Motivation Matters

At school, my son had a keen interest in management studies and would often talk to me about the intricacies of managing a business. Some of the things he brought up never stayed with me; accounting fundamentals and the different types of inventories did not really interest me. However, the area of motivation was thought-provoking. 
Theories of motivation formed a common ground between my son and me. It was something under the wide umbrella of psychology that connected the fields of education and management. As it turns out, being able to subtly manipulate the behaviour of individuals that you are responsible for - be it as a teacher or a manager - is quite a handy skill to have. 

Herzberg’s dual-factor theory particularly piqued my curiosity. Herzberg theorises that there exist two groups of factors within a workplace: factors related to job satisfaction and a separate set of factors that, in their absence, can lead to dissatisfaction. To simplify, some factors in the workplace can motivate workers to perform better, whilst others contribute to a worker feeling content with their job but do not encourage workers to increase their level of performance. 

My understanding of Herzberg’s theory may be more simplistic than that of a management veteran, but it seemed to me like the factors that lead to job satisfaction were mostly intrinsic, whilst the other set of factors were extrinsic. This idea of ‘motivational’ factors being closely linked to intrinsic satisfaction would actually go quite a way towards understanding the differences I observed in Australian and Nepali students. 
In Australia, I noticed that students in primary school classrooms seemed to be a lot happier, and in many ways, a lot more engaged than students in the same setting in Nepal. The smaller, more activity-based teaching-learning dynamic probably contributed to this, but applying Herzberg’s ideas to the context of the classroom gave me new insight.

Students in Australia are introduced to autonomy from very early grades, and are progressively given more freedom when it comes to choosing the ways in which they learn the topics taught in the classroom. Effort is always rewarded, and it is this effort that Australian schools prioritise when it comes to recognition -- not raw results alone. Australian schools were, and are, adept at tapping into students’ intrinsic satisfaction to motivate them and thus boost morale. The same cannot be said for the vast majority of schools in Nepal. 

Schools in Nepal, even today, are usually designed as factories. You put the students in, and a mechanical one-fits-all teaching-learning environment exists all the way through from primary to Master’s level, the output is considered to be students’ performance on exams. Autonomy is out of the question; students are spoon fed and encouraged to score more in examination. Just like a factory, the only thing counted to be results. Efforts, creativity, and the ability to take on challenges using new approaches all take a back seat. The focus is mostly on extrinsic factors.

When trying to bridge the gap between our education system and those of more established countries, then, it seems imperative for us to also consider reforming the ways in which we train our educational professionals to motivate students. Before chasing results, we must ensure that students enjoy the process of learning in the first place. Prolific results will inevitably follow if we are able to maintain a high level of motivation in our classrooms.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, March 23, 2018 ) 

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The Tuition Trend

"Chhori, tuition padhna jane bela bhayo! Chhito thik para,” I heard my neighbour shouting at her 5 year old daughter, Laxmi, who had come back from her school hardly about an hour ago. I was amused to learn about the little girl’s daily tuition.

Out of curiosity, I called Laxmi to my place the next morning. I asked her what she was leaning at school. She immediately replied, “A, B, C, D…” Then I wrote A, B, C, D…down in the exercise book and asked her to read them aloud. Without looking at the letters she mechanically recited them. Then I pointed at them randomly and asked her to tell me what letter I was showing. She stared at me blankly. Laxmi, who goes to a private school every day and in addition takes tuition regularly, cannot even recognise the initial letters of the alphabet. 
It is not only Laxmi who suffers this way; there are a lot of children in our community who share Laxmi’s fate. 

What is more troublesome is that schools themselves recommend parents to send their young children to additional tutoring; the teachers who teach at the schools are also the ones that offer additional tuition. 
I wonder what those teachers teach the whole day at school if they must again invite the young children to take tuition from them. There is a worldwide debate regarding primary school children being given homework. Our schools are busy giving students the extra burden of tuition on the top of lengthy homework.

