School/ Curriculam differences b/w India and UK

Hi,
We are presently in UK and in a dilemma whether to move back to Chennai (India) or stay here. I have a son who is 2 years 8 months old. He will be starting his nursery school next September (2009) over here.

Education for my son is the only factor driving me think whether to stay here or return back to India. I have done my schooling in India, where in I consider India has the best Primary education system as compared to other countries, except for the Practical Exposure to Academic subjects. I see that most of our Indians prefer to do their higher [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]studies [COLOR=blue! important]abroad[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] as compared to India.

It will be gr8 if I get to hear about thoughts, experiences from parents with children who did their initial schooling here in UK and returned back to India for good.
I would love to know more about the change in curriculum as compared to India and UK.

Hope to hear loads from u all.

Keep the thread going

Thanks in advance.

Thanks,
Sow

Sow,

I had seen your question in the schoolgoers forum. I was waiting for somebody who has an idea to discuss it. Let us wait, other wise, we can take it in a question and answer style so that we can spearhead this into a proper discussion...

Thats good. Thanks for ur words...!!!. Come on ILites !! Share ur thoughts.

hi infoseeker,

I dont have an idea about primary schooling in UK but i know something about Australia.

My son goes to a preschool here where they have organised play. They play a lot with the play-dough which is meant as a good excercise to fingers.They have a lot of activities like craft, music etc. Teachers observe the child when they interact with other children and encourage them to be social. Last month, they had a mobile zoo project where they got animals from the zoo and showed them at school. Then since one of the kids mom was a musician she came to school and played them some musical instruments. The children were then allowed to touch and play with musical instruments.

In a nutshell, preschool aims at developing skills needed for school. After one or two years of preschool, children are trained to eat independently, follow a routine, taught colours and shapes, given a lot of puzzles appropriate for their stage and taught some social skills.

Children here go to kindy when they are 5 or boys sometimes start at 6. In kindy, they deal with phonetics first. Children are taught to pronounce properly and start reading books. Starting with the beginner level books, they start reading more and more. Creative writing is also encouraged where they write atleast one page a day on their own. By grade1, they are taught to read more fluently and write things on their own. They dont have exams but have surprise tests.

One of my friend came here after her son completed LKG and he started kindy here.
She is planning to go back to India and hence she is keeping track of the Indian syllabus too. She feels both are on par or even a bit advanced here. Her son has been taught symmetry, volume etc in grade1. But the only difference here is that they dont have pressure of exams.

The positive of our system is that it demands a lot of hardwork. The kids are trained to work hard from the beginning(with homeworks, tests and all that) while in other countries they dont take it seriously. In developed countries, they beleive that no kid is to be pressurised. They dont compel children to do anything. One way it is good but the kids sometimes turn out to be lazy. This is also because they have hundreds of options when the grow up. Our kids hardly have a chance without a degree .

I remember reading somewhere that Bill Gates once asked the students of America to work harder. He had said " Otherwise students from India and china will take up your jobs". That is a pointer to the difference between the systems.

I feel our system is working fine not because of teaching methodology or innovative techniques but pure hardwork of the students. Sometimes kids sacrifice their childhood to succeed in life.

I dont think there will be a vast difference (just my guess!!!) between the two syllabi.
English definitely will be of a higher standard. Languages will be a major issue.
Mathematics will also be standard. But memorising and writing(???? how we ourselves hated that!!), school culture and environment (the friendly teachers whom you can call by name have to be replaced by mams and masters who can be difficult to get along with!!!). But these initial starting problems sorted out the positives you get out of a US/UK/ Australia systems:

1. Kids will definitely speak and write better English. English is not the only yardstick for me but having a strong foundation in English is a plus.
2.Writing better on their own.
3.They will be used to understanding and applying concepts and I think may have a better understanding of basic sciences.
4.If you think they are going to lag back in mathematics, UK kumon system of maths is available to make them catch up. I see many aussie kids attending kumon to improve maths skills.
5.Children would have had a lots of sports and extra curricular activities .
6. They can speak fluently and confidently. Their over-all personality developement will be good.

With all these points they can be ahead of their classmates. If kids are adaptable they may blend with the Indian system with these advantages.

If you think of negatives,
1.Language will be a major issue. If you are going to opt for CBSE system, you have two languages to worry about.
2.They may find the sudden transition hard and difficult to cope with.
3.They may take an instant dislike to our school environments.

Again, all this is are some of the issues but i dont have first hand knowledge. I have written this down from bits and pieces of information I heard from Indian parents .
I am making a guess that it will be a definite advantage for kids to do their primary education abroad.

But as infoseeker said best people to give opinions are the experienced ones..
Ones who have brought back their kid to India for Grade 6 and above. hope to read their experiences.

Hi Thendral,
Thts gr8 to see such a long reply. I see tht from ur words. It looks like the initial pre-school stuff - foundation stage education in UK seems to be same as the Australian system. I agree with u, the kids over here dont get to do as much of Homeworks as compared to Indian kids. They don’t work at all…so there is no question of hard workJ. That makes me think...coz in the long run..the kids might become lazy to do even the basic learning.

I have heard from my husband's friend that his daughter was allowed to watch a movie ‘Charlie at the chocolate factory’ at school after the exams and they were told that they have really worked hard for the exams. The exam system is pretty cool for the primary standard is what I have heard from families over here.

