education

I found this impressive building in Panduranga Nagar, just off Bannerghatta Road. What struck me about the big claims was that no course of study was being talked about....all that this tell students is that it will help them pass the *entrance* exams to various courses. We have degraded our educational system to the point where passing an entrance examination is a great feat, to be aspired to. If it is accomplished,goes the subtext, the rest of the course is just a breeze. Nowhere is there anything about learning anything these days; it's all about marks, and toppers, and rankings.…

I've been visiting a few schools lately, and I am rather disturbed by some of the things I see on the campuses. One school has no playground at all. Pointing to a tiny handkerchief of space, the  person talking to me says, "That is enough for our children." Another campus of the same school has a few small ornamental trees near the entrance gate. The entire campus is covered in concrete and the green of the trees are those which are in the neighbouring apartment buildiings. One school has very professional loops of  barbed wire on its compound wall.  …

I've been thinking about our education system a lot (again) lately. Mainly, I've been trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that I dislike about it. After much introspection (read: "Ten minutes of trying to come up with something to write about"), I decided that it was, mainly, the fact that we have subjects. While subjects are great for breaking everything down into bite-sized pieces and allowing you to pass your exams, they don't really give you an appreciation for what you're learning. For instance, if I were to learn in Physics about Young's Double Slit Experiment, I'll be…

Our little man went back to school on Monday. We watched him put on his new t-shirt, wear his new pair of  shoes. We watched him walking with his new school bag, new lunch bag, new water bottle, new name tags And he looked so handsome and smart, and happy, that my heart swelled with pride, with love. I watched him walk beside his father and prayed he would be safe and secure in the world out there. As I went back inside our flat, I happened to look out the window of our living room. A small figure was…

Aradhana Academy is not on the list of "elite" schools of Bangalore. But here's our experience. I sent this email to Rajane Prasad, Admissions Co-ordinator, and Sister Moly, the Principal of the School. Dear Ms Rajane: There is a FB group called https://www.facebook.com/groups/bangaloreschoolsshweta/Bangalore Schools (closed group, you may not be able to open the link) where parents exchange information about various schools. Here's what Anjana (my daughter, and Kavya's mother) posted: I wanted to write about my experience so far with Aradhana Academy. Some of you may already know that my family has relocated from the U.S. My daughter joined…

In the run up to the TCS World 10K which happened on May 15th, Citizen Matters was looking for runners who we could collaborate with to raise funds for our journalism. And now that the run is over, we couldn't have asked for a better set of people to collaborate with. With their help, we managed to raise Rs 2.21 lakh in a span of a month for the journalism on Citizen Matters. Thank you, all of you for being a part of our fundraising.    The TCS World 10K is over, as are the runners' campaigns, but Citizen Matters…

I don't know how many of you have ever had to switch schools in tenth grade and/or have kids who switched schools in tenth grade. If you have, I think you'll agree with me when I say that it is, in the truest sense of the word, an ordeal. For the past ten years, my academic career (OK, it's not exactly academic... let's call it my schooling) has taken place in Vidya Niketan School of Kempapura, Hebbal in Bangalore. This year, though, for reasons we need not go into, we decided that I was to switch schools. We began by…

Velu is a taxi driver my husband and I know well. He has two sons and a daughter. The good thing is he owns his taxi, he saved up to buy the car. But it means his life is tough--going on long distance assignments at a moment's notice, getting by with little sleep (or sleeping in his vehicle), missing regular meals, being plagued by backache, so on and so forth. But Velu doesn't mind the hard work. As the sole breadwinner, he is used to it. Besides, he wants his children to have a good education. Rani, a mother of…

Ever visited a BBMP school? Or met children studying in one?When I first heard of it, I immediately visualized a dilapidated building with a loud bell and boisterous children. But this one was different. Thanks to its proactive and progressive Headmaster of four years, Mr. Balappa and his committed staff, the BBMP Girls High school in Bharathi Nagar has 251 enthusiastic students in classes VIII - X presently. Located at the intersection of Thimmaiah Road and St. John's Road (near Coles Park), most of its students are Urdu speakers who commute long distances. Almost all hail from very low income…

…Hindus, Muslims, Christians, boys and girls", were the heart warming words of Afreen Sultana, a promising class IX student of a government aided English medium school in Matadahalli, R.T. Nagar. A fornight ago, it all began as a question on the difference between a nest and a cage with Firdaus (of class VII in the Urdu medium government school nearby). This led to the meaning and importance of freedom for all living beings, eliciting interesting responses from Alan, Chetan and Abhinaya (in classes VII, IX and VIII of various government aided English medium schools in North East Bengaluru) on accepted…