What To Do
- Verify the reputation of the school before admitting your child
- Support the child during his transition from alternative school to mainstream education
- Support him in pursuing his own interests
- If medicine or engineering is the goal, shift to a CBSE or ICSE school
Do you want your child to go through the same system of education that you did? Is it that you don’t quite agree with it, but don’t know whether there are other options available? Iif you are, then there are a number of options you can look at. For today, a number of non-traditional or alternative routes are available to your child. These include alternative schools and home-based learning. Here we concentrate on alternative schools. In India, some schools follow systems based on the Waldorf philosophy (of Rudolf Steiner) or on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo or J. Kishnamurthy.
Difference"Alternative education is more child-centric, while the traditional system follows a more top-down approach,” says Pervin Malhotra, executive director, CareerGuidanceIndia, a career counselling firm.
Mainstream education focuses on completion of a fixed syllabus, exams, grading and promoting the child. In alternative education, children are given the freedom, space and time to explore topics of their interest. “It is not evaluation by comparing one human being with another, but objective assessment of the capacity of each child,” says K.T.S.V. Prasad, former director of Averbhav, an alternative school. A lot of importance is given to aspects such as appreciation of the fine arts and nature and the freedom of enquiry, which help in building a person as a whole. While children are given the freedom to pursue their own interests initially, they are taught language and mathematical skills as they grow up.
What Next?
The main question facing a parent is, “Will my child fit into the mainstream after his formative years?”
Alternative schools have different ways of dealing with this. Some may be only up to Class 5 or Class 8, after which the student is expected to get admission into a mainstream school. Other schools follow a different approach and take the onus of preparing their students for the board exams. The student has the options of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). Both have been recognised by Association of Indian Universities to be on a par with certificates awarded by other boards—ICSE, CBSE and state boards. the student passes NIOS or IGCSE with the required subjects, he is eligible for admission to mainstream schools in the country. He may then go on to pursue a career of his choice. Some schools also permit students to sit for senior secondary (Class 12 exams) under IGCSE and NIOS, after which they can get admission into any university.
Costs
Alternative education tends to be more expensive than mainstream education. That is not only because the student-teacher ratio is low, but also because the child is provided many facilities and also encouraged to take up extra-curricular activities such as sports and the performing arts. However, for schools run by charitable institutions, fees are on the lower side.
Fees can be between Rs 6,000 per annum and go up to Rs 35,000 per annum or more if it is a residential school. The expensive schools ask parents who can afford it to volunteer to pay higher fees so that students from a cross-section of society can be taken in. Chowgule stresses that no child is refused admission because of monetary reasons.
Viability
“Admitting a child into an alternative school does lead to his all-round development in the formative years,” says Shakun Chaudhury, Director, Ibambini pre-school, Gurgaon. However, before selecting an alternative school, one should check its background and also look at the alumni to see how many of them have managed to successfully integrate into mainstream education. “Ii tell parents to check if a school meets their criteria. One has to visit several schools before deciding what is best for one’s child,” says Chaudhury.
Students passing from alternative schools might find it a bit difficult to adjust to the mainstream. However, this varies from student to student. Students need the support of parents and teachers to make this transition. “Alternative schools have understood this and started preparing students for the pressures of the competitive world in the higher classes,” says Malhotra. “one feels that the child is cut out to join IITs or top medical colleges, one should shift him into a school under the CBSE, as the syllabus is more tuned to such competitive exams,” she adds.
So, if you do not want your child to be burdened by homework, tuitions and a heavy school bag from an early age, alternative education is the option to explore.
Source - outlookindia.com
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