Backing the Back Bench
Over the past few weeks, photos from Kerala classrooms have flashed across the pages of Indian media: benches pulled into semi-circles, the teacher anchored at the open end. The intent is noble: dismantle the front–back hierarchy and, with it, create a ‘no back bench’ model classroom. Sounds neat, inclusive and futuristic right? No wonder the idea has gathered momentum, drawing national attention and even imitation. If we dig deeper though, the U-shape is not really new. In teacher-education guides, “horseshoe” layouts are widely described as promoting visibility and whole-class discussion. Why it failed to find place in many modern classrooms is that a U-shape seating with large classes pushes students to extreme angles. Practically this leads to frequent neck-turning and side-talk that can increase cognitive load, exactly when attention is precious. The model might be more practical in spacious rooms with smaller cohorts, often less than 20. But such scenarios are an extreme luxury...
