Children must be taught how to think and not what to think

Early childhood education is encouraged for the healthy development and nurturing of all these important foundations, and trends show that parents are increasingly recognizing this.  Young children are not like other students. Their needs are unique and you must be aware of this. It is important to understand that you could be one of the first adults a young child has interacted with outside of his or her own family. 

Furthermore, teachers in early education need to be creative and adaptive. They must think outside their own mature perspective and be able to place themselves in their students’ shoes. What motivates a very young child? How do you hold a toddler’s interest? How do you make learning fun? These are all questions you will have to ask yourself. 

In an exclusive interview with the Managing Director, Sherpa Kids International Private Limited,Dawn Engelbrecht, we were enlightened with her experience in inculcating the same among her children. 

Concerning Child Education, What is that one missing link that we are not able to catch on as competitive parents who want to make their children the Steve Jobs of tomorrow?

What is happening is that we are more focused on being competitive, we want our children to be the best scientist or the best mathematician and in the way we are missing a lot of opportunities with our children and if we think back, Steve Jobs, learnt a lot at his mother’s feet and we are missing those opportunities. What I am really passionate about is creating play based opportunities for children so they can have chance to be children and learn experientially but they are still learning.

Previously in India, Children used to learn from their elders with no concept of External Education. But slowly we have shifted to External Education. What do you think India needs to do to bring back its children to the roots of genuine Learning?

Deep question! I think the reality is we end up in societies where both parents have to work, so it’s very hard to get back to it directly. We can create those opportunities for them. So example, Instead of sending your children to Math Lesson or Music Lesson, we can create opportunities for them through play where they can learn the same opportunity.

For example, when somebody is into any cooking activity, they can be learning about science, about Maths indirectly. So as learning educators, we know what learning outcomes we are looking for.

Tell me couple of things that we can change about Indian Education. How can we produce more informed children?

To be very honest, it goes back to the Educators. So I think the more educated the more experienced educators are, the more tools they have at disposal, the better outcomes for the children. So, I think as a country, effort and investment and time neds to be put into developing the people that are educating and working with the children.