Which country's education system is the best, it can not be measured by the tape.
However, according to the Pisa (Program for International Student Assessment) assessment, Finland's education system is one of the best.
Let's take a look at how a country with a population of just 5.5 million made their education system the best in the world.
Nanny State
Finland's social and state system is very different. Which many caress (or ridicule) is called Nanny State. Finland is the biggest nanny state in the EU
This nanny state is a social system where the state takes care of its citizens from birth to death.
Before the child is born, the Finnish government sends such a baby box [1] to all future parents.
It contains almost everything a baby needs for up to a year.
Moreover, after the birth of a child, the benefit of a very high quality crash is also available almost for free.
That is why Finnish children are physically and mentally refreshed before they start school.
Joy lessons
This time, strict attention is paid to ensure that the children can study happily during school hours.
On the one hand, very good quality teachers are recruited from the primary class at high salaries, on the other hand, besides reading, a lot of time is also given for sports. Besides, homework is not given, and exams are not taken in most classes unless absolutely necessary.
But look at the picture above, Singapore has been surpassing Finland lately. This time I will tell you the story of a completely different school in Singapore.
Singapore is the country of the best, but then where do the heroes go? There is a school of wonder for them, where only good pictures are captured on hidden cameras.
There is no punishment, there is only respect and caress.
A separate desk, away from all class desks. In a place where there is no opportunity to sit and look at other children in the class, the opportunity to talk is far away. The school principal was showing the classroom around. I wanted to know, surely this arrangement for very naughty boys? The lady in her mid-forties smiled. He said, everyone in this school is a naughty boy. This chair is for those who have had some trouble at home today. He is upset for that unrest. As soon as he comes to school and sits in this chair, others will understand that he is upset today. Teachers also understand. Whoever comes and sits in this chair, everyone leaves him for the day. No one quarrels with him, no one reads.
Upset chair. My first acquaintance with this chair was at North Light School in Singapore. Fourteen of us journalists from different parts of Asia went to Singapore for the Asia Journalism Fellowship offered by a government agency there. The organizers were showing us around the country. Country means only the city. That is the country.Sixty years ago, Singapore was a quiet, lazy place for fishermen. After independence, I suddenly woke up as if the city had become one of the most modern cities in the world. Now home to the World Bank's headquarters in the city, Changi Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. And, to improve the speed of this spacecraft, a condition is essential, the price of only successful people in this city. That price is a lot, but only for those who can be number one in losing the rest. Those who run and lose, they lose. This city has no time to think about what happened to those heroes. Do you have a mind?
A bad chair in a school in that country? Surprised at first. Then I heard the story of this school. This school is the school of heroes. The only condition for admission to this North Light School is to fail twice in any other school! And, you have to get a letter from the principal of that school, this boy, or girl has no hope of anything happening. The only way to reach this point is to open the door to North Light School.
Who enters this school through that open door? Those who often have to come to school in a bad mood. There are many reasons for being upset. Maybe Dad spent his school fees on drugs, or Mom and Dad got into a fight last night, or Grandpa was picked up by the police for drug abuse. These children are the children of the lost world of Singapore. Their parents could not win any race. So they cram five people into a one-room flat. In that house he sees fights, fights, maybe sometimes he pretends to be asleep and caresses with the corner of his eye. The day you don't have money to buy dinner, you just drink water and go to sleep. So they get up in the morning and get upset. Normal. On the day when the upset is too much, they come and sit in a separate chair in the classroom. No one quarrels with him that day, no one catches him reading. The country of Singapore is amazing. There are closed circuit cameras on every street, at every turn, in every office-school-metro station. The administration keeps an eye on everyone all the time.Even the slightest bitch is bound to be caught. And his punishment is severe. We still read in the paper in Singapore one day, one person has been punished for painting on government property. Fifteen lashes! Don't panic. In some countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia, flogging is a common practice. And this punishment is ordered by the court.
North Light School also has cameras installed. In every classroom, on every staircase. That camera is recording all the movements of the students. But, the rules of this school are different. The bad behavior of the students is not taken into consideration here. Only good behaviors are chosen. And there is a reward system for him. The sign on the bottom of each camera reads, "This camera is recording all your good things." The children who see only deprivation at home, see violence, see quarrels, how do they come in front of this camera and change. The boy who broke the glass window in anger after being admitted to the school, took out his handkerchief and wiped away the stains on the wall.There is no punishment for bad behavior, but good behavior is appreciated in front of everyone. When this feeling comes to mind, they start to change from within. Not one, everyone. Everyone. After that, whether you have a camera or not, those good behaviors stay with you. Maybe for a lifetime.
The school principal was telling a story. The story of his son. The boy was thirteen then. She is good at studying and attends reputed schools in the city. He is just like the boys of this age in affluent families. He came with his mother on a special day at his mother's school, saying that he would see. A local bakery sent some presents on the occasion of the school ceremony. Little gift cup cake. For students. The cakes were placed on a table in a few racks. The children lined up and picked up cakes from the rekabi, one by one. The principal's son was standing there, but he didn't like that simple cake at all. As a result, he did not take. He was standing and watching. At that moment, a boy his age approached the principal. Asked, can he take two cakes instead of one?The principal asked, why? The boy said his grandfather loves to eat this cake. She wants to take a cake for grandpa. The principal said that if everyone was taken and left, he could take it. The boy stood quietly. When everyone was taken, he picked up another cake and carefully put it in the bag. One. Many had fallen though.
