Summer Hands-On Learning Opportunity

Gandhiji's advice that education must teach children to work with their heads, hearts and hands has been almost totally ignored by the omniscient framers of post-independence India's education policies. However, it's not too late to teach generation next to adopt a DIY (do-it-yourself) culture starting this summer vacation

- KHUSHBOO NEHAAL JASHNANI, MINI P. & CYNTHIA JOHN

Among all major countries with industrial aspirations, India has the worst DIY (do-ityourself) culture. While most American, German, and European households are equipped with a garage or basement bristling with tools such as drills, workbenches, an array of spanners for men and increasingly women to fix motor cars, motor bikes, leaky kitchen sinks, roofs and electrical wiring and Japanese menfolk spend hours in designing meticulous rock gardens using an array of sophisticated tools, this DIY culture is almost totally absent in Indian society.

Perhaps because of the iniquities of the Hindu caste system, and the easy availability of cheap labour, it's rare for middle class men to be able to repair a minor car engine or a domestic electrical circuit fault. Gandhiji's advice that education must teach children to work with their heads, hearts and hands has been almost totally ignored by the omniscient framers of post-independence India's education policies. However, it's not too late to teach generation next to adopt a DIY (do-it-yourself) culture starting this summer vacation.

In our March issue on the eve of summer holidays, we featured a cover story recommending some enjoyable, enriching summer activity options for children. They included a variety of summer camp options such as robotics classes, outdoor nature tours, and college readiness programmes. This month, we present Part II of recommended summer activityoptions - DIY activities enabling children to learn with their hands.