I often get to hear about ‘fearless teaching environment’, a phrase educationists and academicians have made popular these days. I do not know how well it has been implemented in our schools. If it is all about teaching the students without assaulting them physically in the classroom, I can see some positive changes as teachers no longer seem to be entering the classroom wielding canes and pipes unlike our school days when the teacher most feared by the students was considered to be doing a good job by the school administration. At present, the fear of being physically beaten up in the classroom may have been lessened but the fear of exams and bad results is still haunting the students[break]
Competition and the thriving need for academic excellence are supposed to be the guiding principles of the academic environment of our schools.
Competition is not a bad practice in itself. At a certain level, it motivates students to explore their potentialities and give their best. But as we judge the students entirely on the basis of their academic competitiveness and start treating them accordingly, it will certainly create fear inside them. Be it the fear of not being first in the exam or not making it to the ‘pass’ list at all. Either way it is plucking the beauty off their life. Education is supposed to give knowledge and empower students to face the challenges in life but as they are too concerned with the exams and results, neither of that happens. As adults, we too live in constant fear. Fear of losing someone we think we love, fear of losing a job, fear of gaining weight. The list goes on. We inherited this fear long ago, maybe during kindergarten when we were told that unless we get certain marks, we shall be left behind in the same class. It’s the same fear we are carrying with us.
It is said that we develop most of our behavioral patterns during early childhood. School is considered our second home. It should be a place where students are encouraged to bring out their intelligence, not just academic but also social, literary and musical. School should be the place where children learn about co-ordination among themselves, not only competition. Schools should be more than the place where one learns about some mathematical theories or chemical equations; they should be places where students explore the other dimensions of education like moral, social and emotional dimensions. Through sports, various students clubs and other activities, students learn the importance of team work and can build leadership qualities in them. More importantly, it helps them to overcome the fear caused by the so called underperformance in the academic tests and prepares them for a greater test of life. One may not always need those theories but the life skills learnt in the school are needed in each step of life.
The writer is a graduate of Bachelor in Business Administration from Tribhuwan University.
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