Education can be fun in Goa and is not limited to teaching, but touching the lives of students and teachers was well. This was articulated by Sister Liberata Fernandes, headmistress of Perpetual Succour Convent High School, Navelim, at the recently-concluded case study on Whole School Development in New Delhi, hosted by NCERT.
“It was touching to see how children from the interiors are brought to school and the techniques used to get them to love studying," explained Fernandes, the only headmistress from Goa from amongst the 39 from India, selected for the Delhi meet.
"A school of glass exists where children are inside, but still feel they are studying in nature,” she added.
Education, Fernandes believes, is not just about teaching, but discovering the realities faced by students and this can be best achieved through interactions with the family through home visits.
“Finding something wrong with an otherwise bright student of mine, we paid a visit to her house, only to discover that the child could not sleep as her father would return home drunk," recounts Fernandes as she turns on the barometer of experience.
"He would be screaming the whole night, thus depriving the child of sleep,” she said.
“During the interaction in New Delhi, I learnt that we need to be radical innovators and never give up with the team of teachers and students because each one is unique,” shares Fernandes, as she begins a lesson of love with a group of students in school.
“I want each one of you to write a love letter to me in which I want you to express the reason why you all failed. You may think it is the fault of the teacher or of a parent or just your own. Write the truth,” she says as the students respond positively.
If New Delhi was a platform to showcase the standard of education in Goa, and her school in particular, it was also a study to learn how the standard of her school could be taken notches higher through glimpses of her own transformative journey.
“My children are a variety of flowers that help me refine my role of leadership, and hence my belief that a school needs to sculpt excellence in each child,” says Fernandes, whose emphasis in the school is on activity-based learning.
Education is not just confined to a school, but beyond as well, and Fernandes thinks the best is achieved by getting to bond with a child, their family and school.
“Johnny (name changed), why is it that we need to go to your home to get you back to school? What is it that is hurting you? Are we doing wrong or is there something more to it?” Fernandes asks one of her pupils with an emotional flow hardly seen in today’s schools.
“Where do we stand?” asks the headmistress of the school that has over 4,000 students enrolled in it.
“It’s not just studies, but they are worried about everything,” a student’s response aptly answers her query.
Perpetual Succour Convent HS exemplifies the philosophy that 'excellence is an art won by training and habituation. The school is a beacon of education, fostering intellectual development, critical thinking and skill acquisition, laying the foundation for lifelong learning and personal growth,' reads a citation on the journal released during the seminar in New Delhi.
“Every day is a learning day and I realise that there are a lot of dreams and aspirations, and we keep improving with time,” says teacher, Joan Gracias, set to retire at the end of this academic year.
Education is one of the best paths forward, and that Goa is on it, is best exemplified by Fernandes’ presentation during the seminar, where the emphasis was on activity-based faculty development programmes.