulating the provisions of education. Conventionally, education was regarded as the primary duty of parents, but with the rise of education system, the role of parents has diminished and has become a larger responsibility which is why it has become a mandatory rule for the state government to scrutinize the proper implementation of the legislative act. With regards to realizing this particular fundamental right, the World Declaration on Education for All, adopted at the 1990 World Conference on Education states that the “partnership between government and nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, local communities, religious groups, and families” are necessary.

With this, the struggle to get access to education has ended. But to implement the act in a better way, greater awareness among the citizens is required so that its provisions can be clearly understood and incorporated by all institutions, thereby, paving the way for children to become glorious pillars of tomorrow to ensure a bright future.

A student leader is a student who can render his responsibility to lead a group. Student leaders are decided for campus basis. According to the meaning of the term, a high school student may also be the student leader, subject to his selection for the said post by his fellow students.

It is said that leaders are born, therefore student leaders also are born with their leadership abilities and it is required to identify the abilities from the initial stage so that these abilities can get roomed with the advent of time, age, and experience. Although leadership qualities may abruptly vary from one individual to another but it is usual that the leaders have something in common. These basic common traits are discussed here in order to highlight the basic qualities which are expected to be present in a student opting for leadership. On the other way, these qualities are the pre requisites of a leader therefore the student with these abilities can be identified as the potential possibility of a future leader.

There are four general aspects of leadership qualities; these are character, communication power, analytical skill, and power to execute certain planning with a team. Let’s have a close view to see these traits in order to explain the importance of these qualities in between a leader.

One of the main requisites for a leader is his character; it is expected that a leader will possess some different personality which may provoke admiration, obedience, logical approach, and personal integrity. Unless a leader will possess unique personality and reliance, it is not possible for him to lead a group.

Analytical power is closely associated with judgment and foresight. It is expected that a leader will be able to view all possible pros and cons while dealing with an issue at least with better insight and prudery. Analytical power is one of the main factors for right decision, and a leader is always expected to take right decision even in between critical situations.

Communication is one of the great potential of a leader’s personality. The power of communication of a leader can help to instigate, stimulate the team members of a leader. On the other hand the process of effective communication can highlight the agenda of a program with best effect covering both short-term and long term benefit of the organization and policies etc.

A leader should how to process forward to achieve a goal with his group or team. This driving force is one of the major qualities of a leader that marks him/her separate from others. The proper coordination power, and to read the unsaid views of the leader can help in surviving an organization toward better way of growth and positive achievement.

‘Experienced teachers don’t deal with problems, they prevent them from occurring’ – so begins Geoff Petty’s section on classroom organisation in his book ‘Teaching Today – A Practical Guide” (Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd, 1998). Ground rules are fundamental to order in the classroom, and order in the classroom is essential if effective teaching and learning are to take place. Here we will consider how to prevent problems from occurring through the establishment of appropriate classroom rules.

You can simply tell the learners what the rules are – you have complete control in this case, they are YOUR rules and it is your responsibility to enforce them. By letting them decide the rules learners have a greater commitment to keeping them. This latter approach sounds good, but it’s likely that the rules won’t meet your perceived needs: words like ‘silent’ and ‘respect’ and ‘on-time’ might be missing!

Better that Rules are agreed between teacher and learners, and best that they are established ‘up front’. The age, maturity, size and purpose of the group is important in this regard: ‘no mobile phones’ might be less apposite in a class room of six year olds, than it is in an FE (Further Education, 16+) students, for example.

Rules should be simple (I recently attended a session where rules were no more than four words each, and there were only six of them), thus easy to remember; they should be written up in big letters on a classroom poster, and thus always to mind; and they should be written down as the class discuss what they understand by each, and are thus ’embedded’ in each brain as they are accepted by the group.

Ground rules are all there to ensure appropriate behaviour and mutual respect. Key clauses concern not talking over others, listening to the teacher, arriving on time, and turning off phones – the agreed list should be the basis for order in the classroom.

Not talking over others is about respect for other people, its about allowing voices to be heard and enabling teaching and learning to take place effectively. Unfortunately ten minutes listening to Parliament in action or BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme might lead one to suspect that talking over one another is the way of things

Listening to the teacher is about respect for other people – allowing classmates to hear, developing a skill sadly lacking in much of society, listening and learning. Listening so that you understand another’s point of view, or the content of a teaching session. It’s about remembering that we have one mouth but two ears and using the two channels in proportion.

Arriving to a lesson on time is about respect for other people (you see the common thread in ground rules that’s unfolding here?). The teacher has a limited time to get a set amount of information across. It takes time to settle a group into a learning framework, and late comers disrupt that delicate dynamic.

Turning off phones is about respect for others too – again about disruption, challenging authority and spoiling the session.

Rules then are about establishing a respectful atmosphere appropriate to learning – the major problem being that we live in a society where the individual is lauded above society, and its all about me, me, me. Respect is a character trait in sad decline in the West, and it’s interesting to read reports of the higher academic achievement coming out of schools in countries / societies where respect for others, the older generation in particular, is the norm.

Agreeing the rules together can be used as a good introductory activity with a new group. Writing them up keeps them to hand for frequent referral, and writing them down helps fix them in the learners heads. A well balanced and mutually agreed set of ground rules should enable the teacher to prevent problems occurring in their classroom.

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