-Jyoti Arora
Principal
Mount Abu Public School, Delhi
Homework is dead! It’s a myth. Usually, people treat homework as an extension of the classwork and its
revision, whereas it’s a mean to engage a child into multi-dimensional learning opportunities, as the sole purpose of education is child’s holistic development and to make the child a learner, an explorer, and a
discoverer.
The role of a teacher is very important as a facilitator especially while designing homework as the real objective of homework is to enable a child to observe, explore and think independently. Ideally, a homework should involve skills with academics to make learning more thoughtful and purposeful. The goal should be to provide a platform for varied learning experiences so that the students are empowered with a positive outlook for life and self-confidence. It encourages students to take initiative and responsibility for completing a task and allow parents to have an active role in their child’s education and helps them to evaluate their child’s progress.
I do agree that in this modern way of imparting education, the layout of the homework has to be completely changed from traditional to more practical and application based but it must exist as an integral part of the education system.
It should be used as an opportunity to provide a more holistic approach to develop the skills to handle the challenges and make children better equipped to face situations and challenges. The framework of the homework should revolve around various aspects like research and innovation and should be beyond the restrictions into the real life. Homework is often a contentious issue for students, parents, and teachers.
When utilized properly, homework becomes a valuable tool for reinforcing learning that takes place in the classroom.
It goes beyond saying that the education provided at the elementary level should be stress-free and provide the young learners an opportunity to harness their vital skills so that the learning process is fun-filled and enjoyable. One must realize that every child is unique and blessed with special attributes and different Learning styles. “one size fits all” approach, should be customized and self-directed rather than deadline driven standardized tasks.I must say here that there has been a paradigm shift in the way the home assignments are given now, which are not only making education interesting but is also futuristic in approach. The centralized idea of providing the home task is to make students thoughtful, creative and
productive. We must think about alternates to routine homework such as Group Work, Surveys, observations, Multidisciplinary projects which will help the learner apply the concepts in real life and will assist them in life-long learning and generate interest in the curriculum. The research work provides the learners with the ability to correlate and analyze the data and take decisions which are relevant and appropriate.
I must reiterate that the schools should design the home task that is balanced and user-friendly, insightful and skillful in approach. Such innovative practices will enhance inquisitiveness, alertness and observation power thus making them well-informed thinkers and risk takers which are the valuable attributes of life.
I believe that academic excellence of a child is incomplete without the values so every care is taken that
the task a student does instill certain values in him which is very important for an educator to see.
Being humane with compassion, respect ethics and morals is what every school wants every child to
possess, so homework is indeed instrumental to complement the classroom teachings.T he students
become contributive citizens with competent desire. Moreover, when a child comes in face to face with the real-life situations or applications of the concept taught in class, he naturally gets inspired to know more and gets involved deeply so half of the task of the facilitator in the class gets completed as it is well said that, WELL BEGUN IS HALF DONE.
Homework should be treated as an opportunity for a parent to spend quality time with the child and informal learning of the child which reaps more benefits than the syllabus-defined learning. It makes sure that parents are equal partners in the long journey of Children.
Homework is an essential part of the curriculum, it was there, it is here and it will be there for the future generations to come. education and development. So as I said earlier that Homework is an essential part of the curriculum, it was there, it is here and it will be there for the future generations to come. It is very much alive through its need specific and time specific changes catering to characteristics of dynamism and practicality and it’s objectives of development of kinesthetics and multiple intelligence skills which prove its validity.
So putting rest to my pen I would say that Assigning Home task is a weapon which can sharpen the skills of the students and make them better-equipped learners. In fact, its inclusion in the curriculum will never fade away rather it adds colors to independent thinking and creative ability of the learners and make them shine with an entire luminosity of commitment and dedication.
