Friday 21 September 2012

Lions, Tigers, and CHEATERS!! OH MY!


The school system here in India is way different from the states. Students attend school year round. Several times in the year, students have to take huge exams. For a week an a half, I did not teach at all because all students had exams. In the meantime, I was assigned three teachers a day to relieve them for 15-20 minutes.
From this experience I found that cheating is normalized at my school and all other schools in India.  Indian students (no offence) were bred to cheat because one's success in this country is based on test scores--nothing else. Students will do anything (i.e. cheat) to make the grade.

By the end of the exam week, I reported several students for cheating. The first few had notes hidden under their actual exams and many were caught because right in front of me they were asking other students for answers. When I catch them, I record their names/grade and report it to their teacher. To my surprise, the teachers just shake their head, write the name down and plan to yell at the student later—that’s it! The worst case took place when I was just about through with my shift because the assigned teacher came in. The moment she came in, she approached a student and slapped her (the teacher noticed she had a cheat sheet). I was SHOCKED! I felt so bad because she was one of my good students. Although cheating disgusts me, hitting a child disgusts me more. No teacher should EVER feel he/she has the right to put his/her hands on someone else's child.

 Realizing how serious I am with cheating, later in the week another teacher explained to me that naturally teachers avoid taking actions against students for cheating to avoid having disputes with the students’ parents. So basically, teachers quietly look away while other students cheat?,” I said to the teacher. He then said, well “worst comes to worst, their marks (grades) will be knocked off a few points.” GASP! A few points? What is the whole point of this educational system?, I thought. 


Monday 17 September 2012

Kite Festival


I got to experience yet another unique celebration here in Kolkata, the annual Kite Festival. The Kite Festival takes place to pay tribute to Sarasvati Puja, the goddess of learning/knowledge.

One this day, students/schools pay homage to Sarasvati with cultural performances and they also go to a near park to participate in kite competitions. All the kites we saw being flown were made out of bamboo sticks and tissue paper. The kids fly the kite with a thread that is coated with a thin line of glass. The whole point of the glass layer is to cut every other kite out of the sky. It sounds horrible but the kids consider this to be fun not revenge. The last kite flying is the winner. The park that we went to had several kids from different schools and we spoke with a representative from an NGO that advocates for street children. This particular NGO bought all the street children materials to make/fly their own kites too. Older street kids were also out to help the younger kids with their kites. It was nice to see everyone working together to help a flier with his/her kite.










This little boy with the hat was the winner in the kite competition, he cut down so many kites

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Teacher's Day!



Did you know that teachers in India are considered to be guru’s?

One of the highly celebrated holidays in India is Teacher’s day. I didn't think it was a big deal until I experienced my one myself. This year Teacher’s Day fell on September 5th. A few weeks into my teaching, I sort of promised the other teachers I would wear a Sari(India’s traditional dress for women). It was a joke at first but I actually wore a sari for Teacher’s day. It was pretty amazing despite how anxious I felt because at any moment, I thought the drape would loosen and expose my goodies at school—but thank goodness it  didn't! Below you will see my coordinating teacher aka my 'mother teacher' draping my sari for me. In India it's considered an honor for any mother to put on her daughter's sari for the first time.




On Teacher’s Day, teachers do not teach at all, instead they get praised all day by the students. Teachers also get adorned with cards, flowers, and red pens LOL! Since teachers did not teach or have to stay in class, 12 graders were assigned to take up a subject and they had to teach the class while the teacher fulfilled her other duties (i.e. grade papers). After school was over (it was also a half day), class 12 had a special performance, the acting principal (a 12th grader said his remarks, and they bought all the teachers lunch!! The food was so good!! I really enjoyed this day. I felt good for two reasons: the notes/cards my students gave me were super sweet and because many of the teachers were extremely excited to see me wear a Sari. 

12th graders in action as teachers
XOXO all my students!! (This is only some)