Boarding Schools- A good option?

Till many years back boarding schools were an option for only those families with transferable jobs. They kept on moving from one city to another, but wanted stability in the education of their children, or it were the business class which sent their kids to study in the most reputed boarding schools of the country just because they had that much amount to shell out easily.

But now with changing trends and increase in ambition, we find many families sending their children to boarding school even though they have the presence of good schools around them. Children as young as six years are left by their parents into residential schools as they feel the bud will get disciplined, punctual and master extra curricular and co-curricular activities right from the start.

But it is sad that, these ambitious parents do not understand that at such a tender age, a child can be best reared in a family atmosphere. The nascent bud needs love, warmth, affection and care that no residential school can provide. The security that a child feels under his mother’s care, the joy that surrounds him when he plays with his siblings and the exuberance that he rejuvenates with when his father comes home with a chocolate, can never be set against the disciplined atmosphere he faces in residential schools. I am sure parents put their children into such schools for their betterment and it is harder for them to be emotionally strong, but during early stages of growth it is most disadvantageous for them to be away from parents.

In most cases, children start feeling separated from parents and stop sharing things with them. They start liking the company of their fellow mates so much that they hate coming back home due to the unfamiliarity with home atmosphere. The child feels unaccustomed to family life. Slowly, early boarding makes the student so independent that their thoughts, the castle of dreams that they build do not comprise of their family at all. They might go on to become toppers and a multi-talented person, evidences have shown that, the child also becomes a bit rebellious, stubborn and a master of his own thoughts that no one dare alter. Often the lack of proper guidance at every step a child demands fills them with insecurity. Also, they stop empathizing with family life as they never got a chance to do so. This further makes life stony when they get into developing their own family.

Though a student from boarding school becomes more independent than any day scholar, they miss out on the good lessons of life that a mother tends to give in every gesture, that a father shares by his experience and siblings impart with each play. They may become the most disciplined, punctual, well mannered, talented and intellectual people, however it certainly is not a worthy bargain when it comes at the cost of sacrificing the most formative years at home.

A child can best learn all these virtues at home, he may be slow at them but certainly the lessons imparted become his life long anchor. The qualities of discipline, punctuality will definitely be imbibed in them subconsciously when they see their parents and grandparents exemplifying them in every walk of life. Besides super intelligence and smartness, a child needs character building the most – without which however big he becomes materially; he will falter at every step in life.

I am certainly not dead against residential schools, all I want to say is – a child does not deserve them that early in life. It is only after his formal schooling is over and he has become a mature, responsible individual should he be allowed to go out and study, that too for a better choice than available nearby. At this tender age a child needs a lot of care, love, affection and not the terror of leading life as a slave of ‘bells’ that keep all students at their beck and call at such formal places of stay. Let him grow with the stories of their grandmother, yummy food prepaperd by their mother, tantrums from their siblings and the secure presence of their father. Let not our ambitions grow so overbold that they rip the child off his childhood.
Juhi Gupta

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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