Education Matters

I watched the most amazing video this morning of children in a northern Indian village crossing a monsoon ravaged, fast flowing river on their journey to school. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/india-rivers-school-children-crossing-river-video-spd/

The river was raging, but the children rolled up their trouser legs, took off their shoes and began their wade. At different points they work as a team, holding out hands of support and continuing their journey together. Some of the older children even carried their younger siblings and school mates on their back.

The video is awe inspiring for two reasons:

1) The children value their education so much that they are not put off by the dangerous waters that stand in their way

2) The children work as a team, old helping young, stronger helping weaker, so they can all move forward together. No one is left behind.

During the long summer vacation, children can very easily get into a routine of lie ins and relaxation which makes it all the more difficult to get them inspired to return to school as the countless days of holiday begin to come to an end. Getting children motivated to start the next year of their education can sometimes be as trepidous as crossing a raging river for parents but starting early is an effective way of helping them prepare for the transition into the routines and discipline of school.

Undoubtedly, the summer holiday is a time when routines such as bed time and meal times are changed, so by starting some of these standard routines early as the holiday draws to a close can be useful when encouraging children to begin thinking about the year ahead.

Talking about school also gets children’s minds thinking towards the year ahead and preparing for the start of the new educational year. Discussing who is in their class next year, who their new teacher will be or where their new classroom is will begin to sow the seeds and of course might even begin to get them excited for school. 

Shopping trips to choose new school equipment are also a good way of encouraging the change process in children’s minds and begin encouraging them to leave the relaxed air of the long summer break behind and slowly moving them into the routines that school brings.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, one way of motivating children to get ready for school is to invite them to think about how lucky they are to be going at all. It is thought that around the world, up to 57 million children don’t have a school to go to due to poverty, war or location. Some children who do attend school often have to walk miles to get there or as the video shows, have to overcome all sorts of obstacles. Education is a right of all children, but it is easy for some of the luckier ones to think of it as a privilege and like anything when it comes easy, it is in danger of being taken for granted.

So, as the summer draws to an end, encourage your offspring to prepare for the year ahead with enthusiasm and a positive train of thought because to be honest, they are lucky to have a school to go to at all and lucky to have parents to pay for it.