Sandhya Viswan remembers being taken aback when her husband, Vinod Kumar, decided to take their nine-year-old son Pranavswaroop Vinod away from school and homeschool him. Pranav, his parents observed, had a natural flair for music and art. But his regular school timings left him with little time to pursue his passion in music.
“So, we used to talk about homeschooling and how it would give him enough time to practise and learn on his own pace. He was academically bright and doing well in school. Even then that sudden decision to homeschool him came as a surprise to me. That was in 2009. Our second son, Omkar Vinod, continues to be homeschooled. He was just three then and so we decided to let him learn at home,” she explains during a trip to the city, her hometown.
Unschooling has never been this cool. And Sandhya says there is a Facebook group (Bangalore Schools) of about 2,000 parents in Bengaluru of which she is one of the admins. “Although it is not so popular in Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru has many parents who have decided to go for unschooling. In our case, both of us were beginners and were not trained teachers as such. So, we had to find our way around, but I think it has been worth it,” she asserts.
The learning for the parents involved familiarising themselves with the syllabus and figuring out how to go about it without forcing the kids to memorise and learn by rote. Sandhya, an engineer, enrolled in a distance education programme and graduated in psychology and eventually completed her post graduation too. “I see myself as a facilitator and educationist. Instead of timetables, homework and examinations, we came up with a routine that sought to evoke the curiosity of the boys and involved experiential learning,” she explains.
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Brushing aside concerns about socialising and learning to co-exist that children being homeschooled might miss out, she insists that her experience proves that homeschooled children have an aptitude to take decisions and lead. “Like students in schools, some have a large circle of friends while others might enjoy being with a smaller group of friends or, perhaps, like to be on their own for a longer time. It is the same with children who are homeschooled,” avers Sandhya. Moreover, both the boys did go to school in between when Sandhya had to travel and be away from home for professional reasons. She points out that both of them had “absolutely no issues about enrolling in school or getting used to the regime.”
The Right to Education Act did create some confusion among parents who were seeking an alternative system of education for their children. Sandhya says that the law is quite ambiguous when it comes to the definition of a school, its infrastructure and so on. “So, as of now, I don’t think there is a problem,” she says.
According to her, parents who would like their children to get that board certificate for formal higher education can choose to get their children into the ICGSE stream or opt to study through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). While Sandhya is all smiles while talking about her sons, she says not all children might enjoy being homeschooled and that parents must let each children blossom in the system that suits them the most. “For instance, it was Pranav who decided that he would like to take the board exams to facilitate his higher studies and chose the ICGSE stream for that. He did well and had no problems whatsoever when he rejoined school in Grade Nine,” says Sandhya. In the case of Omkar, who has “good hand skill coordination, he is more into sports and may choose to take the NIOS. I don’t know but when the time come, it will be very much his decision,” adds Sandhya. Nevertheless, Sandhya says she does sometimes give a friendly push in a certain direction when there is a decision to be made. As when Pranav wondered if he should take a gap year after his Plus Two or take up mechanical engineering. Sandhya felt he was trying to take a “safe option” and strongly advised him to take a gap year and figure out what he wanted to do. Pranav is now pursuing a course in audio technology and recording arts in Chennai and is into composing music.
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