Tuesday 10 November 2015

Importance of Folklore in School Education By Gautam Bikash Mech

How important is learning Folklore compared to Mathematics and Science?
Early school education is the most important period of character formation. Education and memories of this period of life is a subtle gateway to the personality of an individual. It is this period, in which a person learns the values of life, the society and his surroundings. Folklore and folktales in early school education can have a number of advantages. In curriculums of schools, tales and moral stories already forms a minute part. However, it would be a better approach to education if folklore is made an integrated part of early school subjects.
In the present world, human values and social norms are deteriorating faster than ever. In earlier days, folktales and folklore was a part of education at home, where old grandmothers and grandfathers use to past leisure times with their grand children. Fairly tales still exist as bedtime stories, but folk tales are beginning to be regarded even as some forms of Taboo by a class of people, because they think, it is only for uneducated and archaic village folks. The coming generation of children does not lack interest in them; it is just, they have nobody to tell them stories.
The importance of folklore as other subjects such as science and mathematics in early school days is becoming quite evident in present times. Some of the reasons are cited hereafter.
  • Folklore is a representation of culture and tradition. It reflects the moral value of a particular culture and society. Folklore as a subject in early school education could be an effective moral education that is devoid of any religious or spiritual sentiment. Folk tales have strong messages of ethics and values because they are with lucid and simple explanations.
  • Folklore can produce a feeling and a strong sentiment towards culture and unity. What is more interesting and unique is, this sentiment is devoid of disadvantages and criticality of patriotism and competitive nationalism. The reason is: Folklore is about common human values and they signify universal characteristics of mankind. They generally signify geographic locations and identities such as land, river and so on rather than using names of exiting countries and areas.
  • A good advantage of folklore is, they inspire simple and logical thinking. Since folk tales are about relations of man to nature; this education will make students environment conscious, which is very important in present times.
  • Folktales and folklores provide a greater and deeper insight to life and living. An early education of folklore would be a better preparation of life for any young child. There is always enough times for studying tough subjects such as Mathematics and Science. But the best time for folk tales is childhood. On the other hand, the problem with subjects such as Mathematics and Science is they are not much necessary for every student, apart from persons who requires them professionally.
  • Since Folklore and folk stories are lucid and explanatory, they engage creativity in children. These increase the creative side of the brain and will make students more productive when they grow older. They will help students to have vision in their thought process and make them more responsible persons, ready for the world.
Well, it is not suggested that subjects such as Mathematics and Science should be banned in primary schools. But subject such as folklore can be great for character formation, which is will be required the most in the coming generation.

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