Holistic education

Education in Sri Lanka largely follows the trial and error method – usually in that order. In an ambitious plan, the Education Ministry has decided to extend the school hours from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. This will initially be implemented in 1,000 schools countrywide that will soon be named by the Ministry.

According to media reports, the Minister has stated that the extra one-and-a-half hours would be spent by the students learning English, IT, mathematics and science as well as engaging in aesthetic activities. Nowadays the norm is for children to finish school and then head towards tuition classes or do sports and other extracurricular activities, making this increase of study time for children a challenging one.

Unless education authorities can convince parents that these extra lessons will assist children to pass their exams without the prerequisite number of tuition classes, the result will be more a burden for the hapless students. Tuition has become an essential supplement to studies in Sri Lanka to the extent that parents believe that their children cannot do without them. Under these circumstances, the fate of students will be to not only stay in class for an extra number of hours than their counterparts but also spend more time at tuition places to recoup on their missed lessons.

The promotion of extracurricular activities such as sports, music, art, guiding, scouting or joining the school band will take an even less important place than they do now with children cornered into a class more and more. The opportunities that they have to learn different things, sharpen their talents or even to simply relax after a draining day that on average begins at around 5 a.m. will be lost to them.

How can the authorities assure that this increase of school time will not simply increase the already significant stress on students? Are they to be relegated to book learning for their entire childhood? If subjects such as science and mathematics are taught during normal school hours, then why the need to make them take extra lessons?

Officials have decided to implement this expansion of hours to students above Year Six, no doubt under the assumption that they will be better equipped to handle the work pressure and benefit from the extra tutoring. However, the opposite may become reality. The greatest challenge in modern education is to promote a child’s emotional wellbeing, generally titled EQ, as well as focusing on IQ. These extra classes seem to exclusively focus on the latter with little understanding on how to promote the latter.

Social spaces for children to interact, learn, receive mentoring and promote their understanding of the world are important. For a well-balanced individual to form, he must have freedom to explore his world, interact with it and gain understanding of the social functions that will shape his identity. He must have the time to do community service, engage in religious practices and explore his aesthetic talents. This is what will form a holistic citizen. A child must have the chance to learn on his own about the world around him so that he has the capacity to empower himself through self learning and the ability to think for himself. Are any of these criteria met by spending extra hours in school?

The more a child’s emotional and mental growth is stunted, the less poignant his understanding of himself and the world. This can lead to depressive, narrow-minded adults who do not have the capacity to adapt and grow to become responsible citizens; neither will they have the psychological strength to handle the pressures of modern life.

Education is more than in-class learning and policies must capture lessons from all dimensions to create a multi-dimensional human being.