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બાળક પધાર્યું કે એક તરફ ખુશાલી નો પાર નહિ, અને ગગો કે ગગી “છે" નો ફોન આવે કે છોરું જોતા પહેલાં, બાપાઓ નામચીન શાળાઓ માં બાળકનું નામ નોંધવા ભાગ દોડ કરવા માંડે - પણ જરા લાંબો વિચાર તો કરો. બાળકનો વિકાસ કેવો અને કેવી રીતે થાય કે કરવો છે, તેનો વિચાર અને planning કરવું રહ્યું કે નહિ? (સાચું કહું તો ગર્ભ સ્થપાય તે પહેલાં આ વિચાર કરો તો સૌથી ઉત્તમ!) ૯૯.૯૯% માબાપ નો ઉત્તર આવશે કે સારામાં સારી સ્કુલમાં મૂકીશું, તો બધ્ધું બરાબર થઇ જશે અને distinction તો સહજ લાવશે. બાકીના ૦.૦૦૧% માબાપને શોધવા દીવો લઇ નીકળવું પડશે. પ્રચલિત માન્યતા એવી પાકી થઇ ગઈ છે કે માર્ક્સ સારા આવે, એટલે બાળક બુદ્ધિમાન કહેવાય, અને ઓછા માર્ક્સ વાળા બાળક કરતાં વધારે હોશિયાર છે, એમ મનાય. સ્કુલ સારી એજ કહેવાય જે જામીન આપે કે ૭૦% તો મળશેજ! એક માં- સ્કુલ “સારી" એ જ માનવી જે બાળકનો મનોમય કોશ વિકસાવે, બુદ્ધિ નું શોષણ કરે, અને સ્વાધ્યાય ની કળા કે આવડત ની વૃદ્ધિ કરે. માર્ક્સ એક મૃગજળ છે એની પાછળ ભાગશો તો સીતા નું હરણ જ થશે! અને તમે બાળક ને પૂર્ણ રીતે “તક" આપવામાં નાપાસ. પહેલાં ૫ માં વિકાસ શેનો અને કેવી રીતે થાય? જરા શાસ્ત્રો માં ઝાંખીએ. મનુષ્ય માત્ર એક જીવ સ્વરૂપે પાંચ કોશ થી સર્જાયેલું છે. જેમ જેમ બાળક મોટું થાય તેમ આ કોશ નો પણ વિકાસ થતો જાય. અન્નમય કોશ એટલે આપણું શરીર - એટલે, પહેલાં ૫ માં, અન્નમય, અને મનોમય નો વિકાસ થવો જોઈએ. પ્રાણમય સર્વપ્રજ્ઞ છે એટલે એ તો બધ્ધેજ છે, વિકાસ નું engine પણ છે, એનું બળતણ પણ છે. આ વિકાસ માટે માં- પહેલાં ૫ વર્ષમાં છૂટથી રમવા દો. ઘરમાં કે બાગમાં કે આંગણામાં કે પાડોશી ની પરસાળમાં! દોડાદોડી કરે, ભૂસકા મારે, બુમાબુમ કરે, અથડાય, ભટકાય આ બધું રમતજ છે. પણ જેને આપણે રમત કહીએ, તે બાળકના શરીરની કેળવણી છે. શરીરનો સ્વાધ્યાય છે. ટોક ટોક ના કરતા, પણ હાજર રહેજો કે મોટી ઈજા ના થાય. જેમ શરીરનો સ્વાધ્યાય શરુ થયો, તેમ મગજ નો સ્વાધ્યાય પણ આજ ઉંમરે શરુ થાય - આપણે ભાષા વાપરીએ, તે પણ બાળક માટે એક નાદ જ છે. સૌ પ્રથમ “માં" જ બોલે - પોતાની માતૃભાષાથી જ શરૂઆત કરજો. કારણકે આપણને પણ માતૃભાષામાં બોલવા માટે શ્રમ નથી કરવો પડતો, અનાયાસે શબ્દો જીવ્હા થી વહેવા માંડે છે, અને તેમજ આ બાળકને પણ થશે. જેમ આ અવાજો નું અનુકરણ કરતાં શીખશે તેમ. સાથે સાથે, બીજી ભાષાઓ ના નાદ પણ સાંભળશે, અને અનુકરણ કરશે. શબ્દો શું કે અર્થ શું, એ ગરબડ ઊભી થવાનો સવાલ જ નથી કારણકે બાળકના મગજમાં આ બધાજ નવા અવાજો છે, જે પોતે પણ મોઢેથી કાઢી શકે છે! બે કે ત્રણ ભાષા વાપરો. વિદ્યાજીવી કુટુંબોમાં અંગ્રેજીમાં ભણતર (અને નિષ્ણાત) એવી પ્રથા હોય છે - પહેલાં ૫ માં તો ફક્ત ૩ જુદી જુદી ભાષાઓ માં બાળક સાથે બોલો, ભાષાઓના નાદ થી પરિચય થવા દો. કઈ ૩? માતૃભાષા, અંગ્રેજી અને ત્રીજી - વેદ ભણાવે તેમાં એક અંગ “શિક્ષા" કહેવાય, જેમાં ફક્ત શબ્દનો સાચો ઉચ્ચાર જ ગોખાવે, અને એ “શિક્ષા" ના ગુરુ, વેદમંત્રોના ગુરુ કરતાં અલગ હોય. એટલું importance અપાયું છે આપણા શાસ્ત્રોમાં! લખવા- હવે જરા practical દ્રષ્ટિથી વાત કરું. અપવાદ માં પરદેશમાં રહેતાં લોકો. માં- બીજો સંદેશો: નામચીન સંસ્થાઓ કોણે, કયા આધારે અને કયા લક્ષે ચઢાવી તે જાણવું મુશ્કેલ છે. આ સફળ marketing નો જમાનો છે. સારી સ્કુલના અધિકારીઓ ઉલ્લુ નથી હોતા કે નામચીન બાળમંદિર માં થી છોકરું આવ્યું એટલે એમની નામચીન શાળા માટે તૈયાર જ હશે એવું માને. પોતાની રીતે નિરીક્ષણ અને પરીક્ષણ કરે જ છે, એટલે બાળક નું મન કેળવાયેલું હશે (અર્થાત્ મનોમય કોષ સુંદર રીતે વિકસેલો હશે) તો અનુકુળ શાળામાં admission મળશેજ. “અનુકુળ” શબ્દ જર ડરીને અને સંભાળીને વાપરું છું, કારણકે નામચીન અને સારી શાળામાં ઘણો તફાવત હોઈ શકે, અને શહેરોમાં “પૈસા બોલે છે" નું વાતાવરણ સુંઘવા મળે છે ખરું, એટલે શાળામાં પ્રવેશ લાયકાત થી મળશેજ એમ કહેવું આસાન તો નથીજ. બીજી વાત કે ભણતર શેના માટે જોઈએ છે, એના આધારે “અનુકુળ" શબ્દ નો શાળા માટે અર્થ ઘણો જુદો થાય. પણ આ વાત તો આગલા ૫ વર્ષ ની થઇ. સરવાળે કહેવાનું એમ કે, બાળકને ભણતરના નામે ઓચાવી ના દેતા, જેમ મન અને મગજ ને પચે તેમ ખોરાક લેવા દેજો. પીરસો તમે, પણ બાળકને રૂચી હોય તેમ ગ્રહે. પહેલાં પાંચ માં સ્વાધ્યાય પ્રધાન રાખો, અને મનોમય કોષને પૂર્ણ વિકાસ થવા દો. અક્કલને બુદ્ધિમાં બદલાવા દો. તો જ જ્યારે વિજ્ઞાનમય કોષ નો વારો આવશે ત્યારે આ બાળકનું મગજ- આગલા અંકમાં “ભણતર શા માટે”, અને શાળાઓનું કેવું પરિવર્તન કરવું, જેથી દરેક ધ્યેય (ભણતરનો) પૂર્ણ કરી શકાય. |
