I am Debajit, an executive in upstream oil and gas industry for last 20 years. I currently live with two kids aged 10 years and 12 years in Bangalore. As I get experienced in the process of raising two kids, I realised how different their traits, personalities and likings are, and likewise how the process of educating them should also be attuned to their pace of mental development, aptitudes and likings and not based on a set same template provided by the institutions of education. In this journey I developed strong passion to experiment with learning and education, as well as the ongoing struggles of online classes during the pandemic, abetted me to take the decision of ultimately take my two kids out of their school and start to home school them. The online school with their set model was not only making them stressed, it was also unsuitable to assess every kid on given set of parameters. Hopefully, the widely popular cartoon below expresses it better than I can express by writing.
This also necessitated me to ponder and come up with a strategy, on how best to address this. I believe, going forward, the education we “obtain” should be more and more on “learners’ terms” not on ‘theirs (academic institutions)’ as well as customised to the need of the society, merged with the “natural aptitude” of the pupil, relevant and easily customisable. They also need to be shielded from the overdose of information, either relevant or irrelevant that is always available at their fingers tips and makes the young minds more disordered. We want education that is timely, available on-demand but guided by a mentor, created by the learner, and fits within an unmistakable need of industry/society. It must also be exciting and empowering for the learner, as well as help them to embrace the unknown and develop mental flexibility. One way to achieve this is to provide them the power to create their own learning plan while we adults and educators play the role of coaches, mentors and assessors.
With this aim in mind I have created www.sundarbon.org, to reflect the organic process of education, where each kid is unique and can develop their own learning strategy, as well as they can teach whatever they want to or solve a problem or start-up something, leaving their inhibitions behind. Here each learner develops themselves at their own pace, get to know their own choices and rely on themselves with support from the wider society. Currently my two kids are the only two students following this process.
This is an interactive platform for all next generation of stakeholders who care for developing our next generation. In this process, it is expected that they will develop themselves, as well as make themselves fit for a world of extraordinary transformation, that is impending upon them.
