| The first in our series of showcasing exemplary practices from around the country is a spotlight on the Domains of Development program at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore (a program that has been conveniently christened DOD for short). | ||
 |
What is DOD? The DOD program was put in place over a decade ago, and aims to help all students in the school from grades five to twelve develop four domains that all in the field of education will agree are worth developing; namely the personal, aesthetic, experiential and social ones. Twice a year, a whole week each is allotted for value-enriched learning to take place among the students that goes beyond the requirements of the syllabus, filling out the curriculum handsomely. |
|
| How it's done Programs are run by experts invited from outside or by teachers from within the school. Ideally the aim is to ensure that each class, within two years of DOD, should cover all the four areas of development at least once. This then becomes a cycle so that every two years the experience gained in different fields multiplies and if the student is lucky enough to attend all the DOD programs in the school from fifth grade to twelfth he will not only have fifteen weeks of trans- syllabus activities to boast of under his belt but he would also have gone through an effort to master fifteen exercises that all feed into his personal growth in the realms of social, experiential, aesthetic and personal growth and development. Looked at this way, this program run by the school is unique, perhaps the only one of its kind, and other schools in India will be well served to study this program, and take a leaf out of Aditi's book to ensure at the very least that their field trips and practical demonstrations or study tours try to fit into some such useful and meaningful larger pattern. |
 |
   |
What it looks like To give an example of the concrete form this program takes, the graduating class interns with various professionals, testing out various careers of their choice. In 2007, for instance, students of twelfth grade who are soon to appear for the Cambridge International AS and A Level Examinations got the opportunity to work in areas like law, design, research and many others, with professionals for a week or two; an apprenticeship that results in them getting certificates that will stand them in good stead whichever university they apply to for higher studies because the certificates counts as valid work experience. A sampling of the types of activities that the various grades did in the last couple of academic years - |
| Words of Wisdom "Executing the DOD requires time-tabling and lots of conscious planning, but it is well worth it. This comes under the purview of social and personal education, which should be an integral part of any school curriculum. This is what humanizes education. Schools adopting this facet in their curriculum would need to also think of how to incorporate their school vision and philosophy in such a program." Mrs. Aruna Chidambi, DOD Coordinator, MAIS, Bangalore |
 |
| In Closing Other schools in the country owe it to themselves to look into planning for such experiential learning that gives children a much-needed break from their regular time-table and classes, and allows them to explore and experience something worthwhile, not for a few hours or a day but for a whole week at a time. |