Residential school advantages

Are residential schools still relevant in this day and age? This question has lingered in my mind for a long time against the backdrop of drift and decay in contemporary society. The plethora of scams exposed almost daily; the near indifference of government and Parliament to combating corruption unless pushed by the Supreme Court; general human intolerance, and the anger and angst I notice in today’s youth, prompts me to question what’s going on, and who will stem the rot.

It’s easy to blame governments at the Centre and states for the rot pervasive in society and its institutions. But it’s a great mistake to expect only government to rectify these ills, and shirk the responsibility of individuals towards social correction.

Of course government and ministers are obliged to give the country good and honest governance. This is a legitimate expectation. But then, who elects governments at the Centre, in the states and at municipal levels? It’s a popular maxim that people get the government they deserve. Whether it’s government, its institutions, society in general, and society’s smallest component — the family — they are all made up of cognitive human beings. Therefore it’s not too far fetched to say that if there is moral degeneration in society and government, NGOs and education insti-tutions, it is because there is corresponding decay in human beings who cons-titute the building blocks of organisations, institutions and society itself.

This is not to say that everyone is flawed, for that is far from the truth. Even today, there are socially conscientious individuals quietly going about their tasks, especially in the judiciary, print and electronic media, and in all walks of life. But the good and upright are clearly in a minority and their tribe has to increase. So where do we start and who will catalyse this change?

In reply, I quote a line from our school song: “Somebody has got to stop the rot, and why not you?” This change has to begin within the basic building block of society i.e the individual. To change and transform the world, we have to keep transforming and improving ourselves. Only then will society and its institutions be renewed and restored.

This brings me to the point of this column which is whether residential schools are still relevant today. There’s unanimous consensus that high quality education is the most powerful instrument of change for betterment of society. But there’s no unanimity on what is quality education. I submit that good education is not merely about filling students like empty buckets with assorted knowledge, but about drawing out the wealth of talent and potential latent within all of them. It’s also about inspiring children to excel in everything they undertake within and outside their classrooms.

Parents are — or should be — every child’s first teachers. It’s their responsibility to be good role models to their children in thought, word and deed. Yet one of the primary reasons for loss of values in contemporary Indian society is the fractured family landscape. Far too many homes are broken and nuclear family units are failing to inculcate positive values in children at home, with more and more parents caught up chasing their own dreams.

My personal experiential research proves that when a child is not doing well or has gone off the rails, parents and teachers are at fault. There’s no doubt that good education is dispensed by day schools. But when children are not in controlled and ‘sanitised’ environments 24/7, they are vulnerable to numerous pressures and distractions of the unhealthy kind prevalent in society, including a lot of malpractices within home environments, which children are quick to absorb and emulate.

It is because by definition children are vulnerable to all influences — good and bad — at a young age that reputable residential schools can best instill positive values coterminously with academic education in insulated environments, until a child’s thoughts and ideology are firmed up and he/she is ready to understand and take on the world.

Undoubtedly, every child will be confronted with moral and ethical dilemmas which will conflict with values absorbed in her formative school years. With the added depth of rigorous values-based education, she will be well equipped to manage such conflicts and respond with morally upright and socially responsible behaviour. Such young adults will automatically transform into catalysts of change in their professional and personal lives.

I believe no peaks are too high for India’s high-potential youth. Given self-belief, convictions and a rich and varied education, nothing is impossible for the world’s largest youth population. But it all begins with educating and developing the mind. Everything you want to do and achieve is just a thought away. We all should, in the end, honestly be able to say without arrogance: “Hum bhi dariya hai, hamein apna hunar malum hai, jahan bhi jayenge, rasta ban jayega” (‘I know myself, my talents and like the river that flows and grows, shall create my own path’).

(Praveen Vasisht is headmaster, The Lawrence School, Sanawar)