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Journalism of Courage
Wild bougainvillaea and sugarcane fields line the road to Sharad Pawar International School in Pune, tucked away in the secluded corner of a valley. A typical day on this sprawling 125-acre campus begins, like in any other school, with the school anthem. But this anthem, based on a shloka from the Bhagvad Gita, is composed by pop star Shaan. Uniforms, unlike in other schools which are different for summer and winter, change here four times and are designed with a smart, sporty feel by Mumbai-based fashion designer Shaina N C. The chemistry labs boast LCD projection systems while there is a specially created botanical garden for biology students.
Thousands of kilometers away, at Pathways School in the Aravalli Hills in Haryana, 30 km from Delhi, double-glazed tinted glass shields students from the sun inside the cafeteria. The lunch is an elaborate affair with a variety of pasta, salad and Indian food to choose from. In the evening, students can swim in an Olympic-size pool, play not just cricket or basketball, but also billiards and squash. Two students share an air-conditioned room equipped with a desk and wardrobe. Some children spend their weekends at home and come back on Monday morning.
This is the exclusive world of international schools emerging in India, unapologetically luxurious and offering cutting-edge education.
In the last three years, 30 such schools have opened near Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. Bhopal is all set to join the list. Education here costs a minimum of Rs 3 lakh per year and can go up to an astounding Rs 9 lakh, as opposed to Rs 90,000 at Vasant Valley School, considered one of Delhi8217;s best schools. 8216;8216;Our school is for parents who can afford the best,8217;8217; emphasises L Prabhu, principal, Pathways, which has 570 students. And no, there is no dearth of students. Prabhu is already turning away applications.
Well, we have come a long way. For those of us who8217;ve studied in the 8216;best8217; Indian schools, we considered ourselves fortunate if the fan worked in summers and we didn8217;t get thrown off the packed school bus on the way home.
Traditional boarding schools like Mayo and Sanawar, considered elitist, are still decidedly old world: Management prides itself on offering the best education but providing students only basic comforts and the merits of frugal living. When G D Goenka in Delhi started air-conditioned classrooms and buses a decade ago, it led to furious debates.
But the new breed of international schools has unabashedly embraced comfort and futuristic technology. Like over 600 private high schools in the US and a 100 in the UK, these educational institutions follow the International Baccalaureate IB system, a relatively new but highly rated programme, originally geared towards ex-pat European children based outside their countries.
In 1982, the American School in Delhi was the first to introduce IB in India. Now, it has become a craze among privileged Indians, keen on a world-class education for their children. Around 80 per cent of Pathways8217; students come from business families. Only 20 per cent are foreigners or children of NRIs.
Mercedes Benz International School MBIS in Pune started off to cater to foreign IT executives in the city. 8220;Now half our students are Indians and their number is growing every year,8217;8217; says Michael Thompson, director, MBIS.
Sunita Jindal, a Delhi-based entrepreneur, pulled her 14-year-old son out of a prominent city school and opted for Pathways two years ago. 8220;Sanchit is now trained in four sports and enjoys studying. He8217;s more confident and sure of himself,8221; says the proud mother.
Pune-based businesswoman Renu Arya recently admitted her 16-year-old daughter Payal to MIT8217;s Vishwashanti Gurukul in Pune. The school looks like a castle you8217;d find in Scotland, and is built on a property originally owned by actor Raj Kapoor. It has a nine-hole golf course and diet-counselling for students.
8220;The exposure here is great,8217;8217; says Arya, adding: 8216;8216;Payal can choose any combination of subjects.8221; Unlike the Indian rote method, the IB system encourages students to be creative. 8216;8216;The idea is to make learning fun,8217;8217; says Birla Gaur, coordinator at the G D Goenka World School, which also follows IB. For the final exams, students have to submit a 4,500-word essay on a subject of choice. A student who learns Bharatnatyam chose to write on the Devdasis.
This flexible approach to education in an idyllic setting helps kids discover themselves. Everyone is graded and no one comes first or second. After class four, one can choose between French or German, instead of Sanskrit and Hindi both mandatory in CBSE.
Seeing the growing popularity of the IB board, even Delhi8217;s Sri Ram School and The Doon School have started offering it as an option along with CBSE, to their 102 students, but minus the frills.
Schools like MBIS and Pathways, meanwhile, are proud of the completely Wi-Fi campus and laptops-replacing-notebooks. They believe the frills are integral to a better learning experience. Pathways School has only 16 students per class and follows a teaching method called the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, advocated by a Harvard professor. 8216;8216;According to this theory, children can be gifted in eight different ways,8217;8217; explains Prabhu. 8216;8216;Our teachers are trained to recognise the child8217;s strengths and teach accordingly.8217;8217;
The emphasis is mostly on an international curriculum. Exposure to Indian culture is through community service, compulsory under the IB system. So every Friday, teenage students of Pathways head to a nearby village school, equipped with jute, to make tables for children studying in a mud hut.
But though straitlaced Indian teachers approve of the education technique, they frown upon the five-star culture. 8220;The board is good but children should grow up rough and tough,8221; says Manisha Malhotra of The Sri Ram School. 8216;8216;We provide international education with an Indian flavour.8221; However, with their astronomical fees, the IB board is restricted to the well-heeled Indian. 8216;8216;This method teaches through enquiry and is an excellent module,8217;8217; says Abha Adams, a Delhi-based educationist. 8216;8216;The only problem is there8217;s no eclectic mix of students.8217;8217;
However, it8217;s clear these schools are geared towards kids who see their futures overseas. With reservations and unreal cut-offs in Indian colleges, people who can afford it prefer sending their children to foreign universities. Indian colleges are not yet an option for IB graduates. The results come in August and admissions here finish by July. 8216;8216;It8217;s not a straightforward process yet,8217;8217; agrees L Prabhu, who8217;s collaborating with some private universities to grant Pathways8217; students8217; provisional admission.
However, Cyris Vakil, director of studies at the Mahindra United World School in Pune, is not sure how well IB students could perform in competitive entrance examinations. So far, only two of his students have made it to an engineering college in India. 8216;8216;If that8217;s the goal CBSE or ICSE schools might be better,8217;8217; he says.
While the debate goes on between the different worlds of learning, this new education model is yet another step in the search of a schooling utopia.
