Swami Dayananda Saraswati, in his lecture in Chennai recently, talked about how parents push their kids - some even below three years - to school.
He said the insecurity the youth face nowadays is because of this. When a kid is sent to school so early, the kid gets confused: Why am I 'banished' to school? The child regards this as a punishment for 'something' she has done. The kid cannot understand that being sent to school is not a punishment. She has also been forced to stay away from her parents with some strangers.
Swami Dayananda said this was inhuman. He said the ideal age to put a kid in school was at least six or seven. He said we must put a full stop to things like play school, pre-KG, LKG and UKG. Though our intention is good, pushing a kid early to school will create problems later in life.
The schools run by Swami Dayananda Saraswati did not have KG classes.
He pointed out at Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy of the Padma Seshadri group of schools (who was sitting in the front row) and said she must take the initiative in Chennai. But a news item in 'Hindu' shows, this is not likely to happen. The new school "PSBB Millennium School" will have all the three KGs.
One more thing. The news item (reproduced below) says the Learning Leadership Foundation, with which the Padma Seshadri group has tied up for the 'PSBB Millennium School", is a 'charitable trust'. But then why is the school charging Rs 20,000 as admission fee and Rs 8,000 as term fee?
Here is the news item:
`Smart class' programme on the way
By Our Staff Reporter
CHENNAI, FEB. 14. The Padma Seshadri Group of Schools has tied up with Learning Leadership Foundation, a charitable trust, to open the "PSBB Millennium School" in June this year.
Announcing the venture, Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, dean and director, said the new school on No.9 GST Road, with classes from pre-KG to class V, would focus on building global citizens rooted in Indian values.
The school would be a place where education was a pleasant learning task, said Mrs. Parthasarathy at a press conference on Monday. According to Shantanu Prakash of LLF, the teachers would be trained in technology right from pre-KG. "We are moving away from the `chalk-and talk' method and following the smart class programme, where all classrooms will have a computer."
Also, in the pipeline is a PSBB millennium school to come up on the Old Mamallapuram Road on the Information Technology corridor. With an investment of around Rs. 5 crores, this co-educational CBSE school will have spacious classrooms, a vast playground and laborataries for maths, English and science.
The one-time admission fee is Rs. 20,000 and the term fee around Rs. 8,000. Registration forms will be available at the K.K. Nagar and T. Nagar branches of the school till February 28 between 9.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Visit psbbmillenniumschool.org for more information.
