Many schools are again laying stress on teaching “values” to children to counter their craving for instant gratification and teach them to accept failure and be resilient.
An overnight train journey for a school trip despite having students who can afford better, training two children for an inter-school fest where only one gets to represent the school, and initiating regular interaction with children from financially weak families, are only some of the ways in which children are being taught about the realities of life.
“The students are busy on their phones and studies and they know nothing beyond. They have no understanding or consciousness of the hard conditions of others. This is what we have to teach them,” said Joseph Chacko, English teacher and senior coordinator, St James’ School.
The school recently organised a programme where children from financially weak backgrounds came to the school to perform.
The boys from St James’ were handed the responsibility of buying gifts for them. These children, visiting the school, needed school bags the most.
The boys were surprised but it taught them that their needs included school bags and tiffin boxes and not necessarily the latest version of a phone.
“There is an erosion of resilience because they are so used to instant gratification,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
The school has opened up its laboratories for children who have little or no access to such infrastructure.
Such initiatives help open their eyes to the realities around them. “We have to train our children to remain grounded and in touch with reality,” said Dey.
With many homes having a lone child, parents end up giving them things even before the child asks for them.
A child often expresses surprise that travelling by train was normal when the parents were younger.
“Why did they not allow children to take a flight when you were a child?” a six-year-old asked her mother.
“It is then that I realise that she is getting used to comforts,” said the mother.
On many occasions parents are to be blamed for mollycoddling their children instead of instilling the right dosage of resilience and patience in them, several teachers said.
“Parents would come to question why their child was not selected to represent the school despite being good. As a school we have to take a stand and teach our children to accept failure,” said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Participating in sports in school is an important way to learn about failure, said Jessica Gomes Surana, principal, Loreto Day School Elliot Road.
“How much you can recover from that fall is a life’s lesson,” said Gomes Surana.
Children have to be taught to share, the value of gratitude and team spirit, she added.
