Learner Centered Approach To Education – Indian Education System

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India has a rich cultural heritage of the guru-shishyaparampara. Our ancient rishis used various innovative techniques to teach their pupils as is evident from our scriptures. As a result, it is quite surprising that our educational system has been stuck in a stagnant stage for the last two centuries. Many educational institutions still follow the outdated system of education used by the British rulers over two hundred years ago.

Learner Centered Approach To Education :-

While the Indian education system has been stuck in its colonial past, the system of education in the modern world has changed drastically. The traditional teacher-student roles of instructor-recipient have been inverted. The modern approach to education is focussed on the learner and not the teacher. It shifts focus from the teacher to the student. This new approach is called the learner centered approach to education.

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The good news is that the educational institutions in India have finally woken up from their stupor, and many schools have started adopting the learner centred approach in their curriculum. The learner centered approach to education is in step with today’s fast changing world where innovation is not a luxury but a necessity to survive. This approach to education encourages autonomous thought, independent learning and creativity.

Learner Centered Approach To Education
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In a learner centered approach to education, the learner is not taught bit guided to discover meaning from new knowledge and prior experience. The focus of such an education is to develop skills that enable sustained learning and independent problem solving among students.

In  the system of education that puts the interests of  the students at the centre, the student starts playing an active role in her education instead of the traditional passive-receptive role. It is the student who decides what to study, how to study, when to study and how to assess their learning process. This radical approach to education puts the student first, the pace of learning is decided by the student’s individual learning capabilities within a flexible curriculum, unlike the educational methods of yore when children had to keep up with the curriculum regardless of their abilities and interests.

The learner centered approach to education takes into account the individual differences among learners and the teachers are expected to plan their lessons keeping in mind the differing learning abilities of each student. It is the duty of the teacher to facilitate each child in discovering her interests and talents, acquiring and honing important skills and developing her capabilities.

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As a consequence, students become active learners. They learn, not through mere instruction but experience. They find new ways to learn through experimentation.

The student centred approach encourages students to explore their interests and talents. This makes education, not a burdensome experience but a joyful, challenging and engaging one. Since students are the ones in charge of their learning, their learning becomes personalized. They own their successes and failures and this motivates them to achieve knowledge. The knowledge then becomes, not the end result but a motivation for further pursuits of learning.

Another key significance of the learner centered approach to education is that it promotes peer learning. Peer learning, as a learning strategy, has proven to be very successful in helping children gain knowledge. Even slow learners have been known to excel in a group. Peer learning takes away the pressure of performing for an adult and gives children an incentive to complete the task at hand. Collaborating with kids with different learning capabilities develops important social skills among kids. The kids learn more from each other than any instruction or sensitization coming from adults can achieve. Peer learning among a group composed of learners with different capabilities helps impart values like compassion, collaboration, competition and leads to innovative ideas from the part of the students to complete the given task.

Learner Centered Approach To Education
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As learner centered approach to education encourages a more inclusive classroom, the approach promotes diversity inherently. The very culture, environment and methods of instruction in a student centred education system promotes unity in diversity. Children from varying social, economic, cultural and religious backgrounds with differing learning capabilities contribute to a healthy learning environment where each student is unique and is taught according to her learning needs.

Top Schools in Gurgaon  have now started adopting the learner centered approach to education in a bid to upgrade their curriculum and the results are showing great dividends. Schools like Rishi Public School, Shikshantar School, Scottish High International School and many others are in the forefront of this growing trend.

The learner centered approach to education is a positive step towards a more equal, inclusive and developed future. The approach provides a holistic education to the students. It provides equal focus to the intellectual, physical, social and emotional progress and well-being of the students. As a result, such students grow up to be well-rounded persons having a sound intellect and compassionate nature.