Homeschooling in Mumbai: Here’s how it works (FAQs)

Homeschooling also known as home education is a form of alternative education, which exists in several countries, and is also gaining popularity in other countries including India.

• Homeschooling in India is legal! Homeschooling in India does not violate ay section or provision of the RTE.
• Maharashtra board (SSC) gives nod to homeschooling in Maharashtra, to begin Open School Secondary Certificate (SSC) board.

Why the Sudden Interest in Home-Schooling (in India)

In the last few years, a lot of parents in Mumbai have been discussing about homeschooling (although not many pursued it seriously) due to:

1. Exorbitant school fees (that keeps on rising year on year)
2. Various safety reasons (instances of child molestation, murders, and accidents were making headlines in the media).
3. Education standards in schools, in general, have deteriorated in terms of level of teaching, experience and skills of teachers, creative freedom, personal attention, and safety measures.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 has been the main reason that has piqued the interest of several parents, many of whom are actively trying to find out how does Homeschooling work in India.

Schools and colleges are shut, and look unlikely in 2020. While several vaccines are in the trial phases, experts say that under the worst-case scenario, it could take much longer for this pandemic to get over.

Most schools have already started taking online classes for kids, and most parents are really not comfortable exposing their kids to the internet at such a young age:

• In case of the smaller kids, several schools are still going ahead with online classes for kids below class 2 (despite the directive that online classes below Class 2 is not allowed, even counsellors are firmly against online classes for small kids)
• And for grown-up kids, exposing them to the internet means sooner or later, they will start accessing things that they shouldn’t be accessing.

So these are the primary reasons why a lot of parents in India are actively trying to figure out how homeschooling works. 

You will come across several parents in cities like Bangalore who have opted for homeschooling.

However, Mumbai seems to be lagging in this area (homeschooling).

Dear Mom & Dad, 
I want to learn how to learn 
I want to know what my interests are. same as you would have wanted at one point for yourself 
I want to learn with freedom 
I want to plan my own day the way I understand
I want to experiment with this world 
I want to play with this world 
I want to experience the limitless and formless world 
NASA scientists say every 5-year-old kid is a genius then why doesn’t everyone trust me?
I want you to trust me to self explore, self learn, and let me be the genius that I am already!

Home Schooling in Mumbai/India: How it Works (FAQs)

So here’s how homeschooling in India basically works.

1. Find out the curriculum for the year

   So if you decide to homeschool your child on your own, you will first need to find out the syllabus for the year (easily available online, you can even find the syllabus board-wise).

2. Teaching the curriculum
   

   You can then teach the syllabus on your own (if you have the time and the expertise).

   Alternatively, you could hire tutors (readily available online) who will help your kids learn those topics. It’s like hiring one (or several) teachers who will teach (offline or online) at a fraction of the cost (fees) that you would pay to the school, and at the pace that the child likes.

   A lot of families also come together to form local groups, learning centers, where kids of few families come together to learn regularly.

3. What about the Board Exam?

   So how does a homeschooled child eventually appear for the board exam?

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   Homeschooling in India is perfectly legal and the government has made provisions for homeschooled students to directly appear for the board exam.

   Homeschooled students appear for board exams conducted by NIOS, IGCSE.

   In the past, several students have successfully joined colleges and universities after appearing for board exams this way.

 

Traditional Schools vs Homeschooling

With education becoming expensive and commercialized, parents often wonder if their children are receiving ‘quality education’ in schools.

In a school, a child is expected to pick up the basics of social skills that will help them survive in the future.

But do you think in a school, a child learns the art of communicating in more natural like social environment?

The fact of the matter is, a regular school-going child can interact only with his peers. He is more likely to bully children in lower grades and fear the ones who are older. Leave aside learning how to talking to adults.

How about keeping silent or thinking in depth about any one thing?

You might say this is asking for too much from a child, but then is it not a fact that the artificial ‘busy’ness that a child goes through in a school prevents quiet contemplation?

Most of the learning happens as part of preparing for exam and there is very little long-standing knowledge among regular school goers.

Most of the learning in a school happens with almost no correlation to the facts with life.

A child may seem to know a lot but understands very little about life.

Pros and Cons of Home Schooling

Home schooling is a popular concept abroad but is still in its nascent stages in India. Here are some pros and cons of home schooling.

Advantages

• Parents understand the child’s strengths and weaknesses better, they are able to closely see their child’s progress and are able to better gauge their capabilities.

  Parents can set the pace of learning, depending on how quickly or slowly your child learns, which eases the pressure on the child.

  And, because parents are involved more, it increases the bonding between parents and the child.

  Another important thing is that you can keep an eye on your child most of the time (which you cannot in school).

• In a school, one really doesn’t know what is happening to your child there. Parents are unable to preempt instances such as bullying (the child would be facing a problem for quite some time but parents get to interfere much later), kids are under undue pressure most of the times and are not able to build their individuality (most schools are like factories trying to make as many robots as they can).

