KOCHI: Shuffling through their textbooks and homeworks, studies could be more of hardwork than fun for most kids. Taking this into account, learning in many schools has become an activity-based event. Pangode Government LP School is one such school which has enthusiastically embraced the concept, in their efforts to make learning more than just a mugging exercise.The idea is to make learning more activity-oriented and represent lessons or what students have to learn visually or through any other activities, according to Ambidas, a school teacher. “With learning becoming more activity-oriented nowadays, education is something which takes place beyond the four walls of the classroom. From writing excercises, lessons could be visually represented as skits, one-act plays and even mimes so as to get the students to involve more and make it a fun-filled experience,” he said.
One might wonder how skits could be made out of academic lessons but Ambidas gives an example. “ For instance, one of the chapters which the school students have to learn is a story or chapter from Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer’s ‘Paathummayude Aadu’. Likewise, poems and stories could be made more interesting and fun through the same.”The school had staged a play last year based on one of the lessons taught as part of the curriculum. Ambidas said, “It was a unit which the class IV students had to study. Based on a legend related to ‘Pakkanar’, a character in Malayalam folklore, the story teaches you the moral of how money is the root of all evil.” The skit was staged by school students during the previous years, communicating the message through a more contemporary story.
“Interesting portions from stories and poems and academic lessons, even social studies, which could be made more interesting and represented visually, will be made into a more dramatic form.
According to him, students can take the initiative. He adds, “There will be a general discussion among students, if they are interested. The children can create their own script under the guidance of the class teacher, after which they can stage it as a skit or something similar. Children can offer to bring their own props and costumes to support the act,” he said.