The “international education” fad is probably the latest one to hit India. Parents are running around from pillar to post trying to get their children admitted into schools that have IB (International Baccalaureate). They believe International education will give their children the expertise required to succeed in a global society with a global economy.
Many Indian students travel abroad to study every year. In the academic year 2006-2007 alone, there were more than 80,000 students from India studying in the United States, a record 9.6% growth from the previous year.
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For the last seven years the United States has had the highest number of students every year coming from India. There are several reasons why students feel the need to leave the motherland and pursue education abroad, the first being-the loss of faith in the educational system in India itself.
For those interested in learning languages there is no better way than getting immersed in a culture that speaks the language one is learning. Being surrounded by the language and seeing and hearing it in the proper cultural context is a big advantage. It enhances the process of learning the new language. Students find the idea of travelling to new places interesting.
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Weekend breaks allow one to move around and experience a new country which would not have been possible back home. It makes you independent and offers you the chance to discover your new strengths and abilities.
Staying in a new cultural setting is challenging and improves one’s skills of adaptability. It provides you with the chance to meet not just the natives of the foreign country but also students from other countries who have likewise come to study abroad.
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The students can gain a whole lot of new ideas and perspectives about themselves and their own culture by living abroad. Studying abroad makes you less biased towards your own country because you now have a global perspective.
However the topmost of the list of reasons that stimulates Indians to pursue foreign education is the perceived job opportunity.
That and a better life style are probably the two most important reasons why students are ready to leave everything familiar and venture abroad into the unknown. Indians who have studied abroad find it easier to land placements abroad.
An employer sees such a student as self-motivated, independent and willing to face multiple challenges and able to face diverse problems. It makes you ready for the ever-increasing globalised business world.
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It seems paradoxical that parents who have studied in normal city and state board schools and have not just survived but succeeded feel the need to put their children in schools which are affiliated to foreign universities.
Perhaps it is the hype created by the educators that has resulted in this situation. While learning foreign languages, world history and international business is a wonderful thing to do, there is no reason why all these topics cannot be included in our regular curriculum.
What is the need for international certification? A long, long time before international schools came to be, India has produced world class minds. The whole of Silicon Valley is witness to the fact that Indians are brilliant despite no international education, so to speak.
An average Indian knows about the countries in the American continent, while an average American’s knowledge of countries in other continents is close to zero.
A country that has been able to produce thousands of minds that can write software for the world, needs to ask itself whether it really needs international education?? Perhaps like the fad it is, it will one day pass away and very soon students from abroad will be travelling to study in India.