Media365
A Malayalam movie by debutant director Vinesh Viswanath has mooted an innovative classroom management idea that has caught on like a wildfire. The idea is very simple but its impact has been transformative. The heart-warming film ‘Sthanarthi Sreekuttan’ (Candidate Sreekuttan) calls for doing away with the conventional row-based seating arrangement in schools and roots for a semi-circle arrangement of benches with the teacher in the centre. This means that there are no back-benchers in a class.
From Kerala to Punjab and Tamil Nadu to Telangana, the idea has caught on with schools adopting the change with enthusiasm. The concept underlines the need to end the practice where the studious children are the frontbenchers while the mischievous and disruptive ones are dubbed the backbenchers.
After the movie gained instant fame following its release on an OTT platform, several schools in Kerala started implementing the idea. Soon, the schools in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and the far-off Punjab too adopted the model.
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Taking a cue from the Kerala model, the schools in Telangana are now moving away from the traditional back bench system in classrooms and shifting towards U-shaped seating arrangements. This change aims to promote better student engagement and equal attention for all students.
This new arrangement involves arranging desks in a U-shape, which encourages more interaction between students and allows teachers to easily move around and interact with all students.
The teachers at Tirumalagiri Zilla Parishad High School in Telangana’s Suryapet district initiated this change in select classrooms on a trial basis to evaluate its effectiveness. They started with three Class X classrooms on a pilot basis and found the experiment to be highly successful. Encouraged by the students’ positive response, the school expanded the seating arrangement to nearly all classes.
“We believe everyone is equal, and our teaching staff is working to engage even struggling students. Students who previously sat in the back benches often underperformed academically. To ensure no student falls behind, we have adopted this new method to nurture talent equally across all students. While there was initial surprise, students are thoroughly enjoying this change,” said Headmaster Damara Srinivas.
Now, the initiative has spread beyond Suryapet. In Hyderabad, the District Collector Dasari Harichandana has directed all government schools to replace traditional arrangements with new classroom seating.
The Collector said that back benches often lead to disengagement. “To ensure every child is equally involved in learning, teachers must arrange classrooms in a U-shape without any back benches,” she said, adding that this layout fosters better interaction, especially in schools catering to marginalised communities.
