'Start integration at nursery level'

EDUCATION EQUALITY PART - III

Delhi schools have been grappling with the issue of integration of students from poor sections of society and fee-paying students since January 2004, when the Delhi High Court ordered that.

Experiences of schools can form the bedrock of the Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2004, being studied by the human resource development ministry.

Most schools confess having mixed results and feel that some kind of transitional schooling is required before poor students are "eased" into classes with fee-paying students.

Bharati Sharma, principal of Amity International School, Saket, said, "Five years ago we started a programme with girl students from the deprived sections of society, called Amitasha. When the court order came we made it a part of a transitional arrangement for integrative learning."

"We found that students from the deprived sections did much better at Amitasha, since the medium of instructions was Hindi and children had a different curriculum. If there are one or two students in each class from the deprived sections needing special attention, it is manageable. But it becomes difficult with larger numbers," she said.

Shyama Chona, principal of Delhi Public School, RK Puram, also feels that there should be a transitional school before children are integrated in one class.

"You have to prepare children to take each other's differences in their stride. At DPS, we have had to not only prepare children psychologically, which is actually not such a big issue, but also get them used to studying in a co-educational institution," she said.

"The problem is not in schools or how children study, it starts when children go back home," she said. "That's when the differences really make an impact since most of these children come from first-time learner families," she said.

Chona has 1,600 slum children in a transitional school and around 500 who have been integrated into regular classes.

Sharma does not play down the psychological problems arising out of the integration process either. Amity Saket has 80 students integrated into the regular school, while 150 students are at Amitasha.

"It is natural that children will have problems because of the class difference. Children have done better at Amitasha," she said.

"If children do feel the difference in class, only those in the younger classes speak out. In the senior sections, children who cannot cope with the difference, drop out," she added.

Chona said the best results had been achieved when integration started at the nursery level. Apart from the question of whether private educational institutions can be interfered with in terms of their education policy, this reflects the real experiences of integrated learning.

Both principals agree, that just as in the case of privileged children, there are some students who take to learning and some who do not. "If what they are being taught interests them, children will appreciate it for sure," Chona remarked.