School Projects —Aid or Hinder Learning!?!?!?

Recently, eminent professor C. N. R. Rao said that India has Examination System and not Education system. He also said desperately, “When will the young people stop taking examinations and do something worthwhile?” This outburst of Prof. Rao was due to several Entrance Examinations at various levels that are prevailing in our country today.

The students of today are very busy preparing for some Examinations or the other. This applies to all the age groups of students, right from KG class till PG course. The system of Education is dominated by Examinations. The intelligence of students is measured by a few hours of these Examinations.

Today, in schools, the number of working days allotted for examinations is more than the number of days allotted for teaching the subjects. Students are interested to learn only in the capsule form, in the form of work sheets or notes or guides. Teachers are also not interested in elaborate and extensive teaching. They have ultimately become very brief and precise in teaching and simply hurry to complete the portion in hand to fit the tight schedule of examinations.

Teachers have become more monotonous because of continuous assessment of answer books, practical records, and home work books for internal assessment, individual projects and group projects of students. There is absolutely no time for them to increase their knowledge. It is very difficult for teachers to venture into teaching by new methods, or to conduct any remedial coaching for weak students.

Today passing an examination is considered more important than acquiring knowledge. Students and parents are only interested in the examinations, home work, and project work as they all add weightage to their final results. Now the situation is that students, parents and teachers are sapped mentally because of tests and examinations.

Few years ago, the focus of education was student and now the focus of education is examinations and the scores involved in it. Class projects are compulsory and students have to actively participate in it to get good grade in the final examinations. The main idea behind the school projects is that the children should learn by doing using their hands and brain simultaneously. But this objective has failed.

Students of all age groups from KG class to twelfth standard in schools across India must compulsorily do the projects. However, only their parents or some elderly persons in their family are forced to complete the projects so that their wards do not suffer in the exam. Alternatively making and selling standard projects has become a commercial adventure for some.

In the past, the project based evaluation was compulsory only for students doing professional courses and not for school going kids. But today project based evaluation has become a compulsory method of assessment of pupils. The method is as follows:

In the Lower Primary classes each kid is assigned a specific project in the form of home work which ultimately becomes parent’s home work. The child simply submits what the parents prepare without understanding the underlying values of the project. But in the upper primary, secondary and in the higher secondary classes projects are given in two forms: Individual project and group project.

In the individual category the child selects any topic that interests him and do some copy paste work. Many of the students take the old note book from their seniors. Only one percent may do something new with some interest. In the group project, teachers give them various topics and divide them into groups to enable them to do the project. But all students are not well equipped. They have to spend money for doing their project or purchasing their projects from the market. Rich parents only can afford the cost.

In case of few students who are not equipped with money and knowledge or educated parents, they struggle and do a shabby work. In a group project all students cannot afford to spend time and money. There are fights and quarrels amongst these students. Some of the students dump the work on other students and leave their group.

Do the schools and the concerned Education Department know about this? What is happening to the completed projects of the students? Does the school keep them? There is no space to keep the children’s projects. These projects are sold off as scrap. A large sum of money, effort, and knowledge is thrown in the dustbin.

The project based evaluation in schools is of no use either to the pupils or to the schools. Those projects which are prepared by the parents or the professionals stand out and get better marks but those projects that are done by the pupils without any help do not stand a chance for good marks. This is gross injustice to the poor students.

Ultimately, only the middle men and the traders who sell standard projects benefit. The students, who buy the project just to get marks, may or may not know anything about the preparation and the execution of the project. Hence, the very purpose of project based learning and evaluation is defeated.

Educators must think of reforming this aspect of school education. Education Department can insist schools and teachers to take up the project work in their regular teaching sessions for teaching a lesson in their curriculum. The project work of school pupils should be a tool for teaching-learning process and it should not be a tool for measuring the knowledge and skill. Here is a suggestion:

Let the teacher decide the projects based on the syllabus for her class. Let the class be divided into groups. Let the children bring the necessary materials to prepare their project. The children should do their projects using their hands and brain together inside their class in the presence of their teachers. Let the weekends be utilized for the project work. Based on their project work the next week’s lesson can be planned. Teachers can now easily assess the performance of each pupil by careful observation.

In this method of group project work in the class room, the school children learn to adjust with their friends. They learn to use their hands and the brain simultaneously. They are happy because they are discovering knowledge. Moreover, involvement of parents, any other elderly person or any professional agency is totally eliminated. Education now becomes child centric as he is fully involved in searching for knowledge and acquiring it by his own efforts.

Students enjoy learning and feel satisfied because they are learning by doing under the guidance of their teacher in the class. The learning objective is achieved fully. This modified form of school projects may be implemented for better teaching-learning practice and will strengthen teacher-pupil relationship.

Now the students will say:

“Tell me I’ll forget; show me I may remember, involve me I will understand”.