Left to Right: Poonam, Underpriviledged School Principal, Jen, Me with students from the school | On Thursday Poonam, Jen, and I visited a school for the underprivileged students called G.B.S.S. School No-3, Sec-4. Just for context, India has three main types of schools: Public Schools (what we in the USA would consider private) where students pay tuition, Government Schools (KVs where all students can attend school), and Underprivileged Schools where students get charity services. The underprivileged school we attended has two sessions: morning session for the girls (along with all female teachers) and afternoon session for the boys (with all male teachers). This school was quite different from KV Pushp Vihar because there were sometimes 100 students in one class and because the school did not have enough classrooms, there were classrooms where two classes were going on simultaneously in one room (with one teacher per subject). The infrastructure was falling apart and there was just a dusty field for students to play in during Games (which is a subject similar to gym). Even though the facilities weren't well-maintained, the teachers and principals were passionate about their jobs. Some said that they specifically wanted to teach underprivileged children, which is why they teach here at this school. This made me quite happy because these children deserve a good education as well and if their teachers are invested in them, they have a higher chance to succeed. On the downside, though, only about 20% of them go on to get further education and there is a lot of mobility. The mobility is due to the fact that the students get charity money from the government for enrolling in school and getting services, so if they enroll and attend for a month and then enroll in a different school, they get more money and services. While I understand why families and students would need to do this, their education suffers because of the gaps. |
1 Comment
Pat Scott
7/27/2014 01:47:14 pm
Thank you for sharing this!
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AuthorHi! My name is Janna Nobleza and I'm a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. This blog records my TGC India preparation, journey, and reflections. Archives
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