Activity-based learning in India

Activity-based learning (ABL) started in 1944 amid World War II when David Horsburgh, an innovative British thinker and charismatic leader, came to India and decided to settle there.

The school was based on Horsburgh's innovative ideas and is known for creative teaching methods and well-planned learning materials.

With his wife Doreen and son Nicholas, Horsburgh developed a diverse curriculum that added music, carpentry, sewing, masonry, and gardening to the usual school subjects of English, Mathematics, Sanskrit, and Telugu.

Since 2003, the ABL method has been applied in Corporation schools of Chennai, India, providing specialised education for children who had been freed from bonded labour.

NumberNagar,[9] Kumon,[10] and Cuemath[11] are all well-known organisations, active in multiple Indian states, which utilise ABL methods.

In Tamil Nadu, elementary schools have initiated the Activity-based Learning methodology through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The key feature of Activity-based Learning is the use of child-friendly educational aids to foster self-learning and to encourage children to study according to their aptitude and skill.

Activities in each milestone include games, rhymes, drawing, and songs to teach a letter or a word, form a sentence, do maths and science, or understand a concept.

[12] If a child is absent one day, he/she continues from where he/she left off, unlike in older systems in which children had to learn on their own what they missed out on.