Education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable society, and promoting development of the nation. The quality of education we receive affects the way we think and process information throughout our lives. It is very important to have practical and experiential learning to equip a child to live in the real world.
The modern-day education system, brought to India in the 1830s, was designed in the Industrial Age mainly to churn out factory workers. Further, it also does not encourage research, innovation, and creativity. Hence it fails to equip students with the necessary mind set to become entrepreneurs (self-made) who can contribute significantly to the growth and development of the economy of a developing country like India.
To tackle the problems of the current education system of India, National Education Policy 2020 has brought in various reforms. It is based on the principle that education must not only develop cognitive capacities - both the ‘foundational capacities ’of literacy and numeracy and ‘higher-order’ cognitive capacities, such as critical thinking and problem solving – but also social, ethical, and emotional capacities and dispositions.
Current infrastructure in most schools does not support experiential and activity-based learning. When there is such a big shift in pedagogy, change in infrastructure needs to be taken in consideration to support the vision of NEP2020. For the shift in pedagogy from textbook learning to competency-based learning, it is critical to have the space (classroom) that supports and encourages the latter.
After research and analysis of the importance of movement and activity in learning, the project was done in collaboration with a progressive learning school. The objective of the collaboration was to get realistic constraints and requirements while delivering a product that fits into the brief of the school.
