Question Discussion & Solution

The Right to Education Act commonly known as RTE Act was enacted in August 2009 by the Indian government.

It is an act which aims to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under the Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.

Objectives of RTE Act 2009:

• Appoint trained teachers for better educational outcomes.
• Improve school infrastructure(if needed) in every three years.
• Prohibit private tuition by teachers to equalize educational opportunities to all.
• Reserve 25% seats for children belonging to economically weaker sections in private schools.
• Not to deploy teachers in non-academic work except for census, population elections, and disaster relief duties.
• Establish primary and upper primary schools within the distance of 1km and 3kms respectively from the child's house.

Hence, it could be concluded that the Government of India enacted the Right of  Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in the year 2009.

The objectives of teaching environmental studies are to create awareness about environmental problems among children and impart basic knowledge about the environment and its allied problems.

Key Points

• Environmental education focuses on studying the interactions between humans and the environment.
• The main objective is solving real-world problems like pollution, deforestation, waste production, or global warming.
• A teacher, therefore, plays an important role in providing environmental awareness and developing a positive attitude and perception towards the environment among students.
• It aims to develop cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, or cognitive domains simultaneously.
• So, the teacher should focus more on the perception of children i.e., he should focus on how they learn and build their concepts by actively interacting with their environment.
• It will help teachers understand how their decisions and actions affect the environment, builds the knowledge and skills necessary. 

Thus, it is clear above that the main focus of environmental studies is to change the attitude and perceptions of children.

Mind-mapping: A mind map is a graphical way to represent non-linear ideas and concepts.

• It is a visual thinking tool that helps to structure information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall, and generate new ideas. Just as in every great idea, its power lies in its simplicity.

Key Points

‘Mind mapping’ refers to a technique to enhance comprehension as:

• It involves putting brainstormed ideas in the form of a visual map or picture that shows the relationships among these ideas.
• One starts with a central idea or topic, then draws branches of the main topic which represent different parts or aspects of the main topic. 

Additional Information

Mind mapping in education is perfect for:

• Visualizing concepts
• Brainstorming sessions
• Improving critical thinking
• Outlining written documents
• Storyboarding presentations
• Improving reading and writing skills
• Advanced research papers or graduate projects

Hence, it could be concluded that ‘Mind mapping’ refers to a technique to enhance comprehension.

Learning disability refers to a neurological disorder that causes cognitive impairment. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, etc are the most common learning disability.

Key Points

Dysgraphia refers to a learning disability which:

• affects learners' ability to write coherently. 
• hinders in organizing letters, numbers, or words on papers.
• leads to problems with poor spelling, impaired handwriting, etc.

Remedies useful for treating students with Dysgraphia:

• giving extra time for writing assessment, will reduce the copying activity and will emphasize the importance of writing original answers. 
• dividing tasks into small steps will enable the learners to assimilate the idea easily and will help them in putting their thoughts on paper.
• providing low-stress opportunities will allow the learners to learn and write at their own pace and to foster their own strategy of learning and writing.

Hence, it could be concluded that A person with 'Dysgraphia' disease has problems in writing and/or drawing.

 Additional Information

Other Disabilities in Brief:

An intellectual disability that is also known as mental retardation (M.R.) is the most common disability found among children with special needs. It is considered a substantial limitation in present functioning.

• It starts before the age of 18, the intellectual functioning level of a child becomes below average and that can be measured by the standardized tests used for measuring the intelligence quotient.

Key Points

• The mentally retarded are those whose normal intellectual growth is arrested before birth, during the birth process, or in the early years of development.
• They learn slowly and through imitating their peers or teachers. They have a short memory and forget things easily.
• They have problems in communication, social interaction, managing their daily tasks, speech disturbances. They show immaturity in different social situations.
• Mental retardation may vary in different individuals, ranging from mild to profound. They require special care and supervision for their welfare and for the development of their capacities.​

Hence, it could be concluded that the ability to generalize is not a learning characteristic of a mentally retarded person.