Backward child and their educational implication
.
E-103 unit-1 part-3
BACKWARD CHILDREN AND THEIR CHARACTERISTIC EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION
Introduction
One of the problems which every Headmaster or Teacher of the school has to face in that of teaching backward children. It is being increasingly realized that such children need special care at the hands of school authorities, parents and others. The problem of educating backward children has joined vast dimensions with the advent of democracy in most countries and the consequent acceptance of the principles of Education for all the children of all the people”.
Backward children are also known as “Educationally Retarded Children”. The presence of backward children is not harmful for the gifted children but also for the average children. The presence of backward children is a serious challenge for the teacher to control the classroom atmosphere. When the teacher tries to pay more attention to them and explains again to the same points for the benefits of the backward children, he makes his teaching uninteresting for the other children. In a normal classroom to satisfy all the needs of all the students is a very typical and problematic situation for a teacher. Hence it is the duty of the teacher to remove the inferiority feelings of the backward children.
Meaning of Backward Children:-
Generally backward children are those who unable to do the work of the class in which they are placed. He does not respond satisfactorily to the ordinary school curriculum and to the usual methods and procedures of the classroom teaching. They are weak in studies and their academic achievements are not up to the mark. Sometimes generally we are saying that dull children are backward children but dull children are those who have I.Q in between 70 to 85. Thus dullness may be one of the causes of backwardness in intelligence but all backwardness is not the outcomes of dullness. It is not essential that a backward child always lacks intelligence. Some children may be backward in their school, with normal or more than normal intelligence because they can not make use of their intelligence and capacity to the extent to which they ought to do. Backwardness may be due to low intelligence or due to environmental factors.
Definitions of Backward Children
“Backward child” is one whose Educational Quotient (E.Q) is less than 85”. Educational Quotient (E.Q) is derived by the formula given below:
Educational Quotient (E.Q) = Educational Age × 100 / Chronological Age
1-Accroding to :Burt:-
“Backwardness in general is applied to cases where their educational attainments are lower than what they are capable of”.
2-Accroding toBurton Hart
“In the Indian Situation, a backward child is one who being more than one year older than the average age of his class.”
3-Accroding toT.K.A. Menon:-
“Backward pupil is one who, compared with other pupils of the same chronological age, shows marked educational deficiency”.
4-Schonell
From the above mentioned definition we may conclude that the backward children is one who is doing very less in one or more subjects though his age is about the average of his class. It is an intellectual and scholastic condition that affects the pupil’s entire personality. It results from a complex of innate equipment and environmental influences. It is a equivalent to psychological failure to the total child.
Types of Backwardness:-
Backwardness may be classified into the following two categories:-
(i) General backwardness
(ii) Specific backwardness
(i) General Backwardness: General Backwardness means that the child shows poor performance or fails in each subjects of the curriculum as compared to the average children of his class. This is also called all-round backwardness.
(ii) Specific Backwardness: In case of specific backwardness, the child is weak in one or more than one subjects but he is not backward in all the subjects is called Specific backwardness. The main cause of specific backwardness is due to lack of interest or aptitude in that particular subject or faculty, teaching method or the teacher himself.
Characteristics of Backward Children
Backward children have the following characteristics-:
Their Educational Quotient is below than 85.
They are slow in academic, social, emotional and physical areas.
They are slow learners and find it difficult to keep pace with the normal school work.
They are unable to handle abstract and symbolic materials.
They are unable to work independently.
They have short span of interest and attention.
They need repetition and drill work to remember.
Dullness or intellectually deficiency is one of the causes of backwardness.
They may show backwardness in one subject or more than one subject or in all the subjects.
They are unable to understand complicated games.
Usually they remain in same class for a number of years.
In fact the backward child should be labeled as dull or mentally retarded but he is not necessarily backward because he is dull. A child can be really termed backward only if his scholastic achievement falls below his natural ability.
Identification of Backward Children
Generally the following methods can be used to locate backwardness:
Standardized Tests: Administration of Standardized verbal and non-verbal
Intelligence tests are helpful to locate backward children.
Observation Method: A teacher can easily identify the backward child from his class through his daily observation.
Educational Quotient (E.Q): by using the formula given by Burt whose E.Q fall below 85 is called backward child.
Achievement Tests: Achievement test in various subjects should be conducted to find whether the child is general or specific backward.
Situational Tests: This technique is also very helpful in careful detection of backwardness as these tests are used to study the behaviour of the child.
Social Environment: These include family history; Conditions of the home, neighbors, relation with peer groups etc are very useful to identify the causes of backwardness in child.
Medical Diagnosis: With the help of medical diagnosis the physical defects leading backwardness in the class can be easily identified.
School Progress Report: School progress report and records are also very helpful in finding backward children in the class.
Causes of Backwardness:-
Backwardness is an individualistic problem and differs from person to person. A child called backward when his educational achievement is below the level of his natural abilities. The cause can be ranging from many physical, mental and personal conditions. The cause of backwardness is not only related to student’s factor but also it relates with the factor of teachers. Some of the causes of backwardness are given below-:
Physical Causes: According to Schonell, about 75%backwardness is due to the various physical defects and diseases such as -:
* Defective eyesight
* Defective hearing
* Speech defects
* Left handedness
* Chronic disease or illness
* Various physical deformities
Burt in his studies found that 30% of children were poorly nourished, 37% suffered from speech defects, stammered or had eyesight problems.
