Can a teen and 6-year-old be classmates? Schools divided

Now your six-year-old can study alongside a 10-year-old. Certain international schools are springing up in the city with new concepts of learning, such as multi-age classrooms.

A school in Bandra will have classrooms where students of different age groups will study together in the same class, under one teacher. It is based on the lines of schools in North America.

The seniors will help the younger students. The younger students, meanwhile, will be exposed to the higher-level lessons. 

The school claims that such classrooms will increase cooperation, peer tutoring and nurturing behaviour among children, while preparing them for the ‘real world’.

“Despite evidence from developmental psychology that children grow and develop at different and variable rates, we keep age-grading as a key structural element of schooling. It rewards those who develop faster and punishes those who are slower or different, even though they may have great abilities and gifts,” said Asha Narayanan, principal St Mary’s High School, Navi Mumbai, who has similar projects in the pipeline.

However, parents and educationists in the city say that such classrooms are a recipe for disaster where education might get lost in the confusion. 

Ritu Sawhney, parent of three children who came through multi-aged elementary school classrooms, and teacher who has taught in both types of settings, says that the quality of multi-age program-mes depends strongly on the teacher and his or her specific strengths and weaknesses. 

She said the disadvantages were the problem of keeping the ‘other grade’ busy and engaged while trying to teach when the class was divided.

Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral and John Connon School, Fort, said, “It will create disparity as a teenager will deal with situations differently than a six-year-old,” she said. “We should not adopt American concepts of learning without understanding whether it will suit the Indian child.”