”List out the 10 major tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Find out the approximate population of those tribes. Round off the population to the highest place.”
a) How many countries are the members of the G20 Group?
b) Which country is the current Chair of the G20?
c) What is the theme of the 2023 G20 summit?
d) When was the first G20 summit held?
e) Which country hosted the first G20 summit?
f) How often do G20 summit take place”
*”Measure your Weight in kilogram and height in metre on 15 May 2023 and 25 June 2023 and calculate your BMI.”
Gone are the days when young students’ holiday homework was as simple as doing craft work or learning to make a cucumber sandwich. A lot of parents around the country are complaining that nowadays they have to take over and finish their child’s holiday homework, instead of having the child complete it.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, meanwhile, states that “over 85 per cent of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6, indicating the critical importance of appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in the early years in order to ensure healthy brain development and growth.”
Schools claim that homework is being modified as per NEP 2020 guidelines. Priya John, Principal of DPS Indirapuram, says, “Holiday homework has been prepared according to NEP 2020 which ensures that the children are joyfully involved in various experiential learning activities. It will help them in developing organisational skills, and time-management, and promote independent learning.”
“Children learn better through collaborative learning and the interaction between the child and the parent is paramount. In this scenario, parents can provide appropriate guidance and support without encroaching or taking over the students’ responsibilities,” she adds.
“My daughter, who is in Class 1, was given questions such as ‘List out the names of famous jewellery of Arunachal Pradesh’. How would a child of that age know this? She cannot even find this information. So at the end of the day, I have to sit and do it on her behalf and then make sure that she learns it. How is this helping a kid’s development,” a parent from Gautam Buddh Nagar asks.
Mena Mittle, Vice Principal of Modern Public School, Delhi, says it is important to make sure that “children are taught about the importance and basics of researching from a young age. We are producing researchers and thinkers and it is essential to ensure that children know what is going on in the world. Parents can sit and help their child with the homework, rather than doing it for them.”
Vandana Arumugam, whose daughter studies in Chennai, told indianexpress.com that she was given seven projects to complete during the summer holiday, which eventually took up a majority of the holidays. “CBSE now gives summer vacation of just one month, and we had to spend more than half of this month in completing these projects which were mostly a job for a parent rather than the child,” she explains.
However, teachers believe that involvement of parents in such homework is necessary and important for the child’s growth. “Parents’ involvement is essential in a child’s learning process and they need to support their children by guiding and assisting them in the engaging joyful activities to be completed by their child during the summer break,” says Priya John.
Some educators, on the other hand, believe that such involvement of parents in finishing the holiday homework might not be ideal, and reflects badly on an institute. Shikha Banerjee, Principal of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Kanpur, says, “If parents find themselves needing to step in and complete their children’s holiday homework, it may indicate that the tasks are beyond the child’s current capabilities or that they require excessive parental involvement.”
“This situation can be concerning as it defeats the purpose of assigning homework to students, which is to enhance their learning, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving skills. It is crucial for educators and parents to strike a balance between providing engaging and meaningful holiday assignments and ensuring that they remain suitable for the students’ developmental level,” she elaborates.
School teachers should get creative with homework, some educators suggest. “Teachers can give simple yet interesting assignments to students that don’t have to be passed on to the parent. In addition, students should be motivated to do it by themselves,” says Swati Gauba Kochar, Thinker-in-chief, Kidsprenuership.
Agreeing, a parent from New Delhi tells indianexpress.com that her son, who is in Class 3, got some homework related to G20 which forced him to cram up the information, while her daughter, who is in Class 4 in an international board, was assigned homework which was mostly based on socialising with peers, locating states on the map, etc. Ultimately, the girl enjoyed her homework more.
The problem appears to be bigger in CBSE-affiliated schools. Parents whose children are enrolled in international board-affiliated schools share a different experience. “My daughter is in Class 2 but her school has ensured that they do not burden children with heavy research-type material. Instead of giving stuff that would have glued my daughter to screens, they gave her more observation-based holiday homework,” says Ashita wadhwa, whose daughter is in Class 2 at The Heritage School, Delhi.
“This helped me in making sure she spends more time going outdoors, and she learns in practical ways, rather than cramming things. I am lucky that this school believes in experiential learning rather than just an old teaching method in class,” she emphasises.
Dikshita Gupta, whose daughter is in Class 2 at St Mary’s School has a similar experience to share. “My daughter’s holiday homework was mainly about revising what was taught to her in class. But when she was in a CBSE-affiliated school till Class 1, her homework used to be very tough and time-consuming,” she says.
‘Increase in screen time’
Some parents have also complained that the ‘research-driven’ homework has led to an increase in screen time for young children. “These days, the holiday homework increases screen time, as children need to browse online for research work and projects. Kids are now heavily dependent on various search engines,” says Divyanshi Sharma, whose younger brother in Panchkula has had to spend hours online looking for answers.
“As a school principal, I acknowledge and address these concerns by promoting responsible screen usage and providing guidelines for balancing online and offline activities. I feel it is crucial for educators to ensure that they hear out the parents’ concerns regarding screen time for holiday homework and see that those concerns are valid and deserve attention. With the advancement of technology, many educational tasks now require online research and digital resources. While these tools can enhance learning experiences, excessive screen time can also have negative consequences on children’s physical and mental well-being,” Banerjee says.
Published on: 4th July 2023
Published URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/g20-members-tribes-in-arunachal-pradesh-bmi-parents-grumble-over-complicated-holiday-homework-for-cbse-kids-8688727/
Published By: Indian Express