Date:22/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/22/stories/2006112204641600.htm

International

China trails a blaze in education

— PHOTO: AP

Students at the Regional Experimental School in Hotan, northwest China.

GUILIN (CHINA): Chinese classrooms are typically associated with rote learning and stern teaching methods.

Sticking rigidly to the curriculum, the teacher drums in the lessons, making the students copy down everything on the blackboard so that they can pass the all-important exams that will determine their future. Student-teacher interaction is largely neglected.

But the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is promoting an entirely different approach to children's education. In UNICEF-sponsored ``child-friendly learning environments, child-centred and activity-based teaching and learning processes help children fully develop their potential,'' said Anjana Mangalagiri, chief of the education and child development department at the UNICEF China Office.

UNICEF claims that ``child-friendly learning'' improves teaching methods and the general learning environment. In its campaign to introduce this approach to China, it is concentrating its efforts on 30,000 students in 200 rural schools in 18 counties in China's seven poor provinces.

In Danzhou Township Elementary School, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wu Qunjian is one of 246 students that have benefited from the child-friendly approach.

When she first came to this elementary school a year ago, Wu, whose parents had left home to work in the city, leaving her and her three-year-old sister in the care of their grandmother, was not very welcome. ``Her hair was messy and her clothes were dirty, and she was always getting into fights with other students,'' teacher Chen recalled. The child-friendly approach has made a big difference. Wu soon stopped quarrelling with the other students. She made friends and now has overcome her loneliness. After listening to her teacher's lectures about health, she washes her hands before eating. But the most profound change is a change of attitude. ``I love going to school,'' she says.

— Xinhua