Archive for December 23rd, 2006

Schools in Kerala- A place to learn or a torture factory?

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

Kerala School ChildrenWhat I cherish most about my childhood is my early school days. It was fun time and there was no pressure to perform. I don’t remember carrying a heavy school bag at any time! There was competition between children but it was at a healthy level.

But things have changed drastically over the years. Now the work load at school is unbelievably high. My daughter is too young to go to school, but I do feel sympathy thinking how hard it is going to be for her.

I see only one group to blame for all these nonsense - parents. It is written infinite times, but I can’t help it. Everyone wants their child to be an engineer or doctor because of the social status it gives to the family. But maybe because she is too young, I don’t have any such expectations for my daughter. I want her to do what she wants (but not sure how I will react if she says she wants to be a model!).

What prompted me to write this was the photo I took last week. I was going to office and at a signal (Pattoor junction) I noticed an auto rickshaw on my left side. I felt really sad for the child sitting behind (look closely - there are 3 children one on top of other!).

School children in a cramped auto - A scene from Trivandrum