Raju Rai, founder principal of Babylon National School believes education is not limited to simply reading and writing. It has to include the holistic development of students. Connecting Classrooms has enabled his students to connect with people from all over the world and introduced them to global learning. He believes the teachers at his school are also benefitting from this exposure and are growing with the students to become more competent and smarter teachers.
While the project-based learning wasn’t entirely new for the students, International School Award (ISA) has added a new, international dimension to their learning. ISA encourages the habit of collecting and exhibiting works, thus promoting ownership and confidence. The exchanges over Skype are novel and exciting for them. Despite the challenges of poor internet connection and time-zones, students from grade 1 had a fun and memorable exchange with students in Pakistan about what their family means to them.
ISA has also assisted the school in building local curriculum. Rai shares, “The lack of experts makes it difficult for us to create local curriculums but working with ISA, we created a curriculum about the slums on the banks of Kalimati river, a kilometer away from the school.”
Rai suggests, “Schools with traditional learning systems should engage with ISA as it trains the teachers and enables them to bring about real changes to the school, benefitting the students.”
Kritika Tamang of grade 10 says, “Connecting Classrooms created a global learning environment to help me gain skills and knowledge. Through various projects, I have learnt about the harmful use of plastic bags, the rare species in Nepal and about conserving them. I also got to attend the international literary program in Kanpur Allen House Public School and learnt about India’s education system, culture and diversity. It made me aware that a global citizen is someone who thinks everyone is equal. We should have a sense of civic responsibility and empathy.”
Kavya Dhakal of grade 4 thinks she is a better leader and the best of herself because of the school’s learning culture. She believes any educational institution should be a place that provides a learning environment to be a global citizen. She has fond memories of skyping with the Beaconhouse School System in Pakistan and having conversations about their school systems and cultures.