Birth of a child triggers peals of joy, but the phone call “girl or boy?” sends the father running to the preferred schools to register his child – who he has not yet seen! I want the best school for my child, and a sterile environment so that there is no fever, no infection, no virus! The child’s development – outsourced to the paediatrician, intelligence – mine! inherited – best already, and top class education because I will put my child in the best school! Currently prevalent attitudes in the pre- Just think a bit, how does a child develop? both physically and intellectually? Don’t you think you should plan this a bit? – I would think that the planning should have been done before conception! 99.99% of urban parents will respond with their strategy : We will send the child to the best of schools, so “all is well”, and distinction grades will be guaranteed. Even Google may not be able to find the remaining .001% of parents who think more deeply! There is a conventional belief – thanks to the Chinese Mandarin system of exams based merit, duly exalted by the British Raj nabobs – that if a child gets “good” marks in exams, the child must be “intelligent”, cleverer than other children who got less marks than this one. A good school is one that guarantees that all children in that school will get a minimum score of 70% marks in public exams. I have even heard a parent or ten, saying that if they charge charge such high fees, they must be “good”. Should such parents be approached to sell the London Bridge, or sent for IQ test? Intelligence, skills and marks have – at best – a loose relationship. Good grades reflecting intelligence or skills is certainly a possibility, but is certainly not confirmatory, though people who believe that grades is what matters in world conquest, are a bushel for a penny! A school should be considered “good”, if the environment and activities (and education) feeds the development of the child’s “manomay*” sheath, nurtures the growth of intelligence, and inculcates a learning method that suits each individual child. Enabling the child to identify his/her own specific method of learning is the real key to the quality of education, and that aspect determines a “good” school! If you chase the mirage of marks, your desire to provide opportunities for the intellectual development (manomay kosha) of the child, will get an “F” grade. Which part of a human being will get developed in the first 5 years, and through what process? To understand this, one needs to hark back to the perspectives in our scriptures. Human beings are made up of 5 “kosha”, – sheaths. As the child grows, each of these sheaths also develop and grow. “Annamay” kosha is the physical body. The word Annamay translates to “from food”. The life force that gives animation to this physical object is “praanamay” kosha. The brain is a component of the physical body, and mind is what “happens” in the brain. The mind is the existential perception of the third kosha, the “manomay” kosha. Thoughts, likes, dislikes, emotions, fear, affection, love, desire all are born and exist in the manomay kosha. “Understanding” happens in the manomay kosha. Language, expression, communication, memory – all are born here! Skills start here, and move to “vignanamay” kosha. This where intelligence resides. Instinct in manomay, but discriminating skills in Vignanmay. When instincts are adorned with the good- The first 5, then, are for the growth and development of Annamay and Manomay. Praanamay is pervasive, and is the engine and the fuel of growth. In what way, are the parents to contribute to this growth? They are responsible to provide the space, opportunity and oversight. Space means physical space at home, and “outside” – specifically in open areas of natural surroundings. It also means the emotional space or the freedom to experiment and experience. The enabling of the child to make choices and express. Opportunity is events, time and occasions. Take them to a pool to splash around, or a sandpit or climb a tree. Actively seek to create such opportunities to experiment and experience. Oversight is the creation of a circle or care, but not a fence of isolation. The injury or illness or even a poor experience is a learning event, so, the circle or care prevents escalation of injury or illness, not a complete elimination. The child needs to run, climb trees, or splash in puddles, or dance in rain, or squish mud, or lick toys! Don’t get worked up at scratches, or a runny nose, or a bit fever, or a throw up! The body is vastly more capable of learning to protect itself, than what men can “teach” it! Only the body can build immunity to infections etc. allow it to do so! Observe how the child flips over, the head bangs on the floor, and next time, the head is held high while flipping over! Let he child run free during these first 