Educational System Observations on Indian Schools: Guwahati, State of Assam, India

Student work at Maharishi Vidya Mandir School

Staff at the Autism, CP and Mental Retardation School I visited

Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I will learn, Involve me and I will understand-------Teton Lakota (American Indian saying)

The teachers of Maharishi Vidya Mandir School in Guwahati and other regional schools I visited the past two weeks are doing a wonderful job of engaging and involving students in learning. Our educational systems are very different in many respects, but as I told the Indian students in question and answer sessions, there is little difference in teaching styles- a teacher is a teacher wherever you go no matter what the circumstances.

I have witnessed some very fine teaching and learning taking place in the schools in India. In an English class I observed a student skit on a story they had just completed: The Nightingale and the Frog. The students had created simple head pieces and body attachments for costumes and each assumed a character in the piece. The speech was clear and the actions were staged well for the space allowed in the crowded classroom. The skit was well designed and the actors had equal parts that they performed with relish. They opened the floor for questions after the skit finished. The students conducted the class under the supervision of their teacher. The next class was a 9th grade section and they were conducting a review in English in the form of a team competition. A student recorder kept score on the board and each team posed student generated questions to the other team on Mutiny on the Bounty and the poems and life of Wordsworth. The students really tried to stump each other and asked difficult and detailed questions. The feeling in the room was intensely competitive! Another excellent class I observed was a 6th grade science lab for 39 students on mixtures. The teacher placed key words on the board and page references and students stood in front of the class and demonstrated portions of the lesson using different easily obtainable everyday items like lentils, pebbles, flour, rice and soil to demonstrate components of mixtures, pure substances and separation techniques. When the students completed their presentations, the teacher followed up with a recap of the lesson and a homework assignment.

My urban host school set up visits to other educational institutions so I could have a better picture of schools in the northeastern states of India. I visited the Modern English School in a more suburban part of Guwahati. This school is expanding and has built a new multistoried building with some smart boards in the classrooms and a computer lab. The class numbers are still high, but this school has focused on improving technology. The school has 1800 students on a secure and gated campus. The campus has some beautiful plantings and a very tropical feel. As in the other schools I visited, classrooms are not air-conditioned. There are numerous ceiling fans to help move the air in very hot classrooms- everyone seems acclimated and no one complains. Here in Memphis, Tennessee we have air-conditioned all the schools in the belief that extreme heat compromises learning. This does not seem to be the case in India because learning is on-going even in extreme heat and humidity!

Special education students are not educated in the general population in India. This is one major difference in our educational systems. I visited a very special non-profit private school that serves students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Mental Retardation. The school has a section for out-patient services and evaluation with physical therapists and a special education teacher to evaluate children. The physical therapist on duty showed us a special room he has put together to test young patients’ sensory development. The PT room was in use with an evaluation of a baby who has not started speaking or walking yet. The staff of two physical therapists was working with the child as the mother sat and watched. The room colors were bright and inviting throughout this school with wall murals and ceiling paints to stimulate students to look up and strengthen neck muscles. The manager and business director of this school who is wheelchair bound himself is especially proud of the newly renovated computer lab which is nearing completion. There will be ten specially adapted computers with head controls instead of hand operated mouse controls, special chairs with neck rests and special software to support speech and other needed skills for the school students enrolled in this unique day school facility. The ratio of staff to student is 1:3. We toured at lunchtime so students were self-feeding if they could or receiving assistance from the staff. Some inclusion does occur with community outreach events like talent shows, environmental walks, etc. In the more advanced age group we met a couple of students and visited with them. Victor has CP but normal intelligence and will graduate from school in a couple of weeks. The two talented young men in this classroom sang us a Christian hymn so beautifully tears ran down my face. This song was totally unexpected and the sweetest moment! This school is truly an educational oasis for the students it serves.

On this trip I learned about the class structure of the school systems in India. After completion of 10th grade, students test in various subject areas to begin to specialize and move on to pre-college and university courses. The math and science areas are the most competitive. The class structure is called 10+1 and 10+2 not 11th grade or 12th grade. The students begin to prepare for the SAT so they can enter a university. We stress education for the masses in the United States while the Indian system is much more selective due to the population of India.

I did not visit a public school on this trip. I do know that every parent that can afford to pay tuition enrolls their child in a private school. There are thousands of schools to consider with different focuses for a grammar school/high school experience and even more special colleges and universities. I have NEVER seen so many educational institutions in such a compressed geographic area. Education is of the utmost importance to Indian parents. They work very hard to provide the best education money can buy for their children.