  Often, the child is just one more avenue for the management to promote their school further. They will publish a glossy magazine every year, give medals and prizes to students even for the smallest of achievements (with the reasoning that they are encouraging them), but the fact is that all these are promotional materials for the school, with the eventual aim of increasing the fees and trying to project the school as one for elites.

• Home schooling can also work well for children (as well as for their parents) who are mentally or physically challenged, assuming you don’t want to enroll them in special schools.

Disadvantages

• One of the biggest disadvantages of homeschooling is that the child will not get the opportunity to socialize with other kids (on a bigger scale).

  This is disadvantageous more so for students who are naturally social or have natural leadership qualities, as they thrive in bigger social groups.

  Now, irrespective of whether your child is social or reserved, if you opt for homeschooling, you will need to provide the child with more opportunities to interact with other kids, and with other people.

  It means, you will need to enroll your child for extra-curricular activities like dancing, karate, sports, etc. where you child can interact with other kids.

  Try to develop his/her hobbies further (go after their strengths), and avoid going online in such cases (opt for offline classes instead).

  This is the best way to provide them with more social opportunities.

• Because parents take over the role of the teacher, they may either become too strict (more critical) or too lenient with their kids.

  So, in this case, the parents also need to be aware of their own limitations so that it doesn’t adversely impact the child’s development.

• The academic knowledge of parents and their teaching methods may not be adequate or appropriate so they may have to be dependent on external tutors for certain topics.

  This part however is becoming easier due to the easy available of tutors and online classes (there are many online education providers)

 

These are some of the reaons why home schooling is still not widely accepted, but parents are creatively working around those challenges.

So, if at all, you decide to home school your children, do plan for compensating the disadvantages of home schooling.

 

Parents in Mumbai willing to consider Homeschooling

Looking for “homeschooling in Mumbai”? Here are some useful resources.

Whether you like it or not, our education system has gone online. In case you are already homeschooling your children, or are looking for “homeschooling in Mumbai (Maharashtra)”, these online home schools will help you impart practical and quality education to your children.

More parents in India are looking for homeschooling options, thanks to the Covid19 pandemic.

Lot of parents are already dissatisfied with our education system, and the online schooling that is being carried out due to the pandemic makes them further disillusioned with the existing schooling system.

A lot of parents wish to take matters in their own hands.

Life is not about going to schools for 15 years and then forget every single thing you learnt in schools. Children have to make their own choices, and learn to bear the consequences in order to truly enjoy the taste of life; they have to learn to make mistakes and learn from them.

After all, that is how life is going to work once they finish their education.

Read: How homeschooling works in Mumbai.

Lot of parents in Mumbai have started homeschooling this summer due to the prolonged pandemic. Parents share the reasons why they want to give homeschooling a try.

Tarvina Jogani, Bhayandar Resident

Tarvina, a private tutor, withdrew her four-year-old daughter Kairah from school. The move has saved her nearly Rs 80,000 in fees for lower KG.

“Physical school is not safe no matter how many safety measures you put in place. Even if there is one per cent chance of getting infected, it’s not worth risking your child’s life. If she does not go to school for a year, it’s not a big deal,” Jogani said.

My daughter studies for 45 minutes each in the morning and before going to bed. I am happy with the pace of learning,” Jogani said.

Shanoo Prasad, Thane Resident

Prasad’s daughter Saesha, 5, and son Yushan, 7, are being homeschooled for the last two years. “I am already seeking a change in the way people see learning. Outside traditional schooling, there is a world of learning,” she remarked.

Sonika Agarwal, Mira Road Resident

“When the school started online classes, my son Rian did not want to attend them. Therefore, I started doing research on homeschooling.

Agarwal had lost faith in the Indian education system even before the pandemic. “I felt it was raising confused people instead of making them competent to face the challenges of life,” she said.

As of now, even if the government decides to reopen schools, many Mumbai based parents are not sure what kind of social distancing measures will be there, and don’t want to take any chances.

So, they are willing to give homeschooling a try.

But will these parents stick to homeschooling or will pull their wards back into formal school once things become normal? Well, only time will tell. Meanwhile, parents who have opted for homeschooling are happy that they are savings in lakhs.

Homeschooled Kids Going Place

Read the interview of the mother of Malvika Joshi, a 17-year-old girl from Mumbai, who was accepted for a degree programme in science at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Malvika was homeschooled in Mumbai.

To sum it up, though homeschooling is not part of mainstream education yet, most studies have shown that, compared to traditional schools, a homeschooling environment instills more confidence in students and homeschoolers, in general, are more adept at facing the outside world, compared to real school goers.

For a long time, homeschooling was not considered a viable option in India, but not any longer. Despite what the critics might have to say, homeschooling is here to stay in India.

Homeschooling in Mumbai – Useful Links

Swashikshan (Indian association of homeschoolers)
Website: homeschoolers.in