The education field like all others inevitably has to change its methodologies and approaches

constantly to satisfy the change in environment, attitudes and needs of society. However, change must not be just for the sake of change and therefore whenever new methodologies and approaches are implemented they must not negate what was good in the past. Instead, whatever worked well in the past should be retained and those that were ineffective should be discarded, of course after proper evaluation has been done.
In other words, we should follow the precept of the old adage of “not throwing out the baby with the bath water.”
Today many are questioning whether the modern education system is better than what existed in the past. And you would often hear the “oldsters” extolling the virtues of the old system and condemning the modern system. Of course, most of them were products of the old system and were contented with what it gave them. But not having any academic or pedagogical experience they are ill-equipped to make an objective analysis.
The only true analysis of an education system lies in the quality of its end product; and who can deny that today’s education system has produced a larger amount of qualified students with  higher academic standards. What may be questionable is whether the system has upheld the moral standards of the past. But the issue of moral standards is today beyond the boundaries of the education system and is a much more complex issue than that of yesteryear, because the intricacies of society have changed tremendously.
 The old education system was a more regimented and militarised and autocratic system and many students never enjoyed going to school, but were more or less forced to and as a result, schooling was more a punishment and burden rather than an avenue for enlightenment and acquisition of knowledge and life skills.
 Today the education system is much more open, democratic and seeks to make students enjoy schooling, particularly for the young students, and therefore there is a move away from indoctrination and the autocratic approach.

Mark R Burdett in his article: Why Early Learning Must Be Fun for Young Children, notes: “Things may well have changed in schools from what they were 30 years ago but way back then, learning was done through knowledge and information acquired through games, hands on experience and even whilst playing with building blocks. Some will argue that education is mostly knowledge and learning and this is true, but equally true is that learning without an element of fun will not be as effective as teachers who inject an element of fun and enjoyment into their classes.
“Young children need to enjoy themselves and by incorporating fun things to do in their learning experience, they are far more likely to want more. Children develop their own personalities and other social skills through playing with other children and the staff who look after them on a daily basis and therefore good early learning educators should realise this and schedule their activities accordingly.”
 Against this backdrop, the recent UG/IDB workshop to train trainers in puppetry and dramatic story-telling disciplines derived from oral traditions, myths and legends is indeed a progressive step within the education system.
Dr. Marlene Cox correctly observed that puppetry presents an opportunity for students to learn in a more interactive and fun way, noting that “learning is best when it is fun.”
         She said while the targeted beneficiaries are primary school students, the benefits of this art form are limitless, since persons of all ages enjoy storytelling and puppetry and, therefore, can learn a lot from it.
 One would now hope that the start in this direction would be enhanced and continued and extended to other regions as it would definitely impact positively on our students, particularly the younger ones.