THE OTHER CLASS STRUGGLE

HERE does teaching end and learning begin? Or should that be the other way around? I asked myself these profound questions last week as news arrived from Kerala of a small step with revolutionary intent.

- MADHAVAN NARAYANAN

HERE does teaching end and learning begin? Or should that be the other way around? I asked myself these profound questions last week as news arrived from Kerala of a small step with revolutionary intent. Ramavilasom Vocational Higher Secondary School at Valakom decided to remove the concept of 'backbenchers' by introducing a circular seating arrangement in classrooms.

Human beings are quite inertial—it takes some fresh inspiration to turn things around. As it happens, the south Kerala school was jolted by a Malayalam movie, Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, to do away with traditional rows of benches and bring in single rows along the four walls of a classroom where every kid looks like a side-bencher.

The movie's ideas have also crossed borders. While a Punjab school jumped eagerly on the idea, a circular from the education department in Tamil Nadu ran into rough weather. Tamil Nadu has insisted on implementing a somewhat semi-circular arrangement resembling the Tamil letter pa as a symbol of open minds after some social media protests on the ground that it was impractical.