India lacks smiling, child-friendly teachers

FOH's partner Alice Project is active in India since 1994 with its model of education for primary and secondary schools. The core of the model is that the student should be allowed to develop its inner world in order to become a wholesome human being.

The results of the students prove how correct the Alice Project approach is: most students coming from Alice Project schools can get high marks and be admitted into University, although an often poor background, and this happens because of the psychological work performed.

Unfortunately, reports say that this is not often the case in most schools in India, where the attitude of teachers can have a negative effect on the results of the students. According to a study conducted by the NGO Pratham over 30'000 students all around India, it's been found out that the level of learning is lower and the pace of learning slower than expected by textbooks, so that in many classes 30 to 40% of the students in a given term are older than the supposed age.

One of the reasons of this delay in learning is to be found in the fact that teachers often behave in a cold and unfriendly way towards the students, lacking communication and cooperation skills.