“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success.”
-Henry Ford
St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh and Yuvsatta, a distinguished NGO joined hands with each other to give wings to an innovative and novel idea of collaborative learning which would help the 21st century learners to exchange ideas and thoughts. The purpose for such an initiative was to help students at both ends acquire and develop various life skills along with the honing of their critical thinking.
The programme began with the welcoming of all the distinguished speakers, collaborators and enthusiastic learners by the Principal, Ms. Monica Chawla of St. Joseph’s Sr.Sec. School, Chandigarh. The programme was coordinated by Mr. Philemon Baral. The platform saw the sharing of some of the best and most indigenous practices being carried out by the various schools in respect of environmental issues. Innumerable ideas were explored to help students resolve various environmental concerns through sustainable practices. The exchange idea was based on the concept of learning beyond the walls and incorporated concepts like team work, collaboration, learning beyond curriculum and grades.
In this unique endeavour, an online interactive session was held with the students of various schools like Gyan Bagaichaa, Nepal; Noble Academy, Nepal and GMSSS, Dhanas. The fruitful venture took place due to the relentless efforts of Mr. Pramod who is the founder of Yuvsatta and has been working with sincerity and dedication in the domain of education, environment and peace.
The main highlight of the programme was SLP – Service Learning Programme to help establish a link between the classrooms and the community at large. The brainstorming session led to the development of insight and perspectives among the participants as how they can successfully syndicate numerous ground-breaking ideas to help to bring about the much needed socio-economic and moral transformation through integrated efforts.
Some of the prominent speakers who honoured the occasion were Mr. Sibu Das, Principal Star School, Tripura, Mr. Pphilemon Baral, Noble Academy Nepal; Shri Ram Timilsina, coordinator of an NGO, NVC Trainer, Life Coach and CBT and NLP Practioner Nepal. Ms. Seema, Principal, GMSSS also shared some of the innovative practices followed by her school which were duly recognized by the President of India.
Mr. Paramdeep Grewal, Director, St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary School shared that how learning experience which is contextual, engaging and student owned leads to life long and impactful erudition. The Principal, Ms. Monica Chawla further elaborated that “Collaborative Learning” is an umbrella term for various educational approaches involving joint as well as intellectual efforts both by the students and the teachers to help develop high order thinking, management and leadership qualities. She exuberantly shared that this was just the beginning and we aimed to inculcate collaborative learning as a part of the 21st Century Curriculum.