Sarah Moss, a homemaker and a social activist, who hails from the Netherlands, has been in India for quite a long time. Married to an Andhra-ite, she has never let any of her seven children go to school! She has taught them all by herself, following the American standard education structure. She has taken a teacher training course in home-schooling just for the sake of her children.“My eldest daughter is a model and she never regretted not going to a school,” says Sarah Moss who believes that Indian education system emphasises on learning by rote and academic pressure rather than on acquisition of knowledge.But isn’t it difficult to educate a child at home? “Any parent who is committed to the child’s education can easily teach all at home till the 8th grade,” she opines.Sarah Moss is not an isolated example. There are several like her in the twin cities who educate their children at home. Malini Sarah Paul, a social worker, too admits she has never sent any of her 10 children to school.“To learn, a child needs to have personal motivation. Character building and inculcating positive values at home is more important than academic development,” she points out. She too has followed the American standard structure for home-schooling and raised her children, albeit with help from private tutors. Her eldest son Micheal is a sound engineer and others too have been more or less successful. “My youngest son, 11-year-old Gabriel, is already working on the super advanced MAYA software (pertaining to animation) all by himself to create animated drawings. He posts his works on youtube so that others can also learn from him,” she explains proudly. Ironically, with the advent of international schools in the city, this trendy concept of “home-schooling” and that of “after-school support classes” are catching up. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is the flexibility and space it offers to children. Shylaja Karanam, a mother of two, says her children are not satisfied with the rigid curriculum and structured format in international schools.Karanam, with her experience in the field of education abroad for over 10 years as Department Head, Ministry of Education, Maldives, started homeschooling her children with good results. Tarun, her son was one of the toppers at international level in the IGCSE examinations, what one calls grade 10. Subsequently, she started taking in more students and established IGCSE mentors with a number of friends from the same field. She has brought together people who had worked with her and also fresh post-graduates who are given training. “The socalled international schools match international standards only in terms of infrastructure and exorbitant fee but not in educational standards,”Shylaja Karanam claims. She has around 20 children in her school.Home-schooling has one advantage over regular education.Students get more attention from their tutors. Students use reference books endorsed by the Cambridge University which also lets them take exams privately. Alice is another woman who loves spending time with her children and prefers educating them at home. “If a student has to attend school and after-school support classes and after that, finish homework, one ends up spending double the normal expenditure on the child’s education and suffocating the child,” she points out. A good number of these parents who prefer homeschooling are from abroad.Maniroop Baranaka who came down from the US in June this year was denied admission for Grade 10. “I was asked to repeat Grade 9 or skip Grade 10,” he says adding that this kind of treatment too forces them to opt for home-schooling. Another student, Ashrit, also has a complaint against the schools in the city. “If I have to teach my teachers how or what to teach me, why do I need to go to school? I quit school after my results were withheld as my teacher did not understand my special project and since she did not forward it,” says Ashrit, who is currently pursuing A-level in a homeschool set up.Tarun, a tennis player, also quit school so that he could accommodate sports along with studies. “I come and take my classes according to my convenience and sports schedule, it is completely cool,” he quips. Answering critics’ view that such students are being deprived of school atmosphere and social groups, Sarah and others assert that, “studies have proved that such children who have more time for themselves, jell well with people beyond age groups. So, it is not that home-schooling isolates the child from society”.
Comments
0 comment