Malavika Raj Joshi, 17, did not go to a formal school for the past five years. So when she was granted admission to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently, she and her mother were ecstatic. Malavika being homeschooled, never cleared the traditional senior secondary school in India. It was because of her sheer talent and self-developed capability in computer programming that she was invited to MIT with full scholarship. As a three-time medal winner (two silvers and a bronze) at the International Olympiad of Informatics, Malavika will now be pursuing Bachelor of Science at the institute.
“Had Malavika not been homeschooled, it would have been difficult for her to be invited by MIT because it [traditional schooling] is a very institutionalised form of education, which wouldn’t have given her enough time to pursue her interests. I pulled her out of a regular school after Class VII, and based on her interest she pursued programming,” says Malavika’s mother Supriya Raj Joshi. She quit her job to design a curriculum for Malavika and her younger sister.
The last few years have witnessed a growing interest in homeschooling in India. And the reasons for this trend range from disillusionment with the existing education system to a strong desire, to inculcate religious values and culture in children, or to a commitment to follow a strict vegan diet.
It all began with parents being fed up with the country’s education system, which pressured children into learning in a particular format. Learning by rote added to the frustration of both parents and students. Many also believed that there was excessive pressure on children to perform and procure marks, which took the focus away from learning.
“The focus is to get marks and subsequently to get into a reputed college but not on learning. I don’t find the current system very conducive to learning and am seriously thinking of pulling my child out of a regular school,” says Shweta Verma, whose 11-year-old daughter is studying in one of the most reputed schools in New Delhi.
While homeschoolers in India still number just a few thousand, this figure is rising. “Regular classroom is institutional, which is designed for imparting knowledge, which no doubt is required ... For generations we have assumed that school was the only way and the best way for our children. However, my experience has been that one-to-one teaching is the most effective, and that is not possible in a classroom. Home environment is where we are able to mould the child according to our values and religion,” says Dr S.P. Mathew, the Mumbai-based group administrator for the India group for homeschoolers and alternative education.
Mathew has been involved with the Indian home-schooling movement for the last decade. He is also homeschooling his three children. His daughter is about to join college, his son is interested in sports and his youngest daughter Nancy is in fourth grade and is interested in playing the keyboard, dance and singing. “We are able to spend more time with them because of homeschooling,” he says.
Families follow various models of homeschooling. While some go for a strict curriculum, others let the child’s natural curiosity take over. And there are some who let their children to experiment with various subjects before zeroing in on the ones of their liking, which they study in depth.
The religion angle
Lately, there has been an increase in the number of parents opting for homeschooling for religious reasons. Many feel that while the education system prepares you for employment, it doesn’t teach you morals and ethics essential to living.
“The trend of homeschooling for religious reasons is definitely rising in India, especially in the Muslim and Christian communities. I would say it is more popular in the Muslim community than among Christians because convent schools are easily accessible, which is not the case for Islamic schools,” says Summiya Yasmeen, co-founder and managing director of “Education World”, a prominent national magazine on the country’s education sector.
“It is a good way to learn about our faith and the time we get with our children helps us to inculcate those values. We are also able to watch the behaviour of a child and the chances of her or him getting influenced by friends are reduced,” says Mathew.
Ahmedabad-based Fenal Shah is a case in point. He was well settled in the US but decided to return to India so his children could imbibe Indian values and culture. Shah took the road less travelled when he decided to impart vedic education to his two daughters. “The elder one is around 11 and is being homeschooled so that she can have a deep study of the scriptures. This will help them in becoming better human beings. It was very tough to find teachers in these subjects. After a lot of search, I found Dr Pushpa Dixit. My wife and daughter have to travel to Vilaspuri in Bihar every few months to interact with her,” says Shah.
He is not the only one. Sheeba Malik (name changed), who was a teacher at a prominent school in Delhi, decided to quit her job to ensure that she was able to pass on Islamic ethos, ideology and culture to her son. “When Yusuf turned 10, we pulled him out from a regular school so he could start training to become a hafiz [a Muslim who has memorised the entire Quran]. Ultimately he will go back to regular school because that is also important, but just being a good professional is not enough. Having faith and religious grounding is also important,” says Malik.
Yusuf’s day is almost clinically divided between two kinds of learnings. Mornings are spent in learning regular school subjects. He spends the second half of the day with maulvis [Islamic teachers] to learn and understand the Quran.
In contrast with the US, religion was never one of the prime reasons for parents to homeschool their wards in India. However, a number of families, especially Muslims, Christians and Jains, are now adopting homeschooling with the aim to pass on religious education to them.
Besides religion, sometimes a different lifestyle choice demands that a child is homeschooled. Take, for instance, the case of Anjali Sanghi, founder trustee of Indian Raw Vegan Foundation, who decided to homeschool her son Manikya because of his special diet and the holistic lifestyle followed by the family. It was difficult to maintain the lifestyle with the school schedule. Manikya is also the youngest author of a book on vegan recipes.
Homeschooling not for everyone
Despite its growing popularity, homeschooling may not be the solution to all the problems in India’s education system. It demands that at least one parent stays at home and is totally dedicated to providing a stimulating learning environment. Secondly, while the family could save on school expenditures such as fees and books, they might have to spend a substantial amount on the particular interests of the child. Many times, homeschooling requires special teachers, which again leads to a significant expenditure. Most homeschoolers experiment with a number of subjects, many of which are not taught in regular schools. Usually, even this is expensive. Therefore, it’s the upper-class or upper-middle-class families who are experimenting with this concept.
There’s also the belief that homeschooling might not be legal in India, given that the Right To Education (RTE) Act was implemented a few years ago. The Act stipulates that every child is entitled to free and compulsory education up to Class VIII. However, an affidavit filed by the Union Government in response to a writ petition by Shreya Sahay and others in Delhi High Court says there’s nothing illegal about it.
And there’s the notion that homeschooling does not prepare a child for the competitive world and he or she might lack social skills. Parents of homeschoolers, however, refute this. They believe that a homeschooled child is much more sure of what he or she wants to do, and because of a strong grounding in faith and values, is equipped to face the problems of life.
The trend of homeschooling in India is only likely to catch on as more parents are in a position to spend quality time with their children. The work-from-home concept taking off and rising entrepreneurship will facilitate this trend further.
Gagandeep Kaur is an independent journalist and writes on gender, development and technology. She tweets as @gagandeepjourno
