The classroom without backbenches: How this Kerala school is changing the way children learn

Indian Express

2 days ago

Schools in Kerala are flipping the script of learning with a new seating arrangement in classrooms, which would eliminate the concept of 'backbenchers' and place all students on the front seat, quite literally.
The Ramavilasom Vocational Higher Secondary School (RVHSS) in Valakom in South Kerala's Kollam district has become a model for innovation in education after it introduced a unique classroom setup which ensures every primary student gets equal attention.
Influenced by the recently released Malayalam movie Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, the school has brought in an innovative U, or V-shaped seating arrangement, where single row seats are aligned with the four walls of the classroom, such that everyone sits on the front benches.
The move has inspired seven other schools across the state to adopt this model, alongside a school in Punjab. Several other schools have also shown their interest in adopting the model.
The director of the movie Vinesh Viswanathan hailed the move by Kerala schools, and said, 'I got a message that a school in Punjab has also adopted it after the principal saw the movie on the OTT platform. He also screened the movie for the students. I am happy that it got national attention,' news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
According to him, the movie had just one scene showing the arrangement, as an idea implemented by a student of Class VII, when he met with insults while sitting on the backbench.
'It is not an idea created by us, but we did have such a seating arrangement earlier in classrooms, as part of District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and we had lost it somewhere in between,' Vinesh said.
Kerala Minister K B Ganesh Kumar, whose family runs the RVHSS, had watched the preview of the Malayalam movie a year before its release, and, had discussed the possibility of introducing it in primary classes of RVHSS with the teachers.
'Ganesh Kumar discussed this with us and his wife, who manages the school. We also agreed to start it in one class. The results we got were very positive and we introduced them to all lower primary classes,' Sunil P Sekhar, the headmaster of RMVHSS, told PTI.
He said this system enabled teachers to give equal attention to all students in the classroom and helped them monitor the students better. Moreover, it eliminated the concept of backbenchers and put all students at the forefront.
'Lower primary classes are where students learn a lot of new things and they naturally get rid of the concept or taboo of sitting on the backbenches. It also helps students to have a more direct interaction with the teachers,' he added.
While the traditional front-row seating arrangement has been implemented across the schools in the country, this new model may enable better interaction with teachers and active participation of students.