It's OK

Here is what I learned inside the classroom between grades 1-10 – reading and writing. Grades 11-12 are simply a blur. Here is what I learned outside my classrooms – effective communication, team building, sharing, making friends and being there for them when they needed us the most, watching each other’s back and learning to fend for one another. What kind of learning do we expect to happen for our own kids?

Quiet frankly, until the pandemic led to the school closure, I worried if my daughter was learning enough. I know that sounds quite foolhardy. But then, I would hear my friends and colleagues talk about how smart their kids are and how far they have come in math and science and the many kinds of extra curricular activities their kids attend. I could not help but compare.  

As a school administrator, I would scroll every school profile in social media and the list of extra activities never ending.  The collaborations with different organizations offering learning options outside of the classroom are overwhelming. I would then work on elaborate work plans to inculcate similar opportunities in my school, Takshashila. I would calculate and scrutinize the fee structure which frankly Takshashila could not afford A. because all service providers are in Kathmandu, B. because the cost of service would automatically triple considering travel and lodging logistics and C. because school fees outside of the capital are minimal. There is no way, my school could provide the associations that schools in Kathmandu boast about. It took a pandemic for me to realize that a school can continue to provide quality learning opportunities if we provide an enabling environment. Learning automatically happens, if teachers are passionate about letting the kids learn and take a back seat as facilitators.  

I know that when parents choose schools for their child, they predominantly make decisions based on the number of extracurricular activities the school offers and longer the list of associations a school provides, better that school automatically becomes.

I believe learning is a lifelong process – so why do we expect our kids to learn everything under the sun while they are still in their primary years, burdening them and quantifying their learning based on the number of activities they participate in a year?

As a parent, have you ever sat down with your child and discussed whether they enjoy what they are learning in school? Have you ever sat down with your child’s teachers for a chat randomly without bringing the grades into the discussion?

In the course if this last one year, I was lucky to meet few school leaders from Kathmandu. I learned so much and I continue to seek support from few leaders helping me understand the nuances of running a successful institution of learning. And in the process, I realized, less is good when it is combined with in-depth learning, making learning fun and sustainable. I also learned that learning is an individual process, and our kids deserve acknowledgement as individual learners.

I can hardly call myself an expert on anything, but I have been a student and I knew long ago that if I wanted to learn, I did not need a teacher and if I were not interested, I would not learn. It did not matter how much help I received (my daughter reminds me of this statement every single day).   

Therefore parents, it is ok if your child did not go to school for a full year – everything is going to be just fine.