A lot of research studies suggest that primary school students do not need homework as such because what they learn in school is enough for them at this stage. In addition, they spend long hours at school, so they need to spend some quality time at home after school. They may want to spend their time with parents or they may want to play with their friends or whatever else. The crucial point is that they must have some free time.

In my opinion, this private tuition trend, particularly for young children, is an extra financial burden on parents and an unnecessary barrier between young children and quality time away from rigorous academic study. If teachers cannot teach what they have been expected to teach at school itself, then what’s the use of sticking to that profession? They must realise that they are not made for teaching and look for other options. 

These days, children’s independent learning skills have been emphasised. Schools must be able to prepare independent learners in a way that helps them become life-long learners as well. Independent learning is possible when an individual is able to think, act and pursue their own studies autonomously, without the same levels of support they receive from a teacher at school. In this scenario, what is the feasibility of private tuition?

Osama Sajid is absolutely correct when he says, “After-school tuitions are a handicap…Once a child develops the habit of getting spoon fed by tuition teachers, his intellectual abilities begin to decline. He no longer strives to find solutions to the problems he faces in his studies, but instead looks towards the aid he expects to receive in the evening,” after school.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, March 16, 2018 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]

Beyond Books

For most Nepali people school is merely a means to bookish knowledge, but the teaching-learning process that takes in a modern day school goes way beyond just books. The role of a school is not simply to develop children’s literacy and numeracy skills; the primary function of schools is to prepare their students for life after the classroom. I can relate this to the “sleepover” programme organised by my son’s school in Australia.

During their time in either the third or the fourth grade, students of the school were invited to a sleepover programme that the school organised within its premises. Many Asian parents were hesitant to send their children there; more so if they had a daughter. I was curious about whether or not my son could spend time away from his parents, even if that only meant a single night, and at the same time I wanted to learn about the purpose behind the event, so I sent him off. 

This “sleepover” turned out to have a lot of hidden meaning. The school wanted to teach students some ‘risk taking’, i.e. to make students more confident, fearless and independent. The school principal clarified, “If we always remain in our comfort zone (family periphery) we may not learn those skills which we need in our later life.” 

Yes, it was a wonderful experience for my son. He spent a good time with his friends from different cultural backgrounds; I am sure they must have exchanged information related to their culture which would help to expand their horizon. In addition, he learned dishwashing, making bed and packing it up. From observing the school’s circumstances I realised that “schooling” has a broad perspective. Children do not go to school only to gain knowledge but they learn various sorts of life skills. It is absolutely true that knowledge is for life – a long term educational goal. 

On the contrary, when I look back to our context, the scenario seems different. In Nepal, students go to school to gain knowledge; and that knowledge is for knowledge’s sake, not for life’s sake. Although the curriculum has emphasised life long goals of education; in practice this has hardly been realised. 

The sleepover is just an example. There are so many other activities which schools can organise to provide students with broader learning experiences. There is a trend of educational tours in Nepali schools as well but they are limited only to “tours.” They are more for fun, and the “educational” portion of the term is often forgotten altogether. The purpose of such tours has not been clearly identified. If students were given some tasks to complete after visiting the places the educational tours would perhaps hold greater value. 

In fact, there is a very limited learning environment within a formal school setting; children can learn a tremendous amount of things from the outer world. Therefore, they must be given opportunities to go outside and explore the world. However, the outdoor activities should not be purposeless – just go out, hang around with friends, have fun, come back and forget everything after some days. Such activities should always be able to challenge students’ thinking process; students should be able to reflect on their world experiences. One way to do this is to assign them a project to complete. Then, they can have fun while achieving something towards fulfilling their life-long educational goals.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, March 2, 2018 ) 

 [The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]

Nepali Time

Everybody talks about the importance of time and punctuality but in the context of Nepal people are hardly ever punctual. Whether it is a workplace or somewhere else it is a tradition to be late and say, "Nepali time." This may indicate punctuality is largely related to culture; it seems like there is an unspoken agreement among Nepali people to not follow punctuality. Therefore, if you ask someone to see you at 10:00 am for instance, the person will appear at 10:30 am by the earliest. You should not be surprised when a meeting begins at 3:00 pm which was supposed to commence at 2:00 pm.

