Cenbosec - Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 51,  No. 1, January-March 2012

Nurturing the Dreams of Children

Content

• From the Chairman
• Feedback Forum
• Articles
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Mrs. Neera Sharma
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Mrs. Sajitha Thambi
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Preeti Swami
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Aji Varghese
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Mamta Banerjee
• Tips to Nurture the Dreams of Children - Meenakshi Madhusudanan
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Swami Vedatitananda
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Rajlakshmi R.
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - C.J. Dhar
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Dr. Dharam Veer Singh
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Shiju P.S.
• Nurture Your Child’s Dreams - K. Uma
• Dreams of the Heart - Dr. Aditya Kumar Sharma
• Please Come A Step Forward - Swami Supradiptananda
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - S.C. Joshi
• Nurturing the Dreams of our Children - Usha Sharma
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Babita Mahajan
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Rooma Pathak
• Nurturing the Minds and the Heart - Nita Khan
• Nurturing the Dreams of Children - Dr. Alok Agrawal
• Help Me Realise My Dream - A Child’s Perspective – K.L. Nagaraju
• What other Principals say
• What other Teachers say
• News from Schools
• Green Page
• Health & Wellness Clubs
• Sahodaya Updates
• Sports Arena
• Academic Updates
• Best Practices
• Circulars

Children by nature are dreamers. They have dreams and aspirations that change every moment. Getting a toy or a chocolate, running on the beach, visiting fairyland to landing on the moon and going to the stars is what a child dreams of every day. A child does not need to slumber to dream but s/he can build castles in the air, open eyed and wide awake, even sitting in the class or playing on the field. What instigates a dream is a wish, and the fulfilment of that wish is the content of the dream.

A growing child’s dreams and ideals are shaped by their families and friends, teachers and the society in which they grow up. We as teachers carry the onus to nurture a child’s dream. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as one of the Boards of education in India has introduced various reforms to help children dream and nurture these dreams. At CBSE we take care of all the academic needs of the students and help them excel in not just school based assessment but also develop strong foundation to be able to face real life challenges. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) through its Formative Assessment has paved a way for the students to identify their latent talents and interests. Teachers form an important resource pool and facilitate students to build on their strengths and overcome weaknesses. A child centric approach towards teaching is the call of the day

I believe it is also important for us to question whether our homes, communities and society as a whole can contribute to creativity and imagination. As parents, we should be asking ourselves – what was the last creative activity we engaged our children in? Have we nurtured their passion for the arts or sports? How many times have we told our children to stop asking questions? And are our communities supportive of children who possess non-academic talents? Or is everything focused on getting good grades in class?

There can be a lot of things that can be done to nurture children’s creativity. However, one critical thing to remember is that creativity cannot happen when we are denied the freedom to be who we are, the freedom of thought, the freedom to make mistakes and to learn from them, the freedom to decide who we want to become, and the freedom to nurture our aspirations. Children should not always think of what is ‘right’ – of the things they think their teachers, parents and society will want them to do or say or think.

The introduction of Values Education, Life Skills, reading skills, health and wellbeing and other Co-Scholastic activities are a step in this direction. In today’s world where national and international boundaries merge seamlessly, English language has acquired the role of an important medium of communication. It has become the language for knowledge seeking as we move towards a knowledge based economy

CBSE envisages that all language skills need to be integrated into the English language curriculum at schools. Speaking and listening should be fostered in children to equip them with better communication skills. At the onset it proposes to strengthen formal testing of speaking and listening skills in the form of Formative Assessments (FAs) in English at Secondary and Senior Secondary levels from the academic session 2012-13. For this purpose CBSE plans to develop a ‘Cohort of Oral Examiners’ to be involved in testing of speaking and listening skills in English at the aforesaid levels.

Good reading habits are a source of wonder and joy for children and adults alike. No wonder, inculcating good reading and learning habits in children has always been a concern for all stakeholders. Reading does not mean reading for leisure only but also for information, analysis and synthesis of knowledge. A conscious attempt to encourage reading habits among school children had been taken up by CBSE way back in 2003 (vide circular no. 17 dated 16 July, 2003) with continuous follow-ups at regular intervals.

Now under Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and grading in Secondary education right from the primary classes, the importance of fostering interest for reading among children of all ages has increased. As part of the Formative Assessment in CCE, Reading Projects are also being taken up in CBSE schools in a systematic manner. Various modes of assessment such as conducting reviews, scripts reading, discussion, open houses, interact with the authors are considered.

CBSE recognizes that in the next few years the country will have the advantage of having young people wanting to learn, especially with the introduction of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. With the changing demographics, there will be an increase in young population, and thus innovation may have the biggest payoffs. There will be a need to reach out to children and nurture them to become a part of the nation buildingThe Board has been propagating life skills, health, hygiene and sanitation, disaster management, vocational education, environmental education, values education etc., which are intrinsic to reaching out to the community, nation and the world. The Community Outreach also creates awareness among children, develop life skills and train the young growing minds to look beyond academic and global boundaries.

CBSE, being a premier organization in spearheading changes in educational opportunities invited representations from schools regarding innovation and best practices and the response was overwhelming. This approach encourages project or enquiry based learning, making student voice more meaningful and encouraging peer to peer teaching, learning and mentoring thereby exhibiting a positive learning experience and environment.

The Board also has a commitment to preserve and protect heritage monuments in the country. CBSE and History TV18 have agreed to a partnership in their campaigns to preserve and protect heritage monuments and promote education in the country.

Courtesy : Central Board of Secondary Education