What is education? Is it the filling of a pail or is it the igniting of a fire or is it leading the future generations to that juncture from where they will eventually take over from us? Well, there definitely isn’t a single answer that can explain something that is a lifelong process. However, at DPS Jaipur, there are certain ground rules that we adhere to, to do the best that we can for our students.
Our first and foremost step in the journey called education is to steer our students to ask questions rather than just answer them. It is our endeavour to encourage our students and guide them towards the ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’. Only then, will they be able to enjoy real learning and only then, will we be satisfied as teachers. Curiosity is God’s greatest gift to mankind and as such has great meaning in this cosmos. Curiosity is another name for the ‘way forward’. It is only a curious mind that will take the human race to the next level and it is our duty in schools to encourage our students to be those curious minds. The greatest learning in life comes from asking questions because we ask only when we want to know and not when we are forced to know. We want our students to want to know.
Technology or rather the careful handling of technology is another key area that schools must adapt to, in today’s scenario. With knowledge available at the click of a button and becoming more freely accessible than ever before, we at schools need to guard against this explosion. Knowledge without wisdom is a dangerous thing and to teach our students to handle technology and the explosion of knowledge with wisdom is another challenge that we as teachers and parents must be prepared to deal with.
With technology shrinking the world and creating friends across continents one would have thought that the world will become one big family. Ironically that is not so. Tolerance for others’ way of life, tolerance for inadvertent errors made by others is slowly but surely being replaced by an inexplicable, all- consuming intolerance. To be sensitive is divine and an insensitive human being is a curse to humanity. We are no better than animals if others’ sufferings do not disturb us. To the manor born is no achievement but to look beyond the manor is. Just because we are used to a certain way of life, it does not mean that that is the only way of life. To expose our students to the lives of the less privileged and to guide them towards being sensitive to their fellow beings is another area that we must pay attention to. All students must realize that caring for those less privileged must become a part of their lives. As a school we aim to help our students become valuable citizens of the world rather than just successful human beings, for a truly successful human being is he who does something of value for the society with his success. To think beyond the self is what we want to instill in our students.
The Math, the English, the Science etc. are taught in every school. But we are not an ‘every’ school. We are in the process of molding our students in to individuals who think, create, discover and lead. We believe and follow the precept that the day we cease to evolve and grow, we cease to live. It is with this philosophy in mind that we plan to gently urge our students to take the road not taken, for only when we take the path that is unchartered will we lead the world beyond.
As always – a school excels when it functions in partnership with the parents. Life is a relay, but unlike a relay, once the baton is passed on to the next runner – the responsibility of the previous one does not end. The parental responsibility goes beyond just paying the fees and sending the child to the school. It is a never ending participatory effort and must be consciously worked at. I hope that the parents extend this hand so that we are able to give off our best. We are not just looking at engineers, doctors, lawyers, bureaucrats and the other professionals. We are looking for people who will make a perceptible change to the world they live in. We are looking for potentially great human beings. And we are sure we will educate our students to be such human beings at Delhi Public school, Jaipur.