No exams till 10, students clean own classrooms: Actor Madhavan approves Japanese school habits that teach children discipline, responsibility and respect

R Madhavan’s social media entries never fail to intrigue fans. The actor, who was last seen in the Tamil biographical drama GDN, recently dropped another interesting update on his Instagram Stories. The post highlighted some distinguished features of Japanese schools, quite contrary to the Indian learning system. At its core, Japanese schools focus on curiosity-driven education that helps a child develop responsibility, discipline, and respect from a young age so that they can find it easier to navigate the real world when they grow older.

How Japanese schools are different from India

As per the post, originally shared by an Instagram account miind.shift, children in Japan do not have to sit for academic tests until they turn 10 years old. The first 3 years of schooling are focused entirely on developing manners, social skills, everyday habits and emotional self-control. Textbook examinations take a backseat, with emphasis given to knowledge and curiosity instead of scores and competition.

Another important lesson imparted to young pupils is respect. Children are taught to treat other people with consideration, regardless of their job, appearance, or financial situation. As a result, many Japanese elementary schools do not have a janitor. The students clean their classrooms, hallways and other shared places themselves.

Japanese schools emphasise growth and responsibility

Instead of viewing cleaning as someone else's job, the children take care of the environment they study in every day as a part of their routine. Through this practice, kids learn that shared spaces belong to everyone. Did you know kids even serve their own meals from the age of 6?

Apart from that, schools in Japan instil fundamental habits in children like punctuality, politeness, cooperation, discipline, and consideration for others, which help them grow into responsible adults who contribute to the world around them. Students are given autonomy to travel in city metros independently, building internal confidence.

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A post shared by Motivation | Mindset | Discipline (@miind.shift)

About R Madhavan's GDN movie

Coming to R Madhavan, the actor’s latest offering GDN is now streaming on Netflix. The film, which was released in theatres on August 7, centres around the legendary self-taught Indian inventor, engineer, and industrialist G. D. Naidu, widely known as the "Edison of India".