Abu Dhabi: Academic overload and homework pressure are taking the fun out of studies for kindergarten and primary level students in many Indian curriculum schools in Abu Dhabi, parents are complaining.
Many told XPRESS schools are overburdening students in violation of CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) directives to make learning fun.
“Teachers are sending loads of homework every day. My child takes an hour or more to finish his schoolwork every evening,” complained the mother of a kindergarten student at an Indian school.
Most parents requested anon-ymity for fear of reprisals by schools.
“We want to bring this issue to the notice of school management but without antagonising the teachers and the principal. You know how difficult it is to get a KG admission in Abu Dhabi,” said I.K.
Another Indian parent who gave her first name as Jasmine said her four-year-old daughter in KG 2 already hates studies. “I really feel bad for her. But I have to force her to study to make sure she does not lag behind in class,” she said.
M.K., whose child is in KG 2, said schools “force children to bite more than they can chew.”
“Why should a KG 2 student learn the names of capital cities or different parts of a plant? They are made to rote learn these things, and regurgitate it for exams,” said M.K.
Many parents are also questioning the practice of sending books home and conducting exams even at kindergarten level.
“I am not an educationist, but common sense tells me it is ridiculous to test a four-year-old on general knowledge or math. That is exactly what some schools are doing,” said a livid parent.
Teachers complain
Even teachers say they are not happy about the situation, but they have to follow lesson plans as instructed by school management. “I am a teacher and a mother myself. I know what these kids have to go through. But our education system is like that,” said a teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It is clear that many schools are violating CBSE norms which clearly state textbooks should not be sent home until Grade 2. In Grades 3 and 4, only one subject book should be taken home. But not many schools seem to follow the directive.
N. Vijayachandra, principal of Abu Dhabi Indian School, which has the biggest student population in Abu Dhabi, said personally he is against overloading young children with homework.
“The whole idea is to make learning fun and interesting. At our school, we do not burden them with homework,” said Vijachandra.
According to him, his school does not allow kindergarten children to carry books home as most of the learning is done in class.
However, a school principal said it is parents who are burdening their little ones. “You cannot always put the blame on schools. We are dealing with parents grumbling that they have paid for textbooks and we are not sending them home,” said Girija Baiju, principal of Private International English School (PIES), a CBSE board school in Mussafah.
Baiju said though she cannot comment about other schools, PIES follows CBSE directions to the dot. “We send textbooks home only once a week even though parents are unhappy about it. There are no exams in kindergarten and till Grade 5 we do not set an exam timetable,” said the principal.
But not all parents seem happy that kindergarten children go a little easy on studies. Many believe they should go through the drill and rigour from a young age. “I know it is tough on them, but it’s good as they will learn to cope. They will benefit when they eventually go to university,” said Navneet Gupta, whose child is in Grade 4.
