Student-Led Movements: The New Wave of Learning

Right from the inception of the National Policy on Education in 1968, policy makers & educationists have strived to create an education system to align it with national development goals and promote socialistic ideals. Student centric and experiential learning approach through competency based education and assessment is the key mantra advocated by NEP 2020. The learning mechanism of student led movements and initiatives is one of the precipitations of the Education System. Educators need to effectively incorporate student-led movements and initiatives in their teaching methodology, which will help in understanding complex curricular topics, gauge teamwork, leadership and risk taking abilities.

Community Programs on SEL

To make students future ready, schools must employ both ‘Community programs’ and ‘Service Engagement Learning projects’ because one enhances the socio emotional skills and the other helps attain excellence of domain through learning by doing.

Community programs typically involve volunteer work, mentorship, the know-how support, general hygiene and environmental work whereas service engagement and learning involves personal and professional growth through experiential learning.

Schools can measure the success of projects through the anecdotal records of improvement in individual students and their environment. Assessment parameters for students should include improvement in self-confidence, self-esteem, communication skills, understanding of the society, problem solving skills, empathy level and curricular competency improvement check through the attained learning outcomes.

  Inclusivity 

Student led initiatives could be one of the strongest tools to make reticent voices audible. Educators should identify a student’s area of interest, and assign either a community program or service engagement project. Teachers need to practice equity to ensure inclusivity once a student takes up any initiative, leading to a better expression of thoughts due to enhanced self-esteem, happiness quotient and self-confidence.

Challenges

Fear of Acceptance

Some students fear expressing themselves without inhibitions; they fear being rejected by their peers. Committed teachers should help such students to overcome these apprehensions by encouraging them as per their abilities to become vocal about their projects or ideas. 

Limited Resources

Educators often face a time crunch with syllabus and project completion. Teachers are overloaded with lesson planning, preparations for effective content delivery, assessments, various record maintenance and student specific remedial class preparations. Added to that, the ratio of students to teachers becomes uneven for individual attention. 

Inclusivity & Language Barrier

Teachers and students must together overcome language hurdles and cultural stereotypes. The real test lies in eliminating appropriation and fostering genuine inclusivity, broadening young minds to embrace peers from all walks of life. Educators must lead by example, embodying liberal values that celebrate diversity.

Comparisons, Curriculum & Internal Conflicts

The age-old tradition of parents comparing their children’s academic journey to others might undermine the abilities of students in project based activities.

Also, understanding the methodology of correlating student led initiatives to the curriculum is another challenge faced by students as well as by teachers.

Conflicts within students’ councils and house committees could also hinder the process of effective implementation of projects due to slack in discipline and ego clashes.

Student Led Initiatives

At progressive schools, student leadership is an integral part of daily life. From annual student councils and active NCC participation to managing welfare committees, students take charge of core responsibilities like monitoring attendance and coordinating peer activities. Leadership is further nurtured through experiential platforms such as Mock United Nations, Mock Parliament, and student-run school fests. In one notable instance, students successfully managed an entire annual function, including logistics, vendor coordination, and official permissions.

Beyond campus, students organize industrial visits and participate in initiatives like the Ministry of Education’s Vidyanjali Scheme, mentoring peers in government-aided schools. In Noida, a school partnered with an NGO to teach underprivileged children, with student volunteers leading the effort. Peer-led instruction in both regular and remedial classes enhances understanding. The Buddy System, designed to support Children with Special Needs (CwSN), has enabled inclusive learning, with buddy pairs achieving success at the Special Olympics Bharat at national and international levels.

From Vision to Action

A supportive classroom environment should be fostered where students express their ideas without any fear, and develop a tendency to learn from their mistakes. Teachers should set realistic goals and facilitate the students in coordinating with the Govt. or Departmental bodies when required. Templates of the entire strategy of functionality of the projects should be drafted with the students and shared with them, and also support them in need. Moral support is required to be provided if they are unable to accomplish a task. To teach them to get up on falling and then to rework to attain success.

With the National Credit Framework (NCrF) – 2023 in the implementation stage, educators should consider every student-led initiative for the final assessment of the year. In a nutshell, student led initiatives are very effective in the holistic development of the student’s personality. Schools should ensure its implementation in such a way to benefit every student, it should not be restricted only to the high performing students, the beauty of the system will be in covering every student under its banner with total inclusivity.

The Future

With the NEP 2020 implementation in the nascent stage, it is strongly felt that student-led initiatives stand a very high probability of becoming one of the most effective and sought after tools for the holistic development of the students in schools. Emphasis on implementation of NCF 2023 will develop greener pastures for flourishing and nurturing popularity of student led initiatives in the times to come.

Though educators will keep facing the challenges of packed schedules, they would be better equipped through the in-service mandatory capacitation programs. It can be concluded that the student-led initiates/movements in school have a bright future in India by virtue of the ongoing renaissance in school education.