The phrase ‘quality education’ has become a buzzword everywhere, especially in the private educational institutions of our country. However, it has hardly been specified a standard measuring rod of ‘quality education’ since different people have different opinions regarding it.
Some people confine the parameter of ‘quality education’ to scoring high marks/grades in written exams. Now, it is high time to think whether quality education is only limited to securing high marks/grades in written exams, or it is more than that.
We, at Golden Peak School, do not agree to the version that ‘complete education’ has only to do with preparing students for securing high grades in the written exams. We do not undermine their physical, mental, and spiritual development during their school life. However, academic excellence is the backbone of any academic institution. GPHS focuses on the overall development of the students, along with much focus on their academic excellence.
Bhan Dev Kapadi (Deputy Principal/ISA Coordinator)
Hence, we have designed a complete package of ‘Lifewide Education’ by blending various ECAs and CCAs. They have been designed with the national curriculum to prepare our students physically fit, mentally alert, and spiritually refined. The aphorism “Lifewide Education for Holistic Development ” is the motto of GPHS.
Lifewide Education is an educational philosophy pioneered by a renowned educationist Norman Jackson. He maintains: “Lifewide learning is all learning and personal development that emerges through activities in the multiple contexts and situations we inhabit contemporaneously at any point in our life, to fulfill roles and achieve specific goals, and continuously developing knowledge, understanding, skills, capabilities, and values for our personal, civic and social contexts.”
The above excerpt clarifies that learning is a life-long process that takes place in different situations that occur in different activities. It can occur during different activities, like visiting, playing, singing, dancing, shopping, campaigning, etc. It can also occur in different places like school, home, market place, etc.
The essence of lifewide education is to ensure the holistic development of students that begins with school education and continues throughout life in multiple situations horizontally and vertically. In this context, holistic development is the totality of physical, mental, and spiritual growth of an individual resulting from different activities in various situations. The primary focus of our school education should be on ensuring the ‘holistic development’ of an individual student.
Bhan Dev Kapadi (Deputy Principal/ISA Coordinator)
Physical development is essential for the mental development of an individual, and along with physical and mental development, spiritual/emotional development is an inextricable aspect of the overall development of an individual. The ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle puts: “Education to the mind without the heart is no education at all.” It shows that the emotional and spiritual development of an individual is an unavoidable aspect of real education that makes an individual a complete human being.
In the same context, John Dewey (American Philosopher plus Psychologist, Educational Reformer and Advocate of Pragmatic Education) maintains: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively, and to think critically. Intelligence plus character- that is the goal of true education.” From this dictum, we can conclude that the character building of the students is not only a prominent aspect of real education. It is also an inextricable component of the holistic development of an individual.
By taking various aspects of the holistic development of students into consideration, Golden Peak School has been conducting various lifewide learning programs, along with much focus on students’ academic excellence. The school has managed several outdoor and indoor games/sports for the physical development of its students. Similarly, it has designed different ECAs/CCAs for the mental development of the students.
Besides, the emphasis is not less on the ethical values like morality, loyalty, generosity, etiquette, nationality, responsibility, accountability, hospitality, etc. for the emotional development and spiritual refinement of its students.
In a nutshell, the school has been conducting various lifewide learning programs for the overall development of its students. Such programs are Academic Development Activities, Cultural Development Activities, Emotional Development Activities, Moral Development Activities, Scientific Development Activities, Language and Literature Development Activities, Social Work and Charity Related Activities, Environment, and Sustainable Development Related Activities.
The sole purpose of conducting various academic programs, ECAs, and CCAs at Golden Peak School is to ensure lifewide learning for the holistic development of its students.
-Bhan Dev Kapadi ,Deputy Principal/ ISA Coordinator