We, The Humane Pedagogues were eager in implementing the “Activity based High School Education system”. As our target group were school children, we were a little reluctant to approach the schools. A week passed by and we went on for our first review session. By that time, Mr. Ramkumar asked us to approach our Dean for our permission. When we approached him, we actually got a chance to learn on how to look up to a problem and the major factors behind it. That meeting was an eye opener. That night I was burning up the lamp oil to get to know more about the UN Goal Quality Education and its indicators as well as worked on mapping it to the implementations that we had planned to execute.

By second week of February 2019, permission from both the school and the college was perfectly set. By then, the real journey began. The journey that comprises experiences as a teacher, as a leader and as a social worker. Our first implementation was on 05.03.2019. On that day, we started off with few activities to mingle with the children. As I always take a little long to get accustomed in a new atmosphere, I did not mingle with them as much as my team mates did. After the dusk, I realized that being a teacher for such a vibrant group isn’t that easy. That moment I remembered and thanked all my teachers at my heart. Life takes such moments to make us remember the path that we have walked through and to relish the memories that had made that path a marvel.

I believe that art of learning not only lies in gaining knowledge but also in experiences that mold us to a greater extent. By my next meeting, I became close to a group of young minds, the real champions of tomorrow. Every seed needs a little nurturing to unleash the latent potential inside it. In our second implementation, I found that every child just needs a spark to glow. And I was happy that we were a catalyst in making them enjoy what they do. When we guided them with some basic usage of laptops, they were so enthusiastic to know to each and every detail and explore a lot in the short stipulated time that we had.

The days fly off soon. And so came our final day of implementation to help those blooming minds do better. We passed out a questionnaire to check the level of impact that we had created in the subjects of science and mathematics that we thought them. And we got a good response. On our first week, the same group who didn’t allow us to take classes on a games hour did ask us to take classes on the same time on this final day. That moment I felt the real success to all the efforts that we took. Three weeks is a short span but those students will remain in our minds for what they taught us and for what we contributed them. My final lesson at that place was, teaching isn’t just preaching but  learning, learning together with the bright pool and earning best lessons for life.

And coming to my team, I had a wonderful time working with them. They never let me feel stress by standing together with me in everything that I worked on. With all my heart, I could say our team was the best and we did the best in guiding the little hearts. This is my  first step towards the society and I promise to walk in the same path to contribute more and to be the change that I wish to see in the world.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. We, “The Humane Pedagogues” started off our journey as a team of people aspiring to create an impact in the society. Our team was a random pool of five created on the first day of the UN SDG workshop which was held on 9th February, 2019. During the workshop, we discussed on different issues in the society and decided to work on the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 i.e Quality Education. Every bud needs to be nurtured well to get good flowers tomorrow. So, we wanted to start off with students so that they will have a sustainable life in the future. In today’s competitive world, the current scenario of education in schools deal with only a little amount of practical skills and values of life and is moving towards a mark based evaluation. So, we brainstormed the root causes to improve the education system. We started to work on an action plan that would help us remodel the education system into a system with practical learning and more hands on training.

As we wanted to choose a specific target group, our team decided to implement our plans for students doing their grade 7 in Thiagarajar Higher secondary school, Kappallur, Madurai. We also created questionnaires and designed a model named “activity meter” to score each individual not only based on their knowledge but also based on their responses, urge to volunteer, leadership qualities.

During our first implementation, we began with spin the yarn activity in order to mingle with the students and make them feel comfort. Then, we continued on with “science and life”, a practical learning and taught Mathematical aptitude related to their subjects. The students were thrilled and the response was very good. But, dealing with such a vibrant group of 57 was a little tedious.

In our next implementation, we proceeded on with teaching some basic computer skills and text editing tools. The students worked with enthusiasm and enjoyed the session a lot. We found that those young minds can easily get trained on computer skills. We also continued on with the science and life topic on that day. We learnt that the students just need a spark to shine.

In our final session, we questioned them  to check the level of impact we created. There was a good change in their lateral thinking and the way they answered the questions. The little trust kept by the students on our team transformed us from the stage of learners to effective tutors.

On a whole, it was a wonderful experience working as a team and managing the time efficiently to stick to the deadlines. On the process, we learnt to approach the students and teachers in a friendly manner. We also gained knowledge on doing technical presentations. We hope that our project has created a good impact. “Coming together is beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Hence, we conclude that our team work has paid in many ways to learn and grow together.