By Rajkamal Rao
Go back to Education
Section 7f. What to expect at Indian schools
Interviews with multiple Indian parents, including NRIs, have revealed that the following experiences are common:
Children are naturally a lot more resilient than we give them credit for, so they are likely to get used to the school environment faster than parents can get accustomed to the hard truths of Indian life. This is especially true for younger children.
If you select a school frequented by NRI children, English will be the predominant language used amongst kids. This may disappoint parents who were hoping to have their children pick up on the local language or Hindi.
On average, kids who spent time in US private schools or exemplary public schools fare better in Indian schools than those NRI kids who spent time in a mediocre US public school.
Indian schools emphasize discipline which may appear to be extreme to a US-raised child. For example, usage of foul language on school premises is frowned upon. One school in Bangalore is known to have contacted parents because children used the words “Shut up” or “Stupid” in a derogatory manner.
Corporal punishment and insult - the kind that many parents experienced when growing up in India when teachers would physically hurt students to discipline them, or subject students to embarrassment (like asking them to “stand up on the bench”) - are the exception rather than the rule in most schools which cater to NRI children.
Most schools require children to wear uniforms through 12th grade thereby limiting boy-girl issues. This said, socialization does start around 10th grade when kids go to parties and events amongst themselves.
Parents report that the single-most important thing that can get older NRI children comfortable is their ability to make friends with other NRI kids.
Indian teachers who have children of their own generally handle NRI students much better than younger teachers without children.
Over-protective NRI parents who are naturally inclined to fight teacher recrimination of their children as the first line of defense are likely to needlessly increase stress for themselves and their children. Stories abound of parents who withdrew children from a particular school citing treatment of a particular teacher only to find that other schools had similar (or worse) issues.
In general, NRI kids have a tendency to make fun of teachers for little things - such as when they mispronounce an English word, for example. One senior Indian teacher when teaching children about big US cities insisted on pronouncing the syllable CHI in Chicago - much to the amusement of NRI children in class. When the children tried to correct the teacher, she got offended and insisted that her way of pronunciation was indeed correct.
Most schools dedicated to NRI children emphasize creative work although rote-learning is still the order of the day.
Families which speak Hindi have an advantage for kids who choose Hindi as a second language. Non-Hindi speaking kids easily learn the Devanagari script and score high on spelling tests, but are unable to comprehend the language during initial years.
French as a second language is considered easier even if NRI kids have never taken French prior. Most school teachers are well aware of this drawback and will work with NRI kids to structure a program to get them to catch up. The fallback option is to hire private tutors who can bring kids up to speed.
Don't expect your school's administration to use even basic forms of electronic communication. Teachers don't use emails and are not directly approachable by phone. Class websites are not maintained. School and home work assignments continue to communicated through a daily diary that your child needs to maintain. If your child is deficient, there's a good chance that he/she will miss important school work. Handwritten notes between teacher and parent continue to be the norm - even to request a meeting.
Private schools have a tendency to extract substantial sums of money throughout the school year. School uniform colors and designs that are perfectly fine for one school year are deliberately changed for the next year. The uniforms may only be bought from the school's vendor. [It is easy to suspect that the vendor passes on a commission to the school]. One school sent notices to parents to collect the following during the 2012-2013 year:
Go back to Education
Section 7f. What to expect at Indian schools
Interviews with multiple Indian parents, including NRIs, have revealed that the following experiences are common:
Children are naturally a lot more resilient than we give them credit for, so they are likely to get used to the school environment faster than parents can get accustomed to the hard truths of Indian life. This is especially true for younger children.
If you select a school frequented by NRI children, English will be the predominant language used amongst kids. This may disappoint parents who were hoping to have their children pick up on the local language or Hindi.
On average, kids who spent time in US private schools or exemplary public schools fare better in Indian schools than those NRI kids who spent time in a mediocre US public school.
Indian schools emphasize discipline which may appear to be extreme to a US-raised child. For example, usage of foul language on school premises is frowned upon. One school in Bangalore is known to have contacted parents because children used the words “Shut up” or “Stupid” in a derogatory manner.
Corporal punishment and insult - the kind that many parents experienced when growing up in India when teachers would physically hurt students to discipline them, or subject students to embarrassment (like asking them to “stand up on the bench”) - are the exception rather than the rule in most schools which cater to NRI children.
Most schools require children to wear uniforms through 12th grade thereby limiting boy-girl issues. This said, socialization does start around 10th grade when kids go to parties and events amongst themselves.
Parents report that the single-most important thing that can get older NRI children comfortable is their ability to make friends with other NRI kids.
Indian teachers who have children of their own generally handle NRI students much better than younger teachers without children.
Over-protective NRI parents who are naturally inclined to fight teacher recrimination of their children as the first line of defense are likely to needlessly increase stress for themselves and their children. Stories abound of parents who withdrew children from a particular school citing treatment of a particular teacher only to find that other schools had similar (or worse) issues.
In general, NRI kids have a tendency to make fun of teachers for little things - such as when they mispronounce an English word, for example. One senior Indian teacher when teaching children about big US cities insisted on pronouncing the syllable CHI in Chicago - much to the amusement of NRI children in class. When the children tried to correct the teacher, she got offended and insisted that her way of pronunciation was indeed correct.
Most schools dedicated to NRI children emphasize creative work although rote-learning is still the order of the day.
Families which speak Hindi have an advantage for kids who choose Hindi as a second language. Non-Hindi speaking kids easily learn the Devanagari script and score high on spelling tests, but are unable to comprehend the language during initial years.
French as a second language is considered easier even if NRI kids have never taken French prior. Most school teachers are well aware of this drawback and will work with NRI kids to structure a program to get them to catch up. The fallback option is to hire private tutors who can bring kids up to speed.
Don't expect your school's administration to use even basic forms of electronic communication. Teachers don't use emails and are not directly approachable by phone. Class websites are not maintained. School and home work assignments continue to communicated through a daily diary that your child needs to maintain. If your child is deficient, there's a good chance that he/she will miss important school work. Handwritten notes between teacher and parent continue to be the norm - even to request a meeting.
Private schools have a tendency to extract substantial sums of money throughout the school year. School uniform colors and designs that are perfectly fine for one school year are deliberately changed for the next year. The uniforms may only be bought from the school's vendor. [It is easy to suspect that the vendor passes on a commission to the school]. One school sent notices to parents to collect the following during the 2012-2013 year:
- INR 2,000 for an assessment test to be conducted by Macmillan India to test proficiencies in math, science, computer science and English.
- INR 600 for a hat that children had to wear for a 5-minute program for Independence Day.
- INR 5,000 for an overnight field trip to Mysore (from Bangalore). Another class was asked to pay INR 14,000 for a 2-day field trip to Bandipur. Most local parents agreed that these trips were priced at 5 - 8 times the retail price for similar tours organized by the state tourism development corporation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your note. Please consider signing up for email or RSS updates on our home page www.relocationtoindia.com