Mental Causes:
Mental or Intellectual deficiency is also one of the very significant causes of backwardness. Some children are born with some inherent defects in their brain system or with some intellectual sub-normality. It is generally seen that students whose intellectual powers like thinking, reasoning, imagination, perception, observation, concentration are some reason not properly developed generally drift towards low educational achievement. Such children are seriously affected in their progress in school subjects. Burt (1953) reported that 75% of backwardness found due to defective intelligence or low I.Q.
Social or Environmental Causes: Uncongenial environment is also the cause of backwardness. Burt found that 66% backwardness is due to the social causes. The social and environmental causes of backwardness are as given below-:
- Poverty
- Broken homes and divorce between father and mother.
- Presence of step father or mother in house.
- Quarrels in the family.
- Over and under protection to the child.
- Mental abnormality and education of the parents.
- Unhealthy sibling competition.
- Bad company of the child.
- Over crowded families or joint family. Lack of parents care and attention to the child.
·
Personal and Emotional causes: Backwardness is sometimes due to personal and emotional causes like emotional instability, depression, anxiety, restlessness and other emotional disturbances. According to Burt 1/3 cases of backwardness are due to temperamental or emotional causes.
· School Environment: The school is too responsible for backwardness. The chief causes related to school environment are as follows-:
* Inefficient and untrained teachers.
* Wrong, ineffective and uninteresting methods of teaching.
* Defective time table.
* Lack of interest in the subjects.
* Unhygienic conditions in the schools.
* Truancy.
* Lack of infrastructure in schools.
* Lack of audio visual aids.
* Un-psychologically handled.
Adjustment Problem of backward Children
In our country India, Backward children is ignored practically but in other countries special attention is being paid to them. In order to help educationally a backward child, it is very necessary to find out the causes have been discovered, we should plan an integrated plan of action with a view to educating them. The backward child suffers from mental, social, emotional problems. Besides a defective intelligence, the backward child can be reformed in many ways. After diagnosing the probable cause or causes of backwardness conscious efforts should be made to help the child to get rid of his backwardness. For educating backward children “Remedial teaching” is needed which can be done either with an individual or with a small group of children. The following are some of the educational provisions for educating backward children.
Special classes or School-:
Provision should be made for special classes or school to provide individual attention which is not possible in regular classes. If the individual has some physical handicap of serious nature, he should be sent to special schools.
Regular medical Check up and necessary treatment-:
As we have said that the backwardness may be due to some emotional trouble at home or school which leads mental conflicts. They should be helped in their readjustment in the home as well as at school. The social agencies and government should come forward not only for educating the parents but also for giving proper attention to remove or change the environment which is the cause of backwardness.
Provision of Special Curriculum, Methods of Teaching and Special Teachers-:
Efforts should be made to make the curriculum suitable for backward children. Only those subjects should be included in the curriculums which are useful for them. The whole curriculum should be such that the backward children are able to adapt to a profession in future. Not only suitable curriculum but also they need special methods of teaching and trained teachers, they should be taught with the help of adequate audio visual aids and the experimental method should be followed for them. They should be taught by special trained teachers so that they may be properly understood and their difficulties removed.
Special coaching-: Special coaching should be provided to the backward children as we know that they are slow in academic achievement as comparison to the normal children. They need more practice, drill, repetition and review due to their intellectual deficiency.
Individual attention:
Individual attention should be paid to the backward students by which their educational difficulties can be removed. It is possible if the class size is small.
Checking Truancy and non-attendance:
backwardness in some cases may be the result of irregular attendance, truancy and long absence from schools. The cause for such lapses should be determined and the required steps should be taken to remove them.
Rendering Guidance Services:
Now, we observed guidance service is very vital in the entire field. It is considered as a panacea. Therefore, proper guidance services should be organized and made available in every school for the children of backwardness. State authorities should also pay due attention to making the parents conscious of their children’s abilities, interests, aptitudes so that their aspirations for the careers of their children may be realistic.
Various Educational Trips:
Various Educational trips of historical, geographical and scientific interest should be organized. It helps in creating interests and in understanding the different aspects of teaching.
Physical activities: Physical activities such as games and sports may be encouraged in order to improve the health of the students because it is recognized that the ill health may be lead the cause of backwardness.
Maintenance of Proper Progress Record: The student’s achievement record should be properly mentioned as it helps in knowing the rate of progress and the attainment level of the students. For this purpose Progress Charts, Cumulative Record Card (CRC), Anecdotal Record Card (ARC) should be mentioned in schools by the teacher. This is also very helpful in the case of transfer of the students from one school to another.
Co-curricular Activities: Co-curricular activities in the form of dramatics, music, art, painting and other hobbies should not be ignored because it helps in making teaching effective and interesting.
Controlling negative Environmental factors: The social surroundings plays a very vital role for shaping the behaviour of an individual. It may affect negatively one’s interests, attitudes and vision of life. Therefore, proper care should be taken for controlling such type of negative environment.
Taking the help of experienced Educational Psychologists: For planning of the education of backward children, the service of an experienced educational psychologists also prove more valuable. He may give valuable guidance to the teachers as well as parents for taking remedial steps for removing the causes of backwardness in their problem.
Conclusion
An able teacher keeps the backward children in such atmosphere that they can succeed. Not only the teachers or school authorities but parents, social workers, educational psychologists and the relevant department of the governments should join hands to identify and rectify the conditions and remove the cause of backwardness. The teacher must have great patience and a firm determination. The teacher must respect, help, praise the child and he has to sympathetic consideration of his difficulties and sustains interest within the child for their development and self realization.
Comments
Post a Comment