Lamia Bagasrawalla Schools are among the most significant structures in a child’s ecological system. Children interact with systems around them such as their families, communities and schools. These interactions provide them with opportunities to enhance their knowledge, build skills and develop belief patterns and attitudes. Schools offer literacy and numeracy skills, but they are also a microcosm of society, reflecting the values, ideas, history and needs of the culture to which children belong. Schools therefore have a larger responsibility of creating a space to facilitate students’ social-emotional, physical, spiritual and psychological development. While there is significant discussion on classroom management and teaching-learning processes that enable students’ socio-emotional learning, there is not much dialogue at the whole school or board level. For instance, while the CBSE has developed life-skills education (LSE) curriculum, it is something that appears as a standalone component. There are no provisions to integrate this within the existing curriculum and school culture. While LSE is conducted, the school is simultaneously creating a high-risk environment for students without offering much support. The day-to-day school time-table and the year-round schedule do not offer much to students for their personal and interpersonal development beyond academics. The school calendars currently are designed around an existing exam schedule. Teachers often approach teaching with a focus on syllabus completion and test preparation (Hindustan Times, 2018). This takes away from the essence of the learning process. The classroom atmosphere is characterized by pressure to excel in exams and this can create unhealthy competition. Students are often left with little or no time for leisure or relaxation. Most students, on an average in India, seem to be engaged in academic related activities including school hours for more than 12 hours a day. They do not engage in physical activities or tasks that will enhance spiritual or psychological wellbeing. Parents, in fact, consider such activities as a hindrance to academic achievement and discourage children from the same. It is well-known that children, especially adolescents, require adequate time for play and leisure to enhance interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and grow into well-adjusted young individuals. Amidst all the academic focus, the importance given to non-teaching activities in the school is then contingent on the time left after accounting for academic teaching hours. This means that schools have very limited non-academic possibilities to offer. It isn’t rare for music, art, dance and physical education classes to be swapped by science, math and other “important subjects”. This also sends across subtle messages to the students about

Phyllis Farias The Webster dictionary defines ‘event’ as ‘something that happens’ an occurrence, and the word ‘process’ as ‘something going on’ or proceeding. A school calendar is packed with activities. The question that needs to be asked is: should the activity be an event or a process? I would like to consider two such activities – Sports Day and Annual Day. The Sports Day in almost all schools has a few “musts” – the march past, the drill displays, finals of a few track and field events, etc. Let’s look at the run up to ‘the day’. A month or so before the actual day the children are herded out to the sports field (if the school has one) on a daily basis and the physical education instructors attempt to coach the children for the march past and drill displays. Children who have two left feet, or lack co-ordination are dropped out and the rest continue to march to the drumbeat and the loud music often in the blazing heat, accompanied by teachers wearing caps or carrying umbrellas. Perfection is the order of the day; hence the practice must go on. Sometime during the month, heats for the track and field events are conducted. No warm ups, no skills or techniques taught, no knowledge of the event they are participating in. Just do. Children who are the best on that particular day are short-listed for the finals. Finally the day arrives. Everything runs like clockwork. Everyone heaves a sigh of relief. Goodbye practice till next year. I am not a doctor or a sports psychologist; however, I have a few concerns. What is the impact of a gruelling month of practice on children who perform, without consideration to fitness, stamina, skills and techniques? Could there be possibilities of physical injuries? Are children taught to compete with themselves or against each other? How does this affect their social interactions thereafter, and what of their mental wellbeing? What is the impact on the self-esteem of the children who have been excluded? How do school boards approve affiliation to schools that do not have a sports field and lack basic infrastructure for a sports and physical education programme? What message do we give our children when we show scant concern for the neighbours who bear the brunt of loud drumbeats and music? There is a need for a well-planned and organized sports programme and a physical education programme that runs throughout the year. Both the programmes have to

Shweta Sharan A few weeks ago, a friend who works as an independent career counsellor in a school in Bangalore had an alarming story to share. She was counselling a 10th grader in a school that has dual syllabi and the student in question told her that she could not take the IGCSE exam in a specific year because her school had forgotten to register her name for the exam. She was missing an entire year due to this confusion. In a country that has three national syllabi and two international curricula, there is bound to be confusion in the way the academic calendar is drawn up, especially when it comes to giving enough time to apply for college exams. How do schools work around this and how much flexibility do they have in terms of organizing the calendar? According to Ms. Priya Ramakrishnan, who teaches biology and chemistry at National Public School, Bangalore, all CBSE schools are provided with mandatory programs to be followed in school, like the Adolescent Education program for example, and it is up to an individual school to balance the compulsories with the extra-curricular activities. “At NPS, we have two calendars – the Program of Work and a regular school calendar. The Program of Work is an academic calendar and outlines how topics and lessons have to be spread across a year. This varies according to the school. The school calendar has all the activities planned for the year, including test dates and events like children’s day and the annual day. It is up to the school to balance this and to work around the CBSE guidelines.” Ms Ramakrishnan says that the 8th, 9th and 10th graders find themselves to be the busiest people in the entire school, due to many activities and academic goals that they try to achieve in the year. “A school can be smart about the calendar and balance things out. We had a student who had to travel due to a football tournament held outside Bangalore and couldn’t attend school for 25 days. All of us gave him remedial classes as soon as he came back. We also have so many Olympiads to juggle throughout the year, apart from competitive exams like the IAIS, PSAT and IGKO. In the end, this constant see-sawing teaches children how to manage time, organize themselves and other important life skills.” Common curriculum, splintered timelines While the CBSE and ICSE offer uniform curricula and timelines for schools that are affiliated