5. Your house, or the neighbour’s or the front and back yard or the void deck! Jumping around, yelling, crashing into each other or into things, are all play! Leave the child be – these are all learning and skills acquisition opportunities. Your circle of care is only to prevent a major injury! Just as the body has started it’s “svadhyay” – learning through realising or experiencing on ones own – the brain (the physical entity) too starts this journey of development simultaneously. Don’t confine the child to indoors, take them into nature. Man is a part of nature too, so the child latches onto nature as born to it! And it absorbs the sights sounds and touch, and imitates them. The child will become curious about other live beings, and starts identifying them as flying and running and swimming. If they play with a dog or cat, just plan a Dettol bath later when you get home! The language we use is also a sound that the child absorbs and imitates. Invariably, the first coherent sound uttered is “ma” or “mom” as its first foray into imitating sound, although the mother very proudly feels that the child called her! If not the mother, who is the child going to call out to? the mother- Start with the child’s mother tongue. Adults too, find use of mother tongue to be effortless, and the words and expression just flow – instinctively! The child will also develop the same skill, because it hears the sounds of mother tongue more than it hears the sounds of other languages. She will also imitate sounds from other sources, and other languages, so making the cat mewing sound and saying “want” are at par in her mind! There is little association of sounds and meanings of the word, at this initial stage, since to the mind and the child, the excitement is about the ability to create voice and sound in imitation of what it heard! So, while mother tongue dominates, please use two or three languages so that the child hears different sounds and intonations. Families with a tradition of knowledge workers, have a strong preference for learning and expertise in English, but in the first 5, exposure to sounds and their imitation is far more significant, so trust nature and the child’s instinctive learning of imitation! Meaning has not made any significant mark in the mind as yet! Cognition is confined to the sound. The pan is warming up, so whether you roast a roti, or toast makes little difference to the pan! Speak in 3 different languages (mother tongue dominant) so that the child id exposed to and picks up sounds of these three languages. Mother tongue, English and the third is a choice between the regional language (e.g. Marathi in Mumbai) Sanskrit and Hindi – your choice! All families may not have skills to “talk” in Sanskrit, but would know scriptural verses that recited in almost all homes. The purpose is to expose the child to the sounds of the language for subsequent imitation of those sounds! Not to teach them to communicate in that language – not yet! Songs and ditties and rhymes have a greater impact on this objective than just spoken prose. So, sing as often as you can! This is a task for all adults in the house. The house helper in most metropolitan cities will speak the regional language, helping with wider exposure to sounds for the child! The child recognises the voice of familiar adults, and “likes” them. What it likes, it remembers, and processes and tries to imitate – not the voice, but the sound!Caution: do not baby talk with the baby! the baby will learn to imitate baby talk sounds, and not language sounds! So, express all your love and affection in clear language words. A mandatory phase of learning the Vedas via their oral tradition is the use of Vedang – the 6 limbs of the Vedas. A first of these limbs is called “Shikshaa”, and focuses ONLY on correct pronunciation of the words! And the teachers in charge of “Shikshaa” attend only to this limb of the Vedas. This is the intensity of attention to word sounds in our scriptures! Reading and writing are skills. Do not be in a hurry to impart these skills to the child. Let the mind get familiar with the sounds, and with the process of svadhyay – learning through experience or realisation on it’s own. That skill involves the shapes that do not always match the phonetics of the sound. Similarly, do not