There are a lot of factors which contribute to
a child's successful education in school. Factors ranging from school infrastructure,
parental care and support, relationship with the teacher. Some other factors
include the school's teaching style, the environment prevalent in the
school,etc. Among all these one factor we tend to overlook when evaluating a
school is its student-to-teacher ratio.
The
Student-Teacher ratio simply put is the total number of students enrolled in
the school divided by the total number of instructors. This figure gives
parents a rough idea of how many students there will be in each classroom.
A lower student-to-teacher ratio in the
classroom has many benefits for the student, especially at the pre-primary,
primary and secondary stages. Some of the benefits are pointed out below:
The child can have more hands-on time with the
teacher - While some students do well in a large classroom setting, others do
best with more one-on-one attention, especially in the lower grades. For
instance, if the child didn't understand certain math concept and if he has
time with the teacher to explain the same over again, then the teacher with
this additional attention to the child solve the issue. Similarly, when a child
is learning to read the teacher can spend sometime hearing the child read aloud
to understand the mistakes and guiding the child towards mastering the subject.
The teacher at Vibgyor High has more time for
the child - though this sounds similar to above point, there is a small
difference here. In the last point we have mentioned how spending more time
with each student can be beneficial to the student, here what we intend to say
is that the teacher in a smaller class gets more time for herself which she can
use to has more time to thoughtfully observe and evaluate the progress of each
child in her care. This means the teacher will be able to identify learning
mistakes at an early stage before they turn into a bigger problems The child's
teacher will also be able to make necessary changes to upcoming lesson plans
basis the needs of individual students in the class. This is simply not at all
possible in large classroom setting.
Studies on Learning Abilities have shown that
children learn best in their own unique ways. Some resond well to hands-on
approach. Others do best when they can read about something and then write out
the concept in their own words. Some children thrive in school when they have
access to computers. In a class with a lower student-to-teacher ratio, these
individual learning styles can be observed, identified and suitably
accommodated. In larger classroom settings the teacher doesnt have time enough
to pay such attention in finding out how each student is learning and
progressing and create learning plans to integrate those different learning
styles.
At Vibgyor High, we believe that the quieter
students get lost in larger class settings. Oftentimes, the teacher has to just
focus on maintaining discipline and reaching as many students as possible.
Unfortunately, in this type of setting, the loudest kids or those who sit near
the front or, sometimes, those causing the most disruption gets the teacher's
attention and the rest do not.
In a classroom with lesser student-to-teacher
ratio, this is not a problem. The child's teacher will be able to get to know
each of the students as individuals. Children thrive when they are in an
environment that notices, accepts and acknowledges them as individuals.
The core values here at Vibgyor
High School is providing our students with a nurturing learning experience,
an experiemce that goes beyond classroom - seamlessly combining academics,
sports, performing arts, community and experiential learning programmes. All
these values get augumented by our low student-teacher ratio.
