Math was painful, honestly. I dreaded that period every day. I break into a cold, hard sweat every time I am reminded of those classes even today. This resulted in me going for my phone calculator even for a simple calculation. However, I do have long lost fond memories of scoring top grades in math during my early classes; so, what changed?
Looking back, I have drawn what I feel is the most plausible conclusion for my math situation. I moved to a new school in 4th standard. This was a massive change for me (moving from Delhi to Kerala), making friends was easy, but the difference in the curriculum was immediately evident in my grades. I went from being an excellent student to above average. The amount of classwork often exhausted me and there was no orientation for the curriculum change. Adding to my misery, the teaching staff turned out to be a mix of passionate, passive and borderline sarcastic bunch. This meant any mistakes committed were met with strict disciplinary actions.
Asking doubts was next to none even though I had many. I never understood why I never asked them and never felt a real passion for the subject. As the years passed, my hatred for the subject grew stronger. By the time I was in 10th grade, my hate turned to dislike (which I believe to be stronger than ‘hate’) as I parted ways with math, and opted for commerce shocking my family and relatives with it.
This story that’s over a decade old, is bound to change by now right? But, to my disappointment, things are not so different even today. In fact, there was a 3-year drop in learning outcomes according to a survey conducted on “measuring student learning” by the Center of Teaching Innovation. Moreover, online learning during the pandemic was not joyful as traditional classrooms according to 45% of 35 lakh students interviewed. The report further goes on to explain how the lack of devices and not being in a school environment made learning difficult for them.
Sure, classrooms now have become smarter with projectors and fancy boards; however, unless there is a conscious shift from a teacher-centric to a student-centric system, and an effort from parents, there will be no measurable learning outcome techniques. This personal experience of mine is what pushed me to create, along with others, something that can eventually make schools productive, and student-centric and enable kids to be street-smart and skilled. We at BeTutelage believe that allowing parents, teachers, students and school management together so that there is transparency in actions and results.
Our analytical tools give a deep analysis and understanding of students’ performance. It provides teachers and parents with the exact steps they need to take whenever they are faced with low learning outcomes.
Improvement by continuous experimentation is the way-to-go to stay relevant and fresh. This enables the students to take back something of value after every class.