There are, however, exceptions too; particularly in private organizations being late is not a common practice. A handful of people are still available who hate to be not punctual and such people are treated like aliens.

I am someone who has high regard for punctuality. Even if I know nothing happens in time in Nepal I cannot help but be on time and irritate myself with long waits. Whenever I am in a decision making position the first thing I demand from my team members is punctuality.

There are numerous reasons behind people failing to be punctual. Whatever they say, their lateness shows that they are unreliable and cannot respect others' time and efforts.

Quite recently, I read an article which listed a number of drawbacks to being late. One such drawback was the fact that a lack of punctuality does not make one an important or special person. It is acceptable and unavoidable to be late once or twice but being late consistently makes people unreliable as mentioned above. It does not show you value other people. Being late consistently implies you are rude and lack all consideration and respect for others as well as for the commitment you made.

If you make a commitment to do something at a certain time then you should stick to this, otherwise why be in a false position? We have invited many things from the Westerners in our lifestyles, for example, the way we celebrate birthdays has changed; we have started to observe  Christmas, Easter and Halloween. We do not hesitate to celebrate New Year twice a year. Then, why can't we learn the simple practice of punctuality from them?

We may think that by being late to an appointment we add value to ourselves, which is quite a misconception. In a modern society, people have busy lifestyles. They have set plans to do different things on a daily basis and they do not want to jeopardise their schedules to deal with your tardiness.

Punctuality is one of your significant personality traits which demonstrates you are a well-disciplined, reliable, trustworthy and committed person, who does only not respect their own time but others' as well. Next time, when you need to see someone at a certain time don't be late with the lame excuse of "Nepali time." 

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018 ) 

 [The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]

Educate the Parents

Parents have a significant role in their children’s learning particularly in early years. Therefore, it is said that home is their first school and parents are their first teachers. It is a place where they start to realise the importance of learning. For this, parents can do a lot of things together with their children. For instance, they can explore nature together, read together, cook together, and count together. They can set an example by showing children good manners and appropriate social behaviour. In fact, they support children to learn with everyday life experiences so that the latter should be curious towards learning.

Of course, the parents’ education level determines how they define learning, although some sort of social pressure is usually involved, too. Unfortunately, the community where I have been working currently has a majority of parents who have limited education and their definition of “learning” is also restricted within learning alphabet, numbers and homework alone at children’s very early learning stages.

It has hardly been three weeks since they first sent their three year olds to school and yet they are already demanding that their children should be able to do the things mentioned above. Let’s take a couple of examples.
One parent whose child has not developed her speaking skill fully comes to me and says, “Ma’am, my daughter does not have enough homework; I want her to learn A, B, C…quickly.” For her, homework means writing. The poor girl is learning to speak and the mother wants her to write A, B, C…and 1, 2, 3…Another counter argues, “My daughter knows A, B, C, 1, 2, 3 and all nursery rhymes and even some writing,” to my statement, “She is very young, so do not pressure her; let her learn at her own pace.” 

In contrast to parents’ opinions, my observation indicates that these children are learning many things after coming to school. Some examples include: to greet their teachers and friends; to wash their hands before and after eating their meals; to go to the toilet independently; to take off their shoes before entering their classroom; to follow their daily school schedule; to make friends and many more. They all have also been exposed to literacy and numeracy which they have been learning according to their individual learning capacity. Unfortunately, parents do not seem to notice their children’s development in other aspects except for in reciting the alphabet, numbers or nursery rhymes. 

Research suggests that if parents positively involve themselves in their children’s learning, the latter’s achievement level will be higher in comparison to those children whose parents do not do so. It is high time the parents were educated about what learning means in the contemporary world and how children gradually develop their learning abilities and how these abilities differ from each other. They should be discouraged to compare their child with his classmates. If parents are not aware of their role to help their children to flourish in different sectors, it will be hard for children to explore their potential to the fullest. Rote learning alone is simply not good enough for survival in the 21st century.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018 ) 

 [The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]