LEARNING LITERALLY means knowledge acquired by studying. The years of a child in school are very critical for growth and development of an individual. It is this period which lays the foundation for the total personality development of the child. Bookish Knowledge is not learning as a whole. Learning, as such, is a never-ending, life-long process. Learning beyond the classroom entails all the experience a child goes through in the process of living on a day-to-day basis, learning through trials and errors, developing his or her own sense and sensibilities.
Since these years are crucial for future development, it is essential that the students are exposed to different stimuli to help develop their abilities and intellect to the maximum. Therefore, I believe it is our responsibility to provide varied environments to the child so that encounters and interaction with them stimulates learning.
To give them such a stimulating environment, we need them to visit various institutions, historic and natural sites, and other places where they can observe and absorb life around them, outside of school and home. We need them to participate in plays, social functions, awareness campaigns, constructive projects – all aimed at developing the personality of a student. Such activities coupled with quality teaching, I feel, help a student prepare himself or herself for a suitable career in a fast-changing world.
The students should be allowed to socialize with their peers and elders so that they develop thinking power, which indirectly results in increasing their store of information. Professor Yashpal, on his visit to our school, had mentioned that the brain of a child is like a sponge, which has the capacity of developing or drying up according to the environment exposed to. I would like to reiterate that learning should and must go beyond the classroom. That is the vision and philosophy of Maria's. We are caring members of the next generation, fostering the required care for growth of both the mind and body. We prepare the child to face the future.