Gandhiji’s advice that education must teach children to work with their heads, hearts and hands has been almost totally ignored by the omniscient framers of post-independence India’s education policies. However, it’s not too late to teach generation next to adopt a DIY (do-it-yourself) culture starting this summer vacation writes Khushboo Nehaal Jashnani, Mini P. & Cynthia John A mong all major countries with industrial aspirations, India has the worst DIY (do-it-yourself) culture. While most American, German, and European households are equipped with a garage or basement bristling with tools such as drills, workbenches, an array of spanners for men — and increasingly women — to fix motor cars, motor bikes, leaky kitchen sinks, roofs and electrical wiring and Japanese menfolk spend hours in designing meticulous rock gardens using an array of sophisticated tools, this DIY culture is almost totally absent in Indian society. Perhaps because of the iniquities of the Hindu caste system, and the easy availability of cheap labour, it’s rare for middle class men to be able to repair a minor car engine or a domestic electrical circuit fault. Gandhiji’s advice that education must teach children to work with their heads, hearts and hands has been almost totally ignored by the omniscient framers of post-independence India’s education policies. However, it’s not too late to teach generation next to adopt a DIY (do-it-yourself) culture starting this summer vacation. In our March issue on the eve of summer holidays, we featured a cover story recommending some enjoyable, enriching summer activity options for children. They included a variety of summer camp options such as robotics classes, outdoor nature tours, and college readiness programmes. This month, we present Part II of recommended summer activityoptions — DIY activities — enabling children to learn with their hands. “When children engage in constructive, meaningful DIY activities, they learn new skills by doing. Moreover, the thrill of doing an enjoyable activity releases dopamine-like neurotransmitters in the brain resulting in uplifting emotions. Also engaging in hands-on learning activities is a good distraction and alternative to digital gadgets. My advice to parents is to convert children’s DIY activities into family bonding sessions,” says Dr. Anju Soni, psychologist and mental health counsellor, Chennai National Hospital. Somewhat belatedly, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 makes a strong case for teaching children vocational skills and art and crafts from their primary years. It recommends that every student “take a fun course, during grades VI-VIII that gives a survey and hands-on experience of a sampling of important vocational crafts, such as carpentry, electric work, metal work, gardening, pottery making, etc… All students will participate in a 10-day bagless period sometime during grades VI-VIII where they intern with local vocational experts such as carpenters, gardeners, potters, artists, etc”. Moreover reflecting a change in the official mindset, even before NEP 2020 was released, in 2016 NITI Aayog — the Central government’s think tank — launched its Atal Tinkering Labs project. Under this scheme, NITI Aayog promises to fund tinkering labs in schools which allocate…
