Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Nov 30: Education is the powerful tool to empower people, to challenge their reasoning powerand intellectual capability. Sadly, the present education system in our country achieves just the opposite - with its social taboos, overemphasis on academic performance, primacy to established ideas without giving an opportunity to question, rigid systems and importance given to rote learning in the pursuit of marks. This has resulted in stiflingchildren’s creativity and has sidelined the power of rational, independentas well as scientific thinking.
Prathyush Poduval
Sumith
Adithya Prakash
CFAL in Mangaluru
Though the situations appear quite gloomy,it is refreshing to note that there are certain exceptions to the established norms. There are quite a few institutions which have deviated from the mundane by choosing the less trailed path of using innovative and creative methods and techniques to encourage critical thinking and learning among children, in the process making learning more real and fun-filled. In Mangalore, Centre for Advanced Learning (CFAL) and Early Learning Centre (ELC) with its capacious and beautiful campus located at Bejai-Kapikad, Kottara Cross Road, Mangalore, has been creating ripples in the field of education for quite some time now with its students achievingoutstanding performancein some of the toughest competitive exams for medical, engineering, math and pure sciences. ELC is a kindergarten for our youngest citizens and CFAL is an after-school learningcenter for students from classes 1st to 12th standard. This year, the group has also established a premier Pre- university college called as The Learning Centre PU college.
As soon as you enter the tastefully designed campus of Centre for Advanced learning (CFAL), there is a certain intense feeling that you experience, a feel that you are about to witness a completely new concept of dealing with education dissemination. And when you see the students or interact with the Program Coordinators, it is not difficult to establish that there is a revolutionary spirit in the air.
CFAL whose main aim is to make Math and Science fun and interesting and develop a strong foundational base, has hit the bull’s eye tasting extraordinary success despite adopting unconventional methods of teaching students. Recently, one of its students Prathyush P Poduval was one among 5 students and the only student from South India to represent the country has won the silver medal in the International Olympiad in Astronomy & Astrophysics (IOAA- 2018) held in China. Aditya Prakash represented India in International Math Olympiad (IMO) in 2017 held in Brazil. He was the only student from Karnataka and one among the only 6 students selected from India. Unlike many heavily publicized private Olympiads, thesenational level selectionsare equivalent to selection in an Olympics for sport and Karnataka has got a selection in Math Olympiad after 21 years! Of course, many CFAL have been consistently topping the examinations in JEE (both advanced and main), NEET, CET, KVPY, NTSE and other pure science entrance exams year after year. Sumith who is pursuing his MS-PhD at Stanford University now was the topper of Karnataka in JEE-Advanced 2014. This year, ALL selections in Mangalore in NTSE were CFAL students. For the past 10 years, the highest numbers of selections in the district in the scholarship examinations KVPY and NTSE (National Talent Search Examination) are from CFAL. Several ex-students of CFAL are pursuing higher studies in some of the most prestigious institutes in India and across the world and frequently come back to teach and mentor their peers.
Developing passion for learning
So, what is the secret formula adopted by CFAL to help students, to excel in their chosen field? ‘Be your best!’ is the tagline of the institute that guides it in its journey of pursuing the uncommon and unchartedpath towards excellence. Severine Rosario, Program Coordinator at CFAL is quite candid when she says “Our aim is not to train students to get good marks- we believe that marks will come as a byproduct of the deep understanding of the subject. “Be your best” is our motto and our focus is to help students excel in whatever they do. We focus is on understanding the concepts and we never use rote learning techniques- instead, we adopt easy and simple methods of teaching and hands-on learning techniques so that students are able toeasilycomprehend conceptsand also become capable of thinking independently. We are happy that our methodology has proved to be quite rewarding for our students.”
