All through my school years, my father’s friend dropped by our house the day after the end of my annual examinations. He came to collect all my used textbooks, as his son was a year younger than me. This annual ritual worked beautifully on the premise that both of us would get promoted to the next class!
By the time my school reopened in June, I got textbooks that were hand-me-downs or in case of a syllabus change, brand new ones. As years went by, my friends and I used to scout the dusty, cramped second-hand book shops to buy books that would come in handy during our college days. We were also encouraged to exchange reference books rather than buy them. We did not have multiple-choice questions on how many trees are needed to make one tonne of paper, but we knew enough that paper can be recycled and the less we use is better for the trees and water all around. Scrimping and saving were a part of our DNA and both home and school encouraged this.
A few years ago, there were articles and discussions over parents-induced wastefulness where parents are wont to give the best of everything to their child at their merest whimper, without explaining the repercussions of their demands or the financial strain that it induces. Unfortunately, the schools too are a part of encouraging this wastefulness.
Recently, there was a news report that a boy who recycled unused notebooks earned the Prime Minister’s praise. I also came across a directive from the government to schools not to use coercive strategies to make parents buy books, notebooks and uniforms from only one vendor. Unfortunately, many schools still follow this school-induced wastefulness and the nexus between the management of the school and booksellers and uniform vendors continues. As paper and cotton are valuable products made from a green source which is decreasing day by day, we should use them thriftily. Climate change is all too real and the soaring temperatures are here to prove that. So why not be more cautious? Moreover, a few children are from the RTE quota. These extra expenses must be weighing heavy on their parents’ pockets.
Schools must encourage children to use the textbooks of their siblings, cousins, friends, or neighbours and not buy them unless necessary. It is time children used their books carefully. Writing in textbooks need to be avoided. The notebooks are printed with the name of the school at an extra cost. Yet, brown covers with labels are mandatorily handed out then which beggars the question, why print the name of the school on the cover if it is going to be anyway covered?
Schools can reduce the use of worksheets, particularly for younger children. A parent was sharing how children do not draw simple diagrams like the germination of a plant or water cycle, “instead all they learn is ‘to cut and paste’ from pictures taken from Google!”
Projects and other activities which are made from recycled articles should fetch better grades.
There was a time when an annual day would make us all raid our parents’ wardrobes or find out from our friends if they can find the same or similar shades of saris or stoles for us to wear for a programme. Today, the school charges up to ₹3,000 for a couple of minutes of performance, and the costumes are outlandish or simply not wear-worthy.
Uniforms and shoes should be strictly “need-based”. Schools should not insist on a certain make of shoes considering children outgrow them all too soon.
So, let’s adopt the Japanese concept of muda, and eschew futility and wastefulness in more ways than one. Catch children young and teach them not to waste.
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