*I started this post on Thursday morning but did not get a chance to finish before we went to the airport for Delhi (where there was limited Internet) consequently I am finish it now.
As we wrap up our 10 days in Rajkot I wanted to look back and reflect on all we have seen. It has been a busy time with school visits and conversations with teachers. I would have liked to have seen more cultural activities (never made it to a wedding) but overall it was very eyeopening.
The biggest thing I take away is my understanding of the Indian education system. Unfortunately to get a good education you need to have money to go to a private school. While the public schools are working hard they are just too many issues for them to be very successful. The biggest issue is the lack of money and resources and large number of students, each class has an average of 40-50 students! However what is interesting is the teachers in public school are actually qualified to teach, meaning they went to school and have a degree but they mostly teach with the chalk and talk method. There is an immense amount of pressure to do well in school and do very well on the exam as that is the basis of getting into college. Students chose either the state exam, national (All India exam), IB or Cambridge. The other issue is one of language. English unifies the nation so it is preferred and many private schools offer English while many of the public (not all) offer in the state/local language. However Indians tend to know more languages than many others as they are all taught 3 languages, typically English, local/state, and Hindi, but many students also study French and German.
In speaking to many teachers and students I realized that there are the same concerns and issues whether in India or the U.S. Teachers have challenging, stressful jobs, and have to deal with the issues of the curriculum and trying to help students successfully navigate life!
As we wrap up our 10 days in Rajkot I wanted to look back and reflect on all we have seen. It has been a busy time with school visits and conversations with teachers. I would have liked to have seen more cultural activities (never made it to a wedding) but overall it was very eyeopening.
The biggest thing I take away is my understanding of the Indian education system. Unfortunately to get a good education you need to have money to go to a private school. While the public schools are working hard they are just too many issues for them to be very successful. The biggest issue is the lack of money and resources and large number of students, each class has an average of 40-50 students! However what is interesting is the teachers in public school are actually qualified to teach, meaning they went to school and have a degree but they mostly teach with the chalk and talk method. There is an immense amount of pressure to do well in school and do very well on the exam as that is the basis of getting into college. Students chose either the state exam, national (All India exam), IB or Cambridge. The other issue is one of language. English unifies the nation so it is preferred and many private schools offer English while many of the public (not all) offer in the state/local language. However Indians tend to know more languages than many others as they are all taught 3 languages, typically English, local/state, and Hindi, but many students also study French and German.
In speaking to many teachers and students I realized that there are the same concerns and issues whether in India or the U.S. Teachers have challenging, stressful jobs, and have to deal with the issues of the curriculum and trying to help students successfully navigate life!
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