Divaswapna

DIVASWAPNA

By group 1 ( Heena Saini , Neha Verma, Preeti (1220), Ritu Rana,

Vijeta, Nikita, Himanshi)

About The Author

Gijubhai Badheka

Girijashanker Badheka, generally known as Gijubhai, the most outstanding personality in the field of pre-primary education was born on November 15,1885.

He began his career by practicing as a high court lawyer.

In 1913, the birth of his son set him thinking about child upbringing and child development.

Looking for new ideas in education, he discovered the writings of Maria Montessori. So impressed was he, that he left his legal practice to devote himself to children and education.

In 1920 he founded the first preprimary school – Balmandir.

Introduction

 Divaswapna was first published in Gujarati language in 1932 and was translated into different languages subsequently.

The book was broadly divided into four main parts -- the experiment begins

- the progress of the experiment

- at the end of the term

- the last gathering

These four chapters bring into light the concepts, the experiment, the challenges and the outcomes.

Background

The author, Mr. Gijubhai Badheka, was a strong antagonist of the existing education system which he incidentally called in his book “the old servile system”. 

 He was strongly against the kind of school whose sole objective was to teach and guide students to overcome the ultimate test at the end of the year called the “examination”.

He has propounded a new and different perspective, concept and method of his own to counter the existing system

He propagated that school should be a place where children feel free to learn, enjoy and like.

Teacher should be like a friend and not feared by children. Children should develop the zeal to learn and experience the joy of learning in the school.

With his enthusiasm to highlight the fault in the existing system through his own concept, he took the extra step in convincing the Education Officer to provide him the opportunity to experiment his concept in the school, which he succeeds with his perseverance.

He has experimented these concepts among the 4th Standard children in a school in Gujarat. This book “Divaswapna” is where he put down into paper his experiences in the entire process.

Challenges

Orthodox teaching method - Rote memorization- Corporal Punishment- Reinforcement

Personal Cleanliness

Physical fitness

Lack of resources

New Methods of Teaching

Mr. Gijubhai introduces number of new technique in teaching, which, others teacher felt very threatening to. However, his new methods of teaching work out very successfully with the children. Through these methods, children developed the art of writing, speaking, orderly behavior, hygiene or cleanliness. In short, children attained the zeal of learning and experience the joy of it.

Humanism concentrate upon the development of the child's self-concept. If the child feels good about him or herself then that is a positive start.

Feeling good about oneself would involve an understanding of ones' strengths and weaknesses, and a belief in one's ability to improve.

Learning is not an end in itself; It is the means to progress towards the pinnacle of self-development, which Maslow terms 'Self-actualisation'.

HUMANISITIC APPROACH

A child learns because he or she is inwardly driven, and derives his or her reward from the sense of achievement that having learned something affords. This would differ from the behaviorist view that would expect extrinsic rewards to be more effective. Extrinsic rewards are rewards from the outside world, e.g. praise, money, gold stars, etc. Intrinsic rewards are rewards from within oneself, rather like a satisfaction of a need.

This accords with the humanistic approach, where education is really about creating a need within the child, or instilling within the child self-motivation. Behaviorism is about rewards from others. Humanism is about rewarding yourself!

STORYTELLING

GAMES AND SPORTS

ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING

LIBRARY

Behaviorism Humanistic approach i.e. child centered

teaching Peer learning Curriculum Attitude

Theoretical Linkages

Peer Learning

Children learn from their peer groups more easily than their teacher.

Students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to others and by participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers.

They develop skills in organizing and planning learning activities, working collaboratively with others, giving and receiving feedback and evaluating their own learning.

Humanistic approach i.e. child centered teaching

Curriculum

Curriculum was started in 1918 All the learning which is planned and guided by the

school or teacher whether it is carried out in groups or individuals. It comes from latin word which means to learn a course.

Indian education curriculum does not explain the primary education as such. Importance should be given to primers and primary education system.

Attitude

Teacher’s attitude towards children matter a lot. Basic trust and understanding must be there.

Teacher should act as a ‘facilitator’ rather than an authoritative figure.

What We liked About Book

Activity based learning Height of teaching Montessori Approach Breaking the orthodox education system

What We Did not like About Book

The story tells about the height of teaching which seems impractical at many points of time.

For instance :

ANTAKDI a game in which students have to recite a poem from the last word like we do in the game of antakshri.

I don’t think students of standard 4 are capable of playing such games in practical.

The story tells how deeply the casteism was rooted in Indian society at that time. Though the caste division is a reality but the time young educationist like laxmiram in story asks about the caste of a particular child to know his background does not seems good to me. He could have asked about child’s father occupation or something else.

"The primary purpose of a school is to guide the child’s discovery of his or herself and his/her world and to identify and mature the child’s talents.

Just as each seed contains the future tree, each child is born with infinite potential. In the article he suggests that many teachers and parents try to be potters instead of Gardeners in moulding their children’s future.” Imagine a school in which sees children as seeds to be nurtured-here the teacher is a gardener who tries to bring out the potential already present in the child. 

The author Gijubhai Badheka in Divaswapna has made an attempt to explain possible areas for developing knowledge and learning skills of a pupil which intern helps all round development of the child

Conclusion