School classes in Kerala are flipping the learning script with a new seating system, which will eliminate the concept of “backbenchers” and place all students quite literally on the front seat.
The Ram Vilasom Vokem at Walkom in Kollam district of South Kerala has become a model for innovation in Vocational Higher Secondary School (RVHSS) education, as it has introduced a unique class setup that ensures that every primary student gets equal attention.
Impressed by the recently released Malayalam film Sthanarthi Srerekuttan, The school is introduced into an innovative U, or V-shaped seating arrangement, where single-row seats are aligned with four walls of the class, as everyone sits on the front benches.
The move has inspired seven other schools across the state to adopt this model with a school in Punjab. Many other schools have also shown their interest in adopting models.
The film’s director Vinesh Vishwanathan received the degree of this move of Kerala schools, and said, “I received a message that a school in Punjab has also adopted it that the principal has adopted it even after watching the film on the OTT platform. He also watched the film for the students. I am happy that it received national attention.”
According to him, there was only one scene in the film, showing the arrangement, as an idea applied by a student of class VII, when he met with insult sitting on the backbench.
Vinesh said, “This is not an idea created by us, but as part of the District Primary Education Program (DPEP), we had such a seating arrangement in classrooms and we had lost it somewhere in the middle.”
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Kerala minister KB Ganesh Kumar, whose family runs RVHSS, saw the preview of the Malayalam film a year before its release, and, with teachers, discussed the possibility of presenting it in the primary classes of RVHSS.
“Ganesh Kumar discussed this with us and his wife who manage the school. We also agreed to start it in one class. The results we got were very positive and we introduced them in all the lower primary classes,” RMVHSS Headmaster Sunil P Sekhar said, PTI.
He said that this system enabled teachers to pay equal attention to all students in the classroom and helped them to better monitor the students. In addition, it ended the concept of backbenchers and placed all the students at the forefront.
He said, “There are lower primary class where students learn a lot of new things and they naturally get rid of the concept or taboo of sitting on the backbenth. It also helps students to have more direct conversations with teachers,” he said.
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While traditional front-and seating arrangements have been implemented in schools in the country, this new model can enable better interaction with teachers and active participation of students.
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