#School
#India

Many parents ask me if they should enroll their kids in one of the "new" schools.

Here is my answer about schools that encourage curriculum free learning.

A thread.

Many parents recognise harm of prevalent industrial model of school. They have enough money to explore "alternative" education models.

Are these models good?

I have seen rise and transformation of some of these schools in Pune over last 20 years.

Curiosity directed, teacher guided, self learning is every educationist's gold standard and every parent's dream when they are not anxious.

Madam Montessori pioneered this thinking. Educationists like Gijubhai, Anil Panse worked on similar models grounded in indian reality.

Schools run on these models produce self learners, explorers.

What happens to them on livelihood front?

We don't have enough published data yet.

I have seen that parents go thru a phase of romanticizing education when kids are really young (pre school age).

Few questions to ask yourself as parent are -

What is your risk appetite?

Can you handle peer pressure as parents?

Are you okay with your child being the only one in friends/family/neighbourhood who is not doing competitive exams like Olympiads from std 1?

How long can you wait for your child to prove that they are alright?

Can you live with kids who do not readily accept authority just because you say so?

Can you live with "creative idleness"?

How will you continue know that you are on correct path?

These are not easy questions to answer.

Unless you have thought it thru, don't take the plunge just because mainstream education "feels" wrong.

Many parents who start out in this hope start questioning their choice when kids are 12-13 yr old. They panic and want to get kids back in mainstream.

If you have poor appetite for adventure, start with mainstream and change later.
That is easier than other way around.

If education is truly about learning, finding out one's way in life and not only about earning livelihood and "success" then you have alternative paths available in urban india (at a substantial cost of course).

Choose wisely

Education is as much about you as it is about kids.