create a flood of information (vignaan – in the words of our scriptures) impinging on the child’s sensory system. That has to be paced according to each child’s ability to absorb information and convert it (through svadhyay) to knowledge (I.e. Gnaan). How to judge this pace. Start with simpler inputs. Give toys that are simple in operation, so that the child may turn it twist it, move it, feel it, and absorb all those ideas and feelings into it’s mind! If they start loosing interest in that toy, it means they are ready to move on! Take care to avoid toys that have a direct association with violence (no guns and swords – unfortunately, I see hordes of parents buying gun toys for their children, and the idea of killing as a game enters their mind! idiot parents?). Similarly, keep them away from TV, computers and smartphones. These devices present two separate but significant dangers. The content has violence and concepts which will create undesirable thought streams in the child’s mind, and cause confusion and perhaps rejection, when you try to expose them to good values and behaviours. The second is more physical, because these devices actually flicker (though the technology “fools” the eye into thinking that it does not) and may damage the eye muscles at this very age or stage of development. The eye muscles have not matured in the first 5! How many more children do we see with glasses, than we saw in our own cohorts – before TV, computers and smartphones? The blue light that some of these display devices emit have been identified by researchers to have negative impact on eyes too. I will try and bring a bit of pragmatism to these thoughts. Nuclear families, and working parents have started becoming a common social situation. Families may not be part of a joint family, or may be living in locations away from their support system, or have other circumstances that need to be accommodated, and placing the child in a child care organisation may become necessary. But, find a child care that operates in the child’s mother tongue. If none are available, consider getting together with a few friends and family, and getting an elderly couple to baby sit this group – and communicate with them in mother tongue! Many retired folks would love such opportunities. DO not keep the child away from it’s mother tongue for too long. Child care or play groups that operate in English would create other issues. The child may not understand instructions, or be eliminated from a peer group that does understand English. This is why I am emphasising mother tongue environments in play groups and child care centres. There is a mirage created through emphatic marketing, about a highly ranked child care centre or play group organisation. The mirage is that parent are led to believe that if the child is in a well known play group, it will get corresponding admission to well known school as well! School admission staff know the reality, and hence, organise their own assessment system to judge the compatibility of a child with their environment. They are always looking for a mind cultivated to learn – not an information spouting child! There is also an anomaly between a well known school and a “good” school. Metropolitan urban societies do have a “money solves all issues” attitude, so admission on merit does become a challenge in some segments. There is also an element of intent of education (think of a farmer’s or carpenter’s child in a rural environment and the benefit that education will deliver for him or her!). I will talk more on this topic in subsequent blogs. In Summary, the idea is to not flood the child’s brains with information and sensations – more than what each child’s brain can absorb and displays an affinity to. Allow the child to learn to learn on its own through experiment and experience. Let the Manomay kosha develop as much as it’s capacity and potential determines. Intelligence sprouts forth, and learns to process information into knowledge, so that when it is time to excite the vignanamay kosha the child's mind will be ready to transform large quantum of information rapidly, and with discrimination, to knowledge. I will address the twin issues of “intent of education”, and the transformation of schools, such that all intents (of education) can be fulfilled. |