Since their inception, ELC and CFAL haveadopted a holistic and open-ended approach to education. “We started in a small way in 2009 and from the beginning we focused on small classes and following up witheachstudent. We don’t believe in the factory- model type of training students- we try and personalize our teaching and learning.For 1-6th standard students, we have lot of math puzzles, games, makers space, experiments, lab, outdoor work, logical reasoning, activity-based learningetc. which help children to think beyond textbooks and build a solid foundation. Students from classes 7 to 10 are taught Advanced Mathematics, Advanced Sciences - Physics, Chemistry, Biology and General mental ability (GMAT). Understanding of concepts and application of thought is emphasized. From Xth standard onwards, the centre focuses on competitive exams and creates an atmosphere of excellence.We try to inculcate the spirit of self-learning and peer learning among children, which works wonderfully in bringing out theirinherent talentssays Vijay Moras, another programme coordinator at the centre.
ELC was started to change the direction of early education in Mangalore. While everyone agrees that childhood should be associated with joy, love and learning, the reality stands in stark contrast. An artificial environment is created where children are segregated on the basis on age, young childrenare expected to sit on a desk for long hours, are rarely allowed to go outside their assigned room and authority is used created to enforce 'discipline'. Children are subjected to tests, textbooks, cursive writing and rote learning at a young age. The ability to write is considered as the most important marker of success and reading, peer learning, exploration, music, dance, art, stories, dramatics and free play are side-lined. Science is ignored. Libraries for young children are non-existent. Classrooms are overcrowded and teachers are not adequately empowered. As early as Kindergarten, emphasis is placed on standardization, marks and exams.
ELC aims to change this approach. With its child-centric approach, ELC provides facilities which are intellectually stimulating and artistically alive, which in turn paves the way to a child’s all- round development. It has an extensive library to help the child develop a strong reading habit. To encourage a child’s creative potential, ELC provides diverse avenues in the form of art, craft, dance, music, pottery, theatre activities, field trips and outdoor activities. ELC also provides extensive training to teachers in order to enable them to understand children better.
While Montessori Method is regarded as one of the best methods of learning as it encourages self-learning through a self-directed and self-correcting approach, there is a shortage of teachers who are trained in the true Montessori Method. There are many schools in Mangalore who say they impart Montessori Method of schooling but there are no authorizedschoolswhich adheresto the Montessoriphilosophy in it’s true sense.
To overcome the lacuna of not having trained teachers, ELC Kindergarten has entered into a partnership with Indian Montessori Centre (IMC) for providing training to teachers so as to improve the quality of early education in Mangalore. Improving the quality of early childhood education where children cannot speak up for their rights is rests largely on well-trained educators who understand the science of how children learn.
No Shortcut to Success
The founder of CFAL was Severine Rosario who realized that though our children are intelligent and hardworking, they lack the right kind of guidance at the right time. It was a personal experience that made Severine give a deep thought to the entire concept of teaching. She realized thatwhen her sons could come out with flying colours in the IIT entrance exams with proper preparation and guidance, their equally capable friends and classmates couldn’t make it. At this juncture she feltthat a sturdy conceptual foundation, proactive teachers and proper guidance are needed to help children achieve greater heights. This thought process resulted in the creation of CFAL and since then CFAL has been consistently achieving amazing resultsand providing an appropriate platform for students toexcel by giving vent to their creativity.
Vijay Moras says there is no shortcut to success and CFAL and ELC’s emergence as an ‘institute with a difference’ is the cumulative effect of the uncompromising standards of teaching and creating the best environment for learning. “Our main aim is to make learning enjoyable by creating an affable and positive environment where children can unleash their imagination, learn together as a community and showcase their creative dynamism. Most schools in the region focus primarily on board exams and marks but this does not enable the child’s creative potential. Many parents believe that the pursuit of school marks is of utmost importance but realize too late that these board marks do not help the student get into the best institutions in the country or abroad. Our teachersand creative environment make learning an interesting activity. We focus on cooperation, peer learning and self-directed learning. When it comes to quality, we have never compromised. We try each day to live up to our motto of ‘Be your best!’“That in short sums up the tremendous success achieved by CFAL and ELC in a very short period.