Schools try to make start of 15-yr journey comfortable for beginners
Times of India | 1 April 2024
Kolkata: Several city schools and those on the outskirts are going out of their way to make it comfortable for beginners who will be commencing their 15-year school journey this week.
South City International School and Shri Shikshayatan School have decided to call beginners from 9 am, scheduling their classes in a different slot from the rest.
Shri Shikshayatan School will start its new session from April 3 for classes I-XII while those below class I will join a week later.This year, Shri Shikshayatan has introduced a nursery section for those aged two, while South City International School has introduced a toddler section for children aged one and a half years.
South City International principal Satabdi Bhattacharjee said, “The school commences from 8 am but they are coming an hour later as we don’t want beginners to step into a crowded campus.” Shri Shikshayatan School principal Sangeeta Tandan said, “They are too small and have never been to school. So, they don’t have the habit of waking up early in the morning. Initially, they will stay for an hour and we will plan accordingly based on the weather conditions.”
A number of school teachers and principals said that in the last few years they have been noticing that pre-primary kids get accustomed with the system quickly. “These kids are very smart and they are familiar with the school and its atmosphere,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
Some schools have pre-poned the April session and started from March-end. DPS Newtown has started its new session in a phased manner and nursery children joined on March 28 while St Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnangar, has started from March 15.
Priyanka Gupta, parent of a lower KG student, said, “Being a mother, I was apprehensive about the first day of my kid in the new school though he went to a Montessori school. But he was very smart and walked into the school along with a teacher after leaving my hand at the entry point. He is enjoying his school and friends and my son is also very jovial in nature.”
Parent of a nursery kid at St Augustine’s Day School, Shreyashi Khasnabis, said, “First one week was tough for me because she never went to Montessori school. In the first week she cried a lot and I was very tense. But after a week, she started enjoying her school and missing school teachers and friends on holidays.”
Schools are also focusing on fun-based and activity-based learning to make kids get familiarised with the school atmosphere. “We conducted a half-an-hour online class before starting physical classes so that they get to know their teachers. Classes are basically activity-based, including playing activities,” said St Augustine’s Day School principal Rodney Borneo.
Counsellor Sucharita Ghosh said, “ Parents should make it a habit to drop their kids to school even if they refuse to go. They will settle down slowly.”