MY SCHOOL by Dr .Nilesh Gopal das Joshi (reading books for 7 year olds .TXT) 📖

of the personality of the child. While selecting a site for the school and planning its layout, due consideration must be given to the provision of spacious playgrounds. Our schools should be guided by the philosophy of universal participation in games and sports. Games and sports is an essential part of the total education. Play is accepted as the natural agency of education. Schools therefore, should provide open spaces for playgrounds. The Education Commission says “Playgrounds and open space student’s recreation are essential. It may not always be easy to secure enough playground and open spaces in a crowded city, but such open spaces as are available must be conserved to be utilized by groups of schools, if necessary. It is desirable that in all cities, a committee representative of the school management, headmaster, city authorities and others interested in the physical welfare of the students together with representatives of the state should be organized to promote ’play center movement ‘and from time to time see that the playground available in the city are effectively used by the school-going population”. LIBRARY

Every school should maintain a library with the aim to encourage readership among students. It will also help in the development of instructional programme. In the changing pattern of today’s education, library is considered to be the most powerful media to promote self-education, to acquire information and to provide research facilities.

Location of the library

The school library has been regarded as the heart of the school. It is the hub of the academic life of the school. A school without a library is just like a body without a soul. The library should be centrally located with respect to classrooms. It should be large enough to serve the needs of the schools. The library room should have adequate natural light with sufficient windows for proper ventilation. It should be attractive, colorful and inviting. It should have a rich stock of books. Where resources permit, reading room should be separate from the main library. It should be well equipped with furniture.

Functions of school library

The library should prepare cards, catalogue and arrange them properly. It should exhibit new books that are purchased from library grant to attract the students. It should create a conducive reading atmosphere to encourage students to read general books. It should promote inter-library cooperation by contact and visit to others school libraries. It should organize an orientation programme by arranging lectures to explain the importance of library in school life. THE HOSTEL BUILDING

The building should be single storeyed with a quadrangular shape. The living rooms of the students, the kitchen and the dining hall should be properly located. The study room of the students should be equipped with wall-shelf, chair, table and other things. There should be proper ventilation facility with sufficient doors and windows. Hostel life, if provided to the students, enables them to acquire many good qualities like cooperation, self-dependence, justice, economy etc. A school hostel should be housed in a proper building with good sanitary arrangements. It should be within the school compound, in a quiet corner. Bath rooms and washing rooms may be placed at the back. The main gate should be separate to be closed at night. Superintendent’s quarters may be located at a little distance from the main gate. Necessary furniture may be provided to each student.

CLASSROOM

To make the physical plant of education adequate and efficient, it would be desirable to give top priority to classroom accommodation. Each section should have a separate room. The classroom should be ideal and a workable one according to the present need, where new teaching devices like audio-visual instruction, laboratory work, discussion and debate etc. are followed. The desirable space at present is 25-35 sq,ft for each student.

The classroom should have shelves to keep the teaching materials and books. Black boards should be provided for teaching programmes. The classrooms should have a pleasant look.

ASSEMBLY HALL

According to the local need, a big assembly hall should be there in the school campus to accommodate all the students of the school, the teachers, guests and parents on special occasions. Activities like drama, debate, exhibition, meetings etc. are to be arranged there. It should be located on the ground floor. It is in fact a multipurpose room which can be put to various uses from time to time. At one time it is the examination hall, at some other time it is the assembly hall, or hall for film shows, or exhibition room, or hall for various functions and co-curricular activities, or gymnasium, or meeting room for general lecture, or refreshment room or community centre etc.

The hall should ensure easy access for both pupils and public, safety of gatherings, easy access from corridors and adjacent classrooms, freedom from disturbance and accessibility to parking. It should have good acoustics.

The size of the hall varies from school to school. The standard size is 60 feet in length, 40 feet in breadth and 30 feet in height. Its size should be such that at the time of general functions it can accommodate at least 50% of the total school population.

It should be well equipped with suitable furniture, stage, dias, sound and light system, fans and exhaust fans. There should be a permanent arrangement of seats and furniture so that any programme can be organized at a short notice. The hall should be well decorated with portraits, paintings, pictures etc.

THEOFFICE ROOM

The office room should be centrally located with rooms for the headmaster, waiting room for the visitors, an office room for the clerical staff, store room with shelves and wall cupboards for office. The school office should have a well-organized office with computers, duplicating machine, rubber stamps, wall clock etc.

