The classroom revolution

Gijubhai Badheka, a reformist in children’s education, introduced Montessori education methods to India. Born in 1885, in Saurashtra, he was a lawyer by profession. After the birth of his son, he got interested in child development and education. In his lifetime, Badheka published a number of works in the field of education including Divaswapna or Daydreams.

His writings and philosophy have got a new lease of life with a book, Once upon a time, authored by Dr Swati Popat Vats and Vinitha. The book was released in the city recently. We catch up with Vats, who shares her thoughts on Gijubhai and his ideology.  

For today’s time
Vinitha and Vats, who work with children and parents, were always inspired by Gijubhai’s work. Their book, Once Upon a Story, is dedicated to the Gijubhai method. “The book could not have come at a better time as we are shaping our new education policy. In this book, we have taken excerpts from Divaswapna and have explained how some of these methods can be implemented in today’s classrooms (irrespective of the education board). It is a ready reckoner on experiential learning, development-appropriate curriculum, multiple intelligences, and so much more,” says Popat, president, Early Childhood Association.

When asked to elaborate on Gijubhai’s ideology, the Mumbai-based educator says, “Gijubhai believed that children should be treated as children and not as mini adults. Secondly, they should be respected. In his time and age, where children were beaten up by both parents and teachers, he felt that it is very important that children and their thoughts are respected. He felt that education should be from the point of view of the children. It should be made interesting. Education should not only be confined to literacy. It should make you independent, teach you how to take care of yourself and to make important decisions. These were his main ideologies.”

Vats feels that Gijubhai’s ideology is exactly what the Indian education system should now prepare children for. “We have to get out of this rat race of grades, marks and percentages and judging children on how much they can remember. The stress should be on what the children can gain from what they are learning,” she adds.

The book
Once upon a time has been written from the point of view of helping the Indian teacher and parents understand what education can and should be for a child. “It is a kind of a wake up call for the parents that 150 years ago Gijubhai propagated a system of education that would have taken us ahead. Once upon a time talks about Gijubhai’s experiments with learning through storytelling, drawing. All this is what international schools are including in their curriculum and we think it’s something good, something new. This man talked about it 150 years ago and we didn’t heed his words,” observes Vats, adding, “He spoke about teaching mathematics and geography through stories so those examples are included in the book. He made drawing a very important part of learning. He made parent participation a very crucial element. The book is in its truest sense ageless.” 

The educationist insists that three things from the book can easily improve the education system today. “One is about assessment. Gijubhai talked about assessing children on what they can do. Secondly, he talked about parents participation. Parents need to understand why they are educating their children and how learning can become fun,” she adds. 

Digital classrooms 
Kids today do everything digitally. Even small acts like reading. Does Vats you think it is something that should be encouraged?

“Reading is something that requires concentration. You can read a physical book or read it digitally. That’s not a problem. The problem is when you start teaching concepts through screens. You cannot teach Geometry or Physics through screens. Anything that requires more hands-on-learning should not be taught on digital format. Digital is here to stay. But we should know how to combine it with other forms of learning,” points out Vats. 

“We are trying to replace everything with digital. That’s not correct. It is just one of the tools a teacher or a parent can use and that doesn’t mean they stop exposing children to the other tools. Similarly, Gijubhai also dabbled with technology in his time. He showed the students some of the videos from South Africa while teaching Geography. So it’s how you choose when and what subject that makes an impact,” she adds.

Vats also plans to write two more books on men in education, who have made a lot of impact. “I want to write my second book on Fredrick Nobel, who is referred to as ‘Father of Kindergarten. The toys he designed actually help children understand coding. Lev Vygotsky was the one who invented Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD. It is an assessment system which tells a teacher or a parent that their child is at point A whereas the goal is point B. This journey is what assessment should be about. So my goal is to write about these two educationists,” says Vats before signing off.