Children learn better if left free after school: Survey

Notes sent home to parents by teachers generally evoke consternation. But a missive sent out last month by an elementary school teacher in Texas may alarm her own brethren instead given that she is advocating a “no formal homework” policy.

Many of her counterparts-in India, in particular-would probably baulk at any such radical change in classroom conventions. The very idea of pupils only finishing the remnants of classwork at home and spending more time instead having meals with their families, reading together and playing outdoors would be anathema.

Indeed, the Texan teacher’s contention that those non-academic activities contribute more to children’s success than lengthy home assignments rocks the very foundation of pedagogy, at least as practised in most schools in India.

That a recent survey revealed that less than a third of India’s school going children read even two books a month unrelated to their curriculum shows the extent to which schoolwork overwhelms students’ lives in this country. And international research pointing to prolonged homework having diminishing academic returns, has obviously left Indian pedagogy unconvinced.

The related finding that ‘free reading’ has a salutary effect on scholastic performance, however, should make Indian educationist turn over a new leaf.