BLACKBOARDS

An important equipment for classroom teaching is the blackboard. A true teacher is one who knows the use f blackboard. A wall blackboard and the easel blackboard are considered to be the best. It can be moved from place to place and can be used outside the classroom. Both sides of the board can also be used. The blackboard should be located where the written work by the teacher will be visible to all. Light should come to the board from the front side. It should therefore be kept away from the window. Dark black or green color should be painted on the black board. The blackboard should be washed daily before and after the school. Dusters should also be used by the teacher while teaching. The blackboard should be at an easy distance from the teacher.

CUPBOARD

To keep the articles like maps, dusters, registers, reference books, pictures, models etc., a cupboard is necessary for the classroom. It should be fixed in the wall. If properly arranged, the furniture and equipment will make the classroom a learning laboratory. Teachers can make the best use of varieties of instructional materials.

BOUNDARY WALL

The school campus including its playgrounds must be surrounded by a boundary wall, otherwise the maintenance of the whole area and the building becomes very difficult.

GYMNASIUM

It is another justifiable need of a secondary school. It should be spacious enough. Special attention should be paid to the upkeep of appliances and equipment in the gymnasium.

DISPENSARY

Every good school must provide for a dispensary also. It is necessary to treat the emergency cases, give first aid, arrange periodic medical tests for the children and to provide medical aid in routine cases. If possible, it should consist of a room for the doctor, a nursing room and a sick room with one or two beds. A toilet should also be attached to it. It should be adequately equipped and supplied with necessary items and medicines.

STAFF ROOM

This is the common room for the staff. Here the teachers can relax during the free periods, can do correction work, prepare their lessons or hold staff meetings. A separate cupboard or shelf will be provided in it for every teacher to place their books, registers etc. It should have an attached bath room. It will be fitted with notice boards meant for the staff.

Chapter: 9 SCHOOL COMPLEX

SCHOOL COMPLEX

“School complex programmes are taken up to make the maximum use of the human and material resources”.

There is a need for drastic measures in order to make education capable to meet social, economic and political needs of the country. The educationists have recommended a school of institutional complex by which primary schools, secondary schools and colleges are brought closer to one another to enable them to benefit from each other.

WHAT IS A SCHOOL COMPLEX?

According to Indian Education Commission (1964-66)- “The group of schools, built around a secondary school, as the minimum viable unit of educational reform is termed as school complex.”

The Commission further says- “It is possible to provide certain facilities and equipment, which cannot be provided separately to each school, jointly for all schools in a complex”.

A school complex is a cluster of schools. It is a group of neighborhood schools, comprising a number of primary, upper primary, secondary schools and one or more senior secondary schools which function together in an integrated way as one educational unit. These are well-knit schools and they function as one cooperative group for raising the quality of education. The member schools plan their activities in such a way as to give help to and receive help from the sister institutions grouped together in one school complex. The teachers working in the senior and junior schools of the locality can join hands and work together to pool their ideas, efforts and resources for improving the quality of education.

A school complex provides fororganizing subject committee meetings, preparation of teaching aids, inter-school competitions and visits, sharing of library books, laboratory facilities and games material, organizing of refresher courses for the professional growth of teachers and planning evaluation programmes collectively.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF A SCHOOL COMPLEX

Teaching, training and learning takes place in both formal and non-formal situations, enriching the nation’s human resources for individual well-being and social progress. But, the material resources for the improvement of education in India are very much limited. It is therefore, very difficult to establish wee-equipped schools. It is felt that the implementation of school complex can help us to solve this problem to aa great extent. The Kothari Commission recommended to implement the programme of school complex, for certain reasons like:

Breaking the isolation

A school complex aims at breaking the isolation that exists between one school and the other.They will come closer to work for the common cause.

Collective Effort

It will promote joint and cooperative effort among all the functionaries working in these schools. There will be exchange of experiences to prepare common workable policies.

Sharing of Resources

It will make possible sharing of available resources and make their best possible use.

Solving Problems

Common problems will be more effectively tackled through the joint efforts of a school complex.

Common Planning

It provides assistance and opportunity for common and comprehensive planning for the overall functioning of member schools.

Educational Standards

A school complex can make serious efforts for improving the educational standards of the schools belonging to it.

Guidance

Finally, a school complex is a source of guidance for the constituent schools, in the use of better methods of teaching, undertaking projects, organizing co-curricular activities and in institutional planning.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOL COMPLEX

Neighborhood

School complex consists of a number of neighborhood schools in which some primary, secondary and one or more senior schools are grouped together.

Unit for Educational Reform

School complex can be understood