The principal's son cried all the way home. After that he never objected to eating any more food.
We keep seeing the school. Turning around, I reached a play room. There are huge billiard boards, table tennis boards. Great. There is no question that in our burnt Kolkata, there did not seem to be such a board in many schools in Singapore. All for students to play. But not for all students. Only those who have points can play. If those points are found to be good. Points for good behavior recorded on camera, points even if praised by teachers. Tokens are available at that point. After accumulating points, the children come to play as soon as they are in a position to play a board.That is not the real story. There is no surveillance, no camera in this room. Anyone can play even if they don't have enough points, if they want to. But, no one plays. Everyone waits until points are deposited. I was surprised. After that, it seemed, this one quality of faith. If someone is truly trusted, he strives to maintain the dignity of that trust. And, the environment in which these children come from, the family they come from, there is no story of faith. It is customary to distrust each other there. From there, the light of this belief may seem illusory at first, then they can understand for themselves, what precious wealth has come to them without asking. They don't have to tell him to save his life.
We go to see the school garden. This garden also has a story. There was some land behind the school. That's it. One day the students came and told the principal that they wanted to plant trees in that land. The principal rejected this whim in one word. Crazy! There will be a weed jungle at the back of the school! Children do not give up. They go around making the same demands. Where they live, there is not a drop of land. The things of the world are crammed in the verandah of Ekchil. Where will they plant trees? In the end the principal agreed. The only condition is not to give up the responsibility of gardening in the middle. The children jumped for joy. One by one the seedlings in that land continue to grow. Pumpkins, papayas, cucumbers, cauliflowers are all grown in that garden. The crop is sold, the money is given by the children to the school fund. They don't want to go home even after school is over. Go to the trees themselves in the garden. Who knows how much he pulls in the garden, and how much to delay the time to return home as far as possible! They are the inhabitants of two worlds.As soon as they return home from school, the children of the troubled world find a way to escape.
The principal tells the children's story, and we see that Maya is gradually growing in his eyes. Maya for these children, who come to school every day to keep their home, family's missing ones away for a while. The body also comes with bad. They don't want to earn school. What do they get in this school? Just a playground, a garden? Assurance of not getting severe punishment for study mistakes? Or something more than that? A layer of compassion, a few teachers to understand their crises, their lack? Promise not to call them heroes? Extended hand of all kinds of help to win the losing battle? I asked. The principal said, "Do you know what is most important for these children?"Give them the confidence that they are no less than anyone else. They have not lost any battle yet. Not everyone is good at education. And, to get to this school, you have to fail twice in a row! So, none of the people who come here are good at studying. So we do not put all the emphasis on studies. Here I teach handicrafts. Some are admitted to become electricians, some learn hotel management, some do beautician courses. They learn quickly. Themselves are surprised. And, most of all, they build self-confidence. They understand that it is possible to get out of the world that has been sitting on their necks since childhood. Our job is to build this trust.As soon as he spoke, he saw a huge poster across the school wall in the dark sky, with a few stars twinkling in it. Written below, the darker the darkness, the brighter you will be. Really, North Light means polar stars. The light in the dark sky never let the sailors lose their way. These children also find their own way. The path of faith. School rules, no student can smoke cigarettes. Not inside the school, not outside. One day a few students were standing in a park far away from the school, smoking cigarettes. They caught the eye of a relative of a school teacher. He knew the school uniform. He did not say anything to the boys, but told the teacher he knew. The next day, standing in the school assembly, the teacher simply said that some of you were smoking cigarettes in secret. Who, I don't know. I don't even want to know. But, they have ruined the trust of the school. A minute's silence after his speech. Then the boys came forward.Admitted their guilt. In front of everyone I do not know these boys, but I know for sure that they will never deviate from the path of faith.
The principal took us to the auditorium of the school. A film will be shown there. Picture of the school's annual day. Many tents are pitched here on Annual Day. One tent for each student. Their parents come with them. Two days in a row. Children see friends, see their school life. The film goes on, we keep watching. A twelve year old girl gets up on stage and sings. Her parents were surprised. Then one of the teachers at the school talked about all the good aspects of the girl, all her successes. That girl goes down. A boy his age rose on stage. He also surprised his parents by playing a great synthesizer. After that a teacher started talking about him.
This continues. Then suddenly the camera turns to the other side. The first girl to get on stage, her parents are hugging her and crying. The daughter is moving her hand on her father's back.When the crying stopped, the father said, I did not know that my daughter is so good, she can do so much. I never gave him time. I just gave trouble. Not from today. I will live very well with my daughter.
The film ends. We come back too. As we walk through the school gates, it seems we can't make an effort to change the lives of so many people. Ever?
