Homeschooling: An Alternative Education Paradigm for India

Homeschooling exists in US and other countries. The parents can get study materials, teaching aids and testing instruments from the local school district or an accredited institution. The parents figure out a way to systematically educate their children at home. Recent research suggests that there is no single profile that can define a typical homeschooling parent. The mix includes folks with different educational backgrounds and qualifications or / and different educational philosophies. Some of them are from families who have always home schooled, or parents working together as a community in order to deliver quality education to their children. Sometimes, these teams are bound by common religious denominations or orientations.

People prefer homeschooling for several reasons. There are growing concerns about the school environment [ what habits / traits are picked up at an impressionable age? ]. Then there is the ubiquitous issue of dissatisfaction with the quality and nature of instruction. Even in our country, it may be important for us to point out that paying a higher fee does not translate to better qualit of education. It just means that children get better schools uniforms, shoes, school buses and perhaps lunch [debatable?]. In these cases, there are examples in the west, where folks have opted for home schooling.

Folks with strong religious orientation, have desired to ensure that moral / scriptures related instruction be coupled with standard education. Schools - by and large - are secular by tradition and do have significant tolerance to religious viewpoints. Therefore, there is a tendency for schools to stay away from having religion as a subject of study. Therefore, from a standpoint of religious orthodoxy, where morality and character building are intimately coupled with religious study, home schooling ends up providing a sound alternative for for doing what the Education System wants in addition to addressing topics of personal choice.

Finally, children that require special attention - like kids with mental health issues, autism, ADHD and so on - have had to rely on home schooling or an alternative system of education to meet the requirements. Children with other challenges and disabilities have relied on such alternatives.

The Call to Action

The government must provide this as an alternative to Indian parents by supporting them with instructional aids, study materials and test instruments. This lacuna in our educational sphere needs to be addressed. The ability of picking up a methodology that suits a parent / home would be added bonus. One such metjodology can simply repliacte the schooling rigor by maintaining hours and activities to be performed on a daily or weekly basis. On the other extreme, we can completely work off the the unschooling paradigm which proposes that we leave the child alone until he is ready to learn. In corporate world, this is also referred to as flexi timings. The student picks up the time and sbject of his choice to go and focus upon.

Methodologies for homeschooling range from using set activities and keeping flexible school hours to a laid-back approach known as "un-schooling." Un-schooling is based on the notion that children learn best when they are ready; the student decides school hours, subject matter, learning methods and content material. Parents considering homeschooling can research different models and choose the one that best suits their child.

Is this really new for us?

Not really. Carpenters allow [or even actively encourage] their children to pick up carpentry using 'on the job' training. Several children outside of the mainstream schooling system learn vocational skills by observing and practicing under pressure to earn a living. If you steer clear out of the ethics of child labor for a moment, we can quickly see that in some sense these kids are home schooled in vocational skills.

This requires a good nation wide debate. IMHO, we should not summarily dismiss any paradigm of schooling or education. There is no silver bullet. It may be a mistake if we decided to search for that one elusive size that will fit all. We are looking at 335M students in India. The right to education can only come alive if the education system is tweaked to provide for each of the subtle variations in schooling paradigms while providing adequate support to ensure that the intent of learning and education is met.

We need to look "out of the box" and consider a wide variety of alternative paradigms and platforms, if we are really serious about RTE and ensure that it comes alive in letter and spirit? X Class exams and point system re-engineering can happen in parallel - but these are hardly the core issues in the challenges we will face when we look at Right to Education holistically. Our Children deserve this. They want us to Act. Now.