All Children can learn

‘All children can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way’; is a famous quote by George Evans which implies that every child has a different learning style and pace. Each child has unique set of abilities and needs, and it is for the educator to find out and nurture.

The interaction conducted by Ms Sutapa was also aimed at reiterating how learners have diverse abilities and to sensitize teachers about the diverse needs of diverse learners, which was attended by the staff at TFS.

The session began with brainstorming about what can be the possible barriers in learning; teachers came up with answers such as physical barriers, social barriers, the learner’s lack of motivation, emotional disturbance and various other factors. Teachers were then acquainted with various provisions laid down by the government to bridge the gap between a learner and the education system. RTE and PwD Act have given some guidelines which are aimed at providing better opportunities for Children with special needs.

In line with these guidelines CBSE has laid down various concessions and exemptions for children with special needs. Teachers were made aware of the term disability, and how it restricts a person’s way of interacting with the world. It can alter how a child processes information and eventually learn. A sensory overload activity was conducted to sensitize them with needs of children with autism, which was followed by a discussion on the developmental domains affected, and what modification in classroom can be done to make it easier for the learner to function.

Another activity was aimed to sensitize teachers with the needs of children with specific disability, 6 phonemes in the English languages were replaced with other sounds. Teachers were asked to read a passage following the new rules. It turned out to be a tedious task. A discussion emanated from it, about how difficult it would be for learners to perform simple academic tasks too. The session was wrapped up by discussing what teachers can do in the classroom to make learning easy and engaging for learners.

A short video by UNICEF was shown to conclude the session, which reflected that every child needs a safe place, a place where he or she can explore things without worrying about failure and judgement.

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