Equality for All

In this era of narrow-mindedness and fear-mongering, it is all the more important that educational establishments take on the responsibility of challenging the status quo and opening young minds to different versions of the same story.  I felt that our Junior School did just that this term by inviting a transgender woman in to speak to our students.  This may not seem such a big deal to some readers, but our school is situated in India, a country in which transgender people live almost exclusively on the margins of society and are frequently the subjects of abuse, discrimination and atrocities.

No Chair Day

Browsing through the website of The Early Years Alliance, I came upon a piece by UK-based music and movement specialist, Helen Batteley (https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/music-and-movement-encouraging-physical-activity). She was advocating for ‘No Chair Day’, an initiative to provoke teachers to think about the importance of physical activity for children and about alternatives to sitting in classrooms. The simplicity of the campaign appealed to me and I floated the idea to the Junior School staff. To my great pleasure, many took up the challenge, pitching the idea to their students and brainstorming ways learning could be re-designed without the need for sitting.