A Private School Visit-June 10

We visited a second school in Bangalore, Shastry Memorial English School -- a coed private school for kindergarten to grade 10.  It’s in grade 10 that students here in India take a state exam, and then go on to what’s called “Plus 2.”  In essence, that’s grades 11 and 12.  This is kind of considered pre-college, after which they enter university.  I was impressed with the children here, more so than the teaching (not the teachers).  I say this because just like our first school, these kids want to learn, but just like the former school, a lot here is taught by rote.  I loved their politeness, clearly exhibited pride in their work, and the articulate manner in which they expressed themselves when given the freedom to share their ideas.  They eagerly showed me their notebooks and text, and talked freely about what they were doing.

Student workbook written in Kanada-Indian students study 3 languages minimum, beginning in grade 3.

I had a chance to sit in on a 9^th grade Social Studies class, where they were studying India, and a 7^th grade Language Arts class.  And once again, just like in primary school Language Arts class, the teacher was asking them to simply give information back.  There was no higher order thinking, no cooperative group work, and, though coed, no mixing in class between boys and girls.  Females were seated on one side of the room, and gents on the other.   The lesson in the 7^th grade LA class was the same as the one taught in the primary school class 7^th grade class the day before.  There are no state or central government curriculum standards, so perhaps this was to be seen as a positive in that teachers are themselves are working on small steps to bring about basic cohesive curriculum units.

Bright, polite, ambitious, and smart young ladies..happy faces.

To be fair, we were observing the middle of the lesson, and we didn’t stay long enough to see what would come after, so I am humbled that these teachers allowed a bunch of Americans into their classrooms, not knowing what we would be saying about them afterwards.  I am truly honored, because at the end of the day, they, like American teachers, are doing the best they can (with far, far less resources than we have access to in the states).

This school also primarily serves under-privileged students and their families.  However, despite their circumstances, these parents ensure that their children go to school!  They are more stable than families of the kids in the government school we visited, and they work hard to supplement the meager INR 200 stipend that the government provides for each student per year.  There are some students from middle class families here as well.  All these parents place a high value on a quality education and feel they are not getting what they need in the schools run by the government.  Charter schools in the U.S. anyone?! 

The head or school manager is a former engineer, who “believes in a good education,” and whose “mother started the school years ago in her home with 7 students.”  I feel his intentions are good; but is it fair for me to question how come he has a newly painted office, outfitted with new furniture and computers when student bathrooms lack toilet paper, and students have little to no computer access on campus?  Maya Menon, from The Teacher Foundation, helped me understand that he technically has no education background; it would be wonderful for him to choose to do some work with the foundation to learn how to further leverage what he’s already getting out of his teachers, build capacity, and overall see the value in providing some of the quality of life (and health) issues that could serve his students, i.e. clean bathrooms, and toilet paper.  In the end I hope to work with this school to provide meaningful assistance to deserving students.

A teacher is proud of her students and explains her day