I have seen most of the children over here are really too good at talking. They express very well by the age of 4-5. I see that their overall personality is really gr8! The kids of this generation are really sharp...irrespective of their exposure levels whether they are in UK/India / Aus. The only thing that troubles me is the teenage crowd over here...which is really bad.

The Kumon System is pretty popular over here. I have seen loads of children attending these classes. I was recently talking to kumon regarding their min age of entry. My son attends football and swimming classes over here. He seems to enjoy the football classes and is not very comfy in water. We are taking him to pool over the weekends to get rid of the fear. One thing I liked here was early exposure to such activities for children.

Thanks again...for your reply. Hope to hear loads from other Ilites. Keep the threads going.

Thanks,
Sow

Hi Infoseeker,
We are living in UK and my daughter is going to be three in August. We are planning to send her to pre-school or play group from September this year, so that she gets some exposure to the school kind of environment. She goes to a day nursery for three days a week and has learnt loads of things from there. I for one always insist that she speaks tamil at home so that she knows the mother tongue as well. I have never taught her anything in English but she speaks and communicates very well and her interaction with other children and her key workers is amazing.
I feel the people who take of the children in the nursery or in the school are very patient with them in explaining things. Children are given the opportunity to speak their mind and ask their doubts and questions with out any inhibitions. Discipline, manners and respect for others are taught at an early age than writing and reciting tables.
We have three options here in the UK , when the children finish primary schooling. The community high school, the grammar school and the private school. The community school is the really worrying thing because children from various backgrounds come to these schools and it is not gauranteed that all have them have studies in mind.
To get into the grammar school the child must sit and pass an entrance exam which is really a challenge, I heard this from my co-sister who also lives in the UK for the past 10 or more years. Her daughter who is 10 years now is sitting for the exam next year. The grammar school is a good option for us as the children who come there are also like minded studious children and the parents are also concerned about how their children do in the class.

The private schools are really expensive and the children are trained toward one set goal the final, rather than excelling in your chosen field of interest and that’s what I heard from my co-sis. I trust her on this one because she is a B.Ed from TamilNadu and she is teaching nursing here in the UK.

Basically I think it is up to us in the end about how we want to bring up our children. It does not matter where, be it India, UK, US or anywhere. Like Thendral said the parents never pressurise children about education. Government is there to take care of them. Kids don’t feel bad to go and work in any of the supermarkets to earn some money. They take distance learning if they wanted in the later days or if they wanted a career change or something like that. There are some people who think like us , who really care how their children are shaped up.
The standard of education is the same but the method of approach is different. Since we are used to our approach in India we think it is the best.
My Aunt tried this with my cousins in the 1980’s. They shifted to India from England thinking all of them would fair better. My Uncle being one the best surgeons in the UK would be celebrated at home and children would have the best of education. My cousins went to kindergarten in one the best and posh convents of Bangalore, but my aunt ended up stressed because her kid came home terrorised about going to school again. When my aunt investigated, she found out my cousin got scared stiff by the teacher , when he said he didn’t want to recite nursery rhymes and wanted to play. The kids in the UK did what they wanted and are never forced to do otherwise. With in a month’s time my aunt shifted back to the UK. Now the cousin who got scared stiff by his teacher in India is an engineer in the Royal Navy, and the other one is studying medicine. I wouldn’t say the decision that my aunt took was the right one but just that what ever she decided, she made it come right for her children.

So I think its up to us to help our children to achieve the best, wherever they are.

Hi Friends,

I am currently in US. i have 2 kids one 2.3 year old and other 2 months. i am planning to put my son in preschool when he is 21/2. i am also planning to return to India for his LKG. i feel indian kids are more smarter than kids studying in US. US kids can speak well and express well but when it comes to their future i feel Indian education is best. i went to India last year for vacation and happen to visit few schools like PSBB. i feel kids are very smart and confident on what they are doing. one more advantage in India is kids get to learn lot of co curricular activities. schools teach them lot of other activities apart from acadamics. one of the main reason i am planning to put my son in Indian school in LKG is because if i put him later i mean after 2 or 3 grade it will be very difficult for him to adjust to new system of education, new weather and everything will be new to him. that itself i feel is a great pressure on our kids. lets discuss more on this.

Cmon Ilite mothers from UK , throw some light on the topic. Pour in ur experiences and comments abt the system/ syllabus here.

I understand each one has their views on it. I was recently reading the discussion
topic Comparing American Students With Those In India & China in Indus. Thts a good one..with a healthy discussion on Pro's and Con's.

1) UK lites..normally which is the site u all refer for curriculam check ??
2) Is ICT method of teching used in all the schools ??.


Keep the thread going.

Originally Posted by InfoSeeker

Cmon Ilite mothers from UK , throw some light on the topic. Pour in ur experiences and comments abt the system/ syllabus here.

I understand each one has their views on it. I was recently reading the discussion
topic Comparing American Students With Those In India & China in Indus. Thts a good one..with a healthy discussion on Pro's and Con's.

1) UK lites..normally which is the site u all refer for curriculam check ??
2) Is ICT method of teching used in all the schools ??.


Keep the thread going.

Hi Friends,

Can anyone let me know the Admission Procedure for CBSE Schools in Chennai.