Reflection on Minoti Didi’s Session on “Assessment” with Class VII (2025–26)
In a reflective session facilitated by Minoti Didi, Class VII students explored the purpose of
assessments and their relationship with learning. The session focused on helping children
understand and navigate the emotions often associated with assessments.
The session began with a discussion on “Mind Over Matter.” Children shared the baggage they
associate with assessments—fear, anxiety, expectations, nervousness, and pressure. To help
them understand these emotions, Didi introduced a powerful analogy: the mind as a vast, clear
blue sky, with emotions appearing as clouds that pass through it. Children were encouraged to
see themselves as pilots of their own planes, navigating through different clouds and
discovering their own wind to regain clarity.
This analogy sparked deep questions from the children. One child asked, “If we are the pilots of
our lives, and our baggage holds us down, what do we do if the plane crashes? What if we don’t
feel ready to take another flight?” Another reflected on reactions and restraint, questioning, “If
someone keeps hurting me, but I choose not to hit back because I may lose what little I have,
what happens when limits are crossed?” These questions opened space for conversations
around emotional strength, boundaries, and conscious responses rather than impulsive
reactions.
Assessments, Didi explained, are a way of understanding oneself—whether one is a morning or
evening learner, how deeply one connects with a subject, and what study patterns work best,
such as studying with music or in a quiet space. Through group discussions, children reflected
on assessments as tools for personal growth, helping them recognise individual learning styles
and understand the broader purpose of education beyond grades.
A key discussion emerged around the difference between studying and learning. Children
reflected on whether they were merely studying to complete tasks or building a meaningful
relationship with their subjects. While studying may be task-based and finite, learning is
ongoing and deepened through reflection.
Children also shared their experiences of parental and facilitator expectations and the pressure
that often accompanies them. One child thoughtfully asked, “If parents put pressure on us
because their parents put pressure on them, where did this cycle begin?” Another questioned
why adults appear to hold more authority when “age is just a number.” Didi helped children
understand that parents and facilitators, too, carry their own clouds of concern and anxiety, and
that dialogue and shared understanding can help bridge these perspectives.
Several questions reflected children’s struggle with time and motivation: “How do we prepare
when there is very little time?” and “Why do we want to study but still feel unable to begin?”
These led to discussions on readiness, emotional states, and realistic preparation, reinforcing
the idea that assessments reflect one’s learning journey rather than defining one’s worth.
The session was further enriched by exploring cause and conditions - helping children
understand that thoughts, fears, and reactions arise from experiences, environments, and
conditioning. Drawing from Acharya Shantideva’s 8th-century text Bodhicharyavatara (A Guide
to the Bodisattva’s Way of Life), Didi shared the analogy that if the entire world is covered with
thorns, one can either try to cover the whole world with leather or simply cover their own feet
with leather - highlighting that while external circumstances remain, our response to them is
within our control. This was linked to another reflective question raised by a child: “Wouldn’t it
be better to feel and deal with the emotions that come with assessments rather than trying to
eliminate them?”
Towards the end, Didi shared a story of a wise man and revisited the metaphor of the butterfly
in one’s hand, reaffirming that learning, emotions, and responses lie within one’s own care.
When understood with gentleness, the complexity reduces, even though external circumstances
continue to exist. Guided by the wind of wisdom and knowledge with compassion, children
were encouraged to navigate assessments with clarity, courage, and self-awareness.
By the end of the session, assessments were no longer viewed as something to fear but as
meaningful opportunities for reflection, growth, and deeper understanding of oneself.