Emphasis On Right Brain Stimulation Post The New Education Policy, Results In Better Learning Outcomes

Science has proved that the right brain is the first to develop in a child. It evolves the fastest by the time children are 3-4 years old. The left brain on the other hand activates much later when the child is approximately 6-7 years old. Hence the most important and critical development span of a child’s life is the first 7-10 years of their lives.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein 

While the left brain is capable to train in numbers, language, analysis and more of logic, the right brain works more towards imagination, creativity, intuition and emotions. For a child, the right brain is like a playground where children learn in the most natural forms and where curiosity leads to learning. “Children with healthy right-brain tend to be more positive and confident in the future. This development enables the child to learn to increase their potential to intake, process and release a larger amount of data at a faster speed than the left brain and its stimulation is extremely essential.

There are several activities that parents can encourage their children to do in order to give them the nourishment they require. The key to strong and successful right brain activities are the fast speed techniques which engages young kids while developing their focus. Activities like Music, Dance, Speech and Drama, Painting or even learning a new language greatly work towards providing the child with a wholesome and holistic learning experience. As parents & educators, it is essential to understand if the right brain education has been done right, school becomes easier for your child. It enables children to pursue their interests and thus allows them to live a more fulfilling life.          

While our traditional education system would focus heavily on solely developing the left brain functions like Logic, Language, the 21st century has introduced the need for whole-brain function development. Emotional Intelligence is now given equal importance. Thus through Right Brain education, we can have a smarter, more empathetic, creative and a happy child. And hence, the New Education Policy lays particular emphasis on - the development of the creative potential of each individual. It is based on the principle that education must develop not only cognitive capacities - both the ‘foundational capacities ’of literacy and numeracy and ‘higher-order’ cognitive capacities, such as critical thinking and problem-solving – but also social, ethical and emotional capacities and dispositions (taken from NEP 2020). This involves the introduction of more extra curriculum and right brain development activities like Music into the education ecosystems of school.

Feedback received from schools who have signed up for the music curriculum of Furtados School of Music shows that children not only enjoy the music classes as a hobby but have also improved in various other facets like memory, math, logic and mind stimulation.

Some of the early signs of right-brain stimulation are observed as soon as training has begun. A few of them are listed below:

-          High imagination and creativity

-          Stronger hand & brain coordination

-          Improved levels of concentration and memory retention

-          Activated brain and increase in logic thinking. 

Right brain development also has a fair hand in improving the grasping power of a child and thus benefitting them in other subjects at school too. All in all, this is an absolute win-win for both the parents as well as children and as important as academia is for children, the wonderful training of the right-brain is what connects the circuits of the brain leading to wholesome development.

Dharini Upadhyaya

Guest Author Co- CEO and Co- Founder, Furtados School of Music