The skewed story of Amdavadi schools

AHMEDABAD: Ten years back, a high school boy in Ahmedabad would be busy meeting homework deadlines, journal deadlines or tuition dates. Today most highschool kids appear more confident and have learnt the art of managing time between his tuitions and playtime.
But the Amdavadi school kid has not yet arrived, not all of them. Compared to their counterparts in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or Pune, they appear "less exposed", mainly because the ratio of English medium schools against Gujarati medium schools is skewed.Senior school teachers of the city feel it is the method of teaching that differs from these cities, and could be held responsible.
"We follow the same syllabus as any other state or board. A regular upgradation in the course has pushed up the Gujarat board to a level which is almost at par with central board. What our students lack is the competitive spirit. Every year we fail to avail the quota for the state in national exams like PMT, IIT-JEE and IIIT (for entry to the six top IT institutes) ," said Dhiraj Jogani, principal of MK High School.
Poonam Maheshwari, mother of a 14-year old, says, "I see the difference between my son and his cousins from Pune. They seem so much more grown up and mature, which reflects in everything they do or say. They have their career plan, subjects they want to choose and what profession they want to be in. I don’t know if I want my son to become exactly like that, but surely some of it is not bad".
Experts say the IQ of kids here is quite high, all they need is more opportunity and exposure. In over 60 per cent of the schoolchildren do not know about the internet or have access to it, leave alone researching or using it for education.
Father Ferdinand Durai, principal of Loyola High School, says, "our students do not learn the subjects any more, they only learn up textbooks. What is on top priority to our students is what can fetch them marks. There is no habit of extra reading in children. Even when we organise seminars or activities, we hardly see children interested, since it does not carry marks".
The declining reading habits is a concern for the school authorities through out the city. Principal of Udgam School, Radhika Iyer, says, "The reading habits have undergone a change even in the last three years. Since we understand the importance of it, we have recently renovated our library to make it colourful, attractive and accessible to the students".