This post is about the girls’ school, Nanded City Pawar Public School! It’s quite a bit of text – as we don’t have many pictures – but thought we’d share.
For this post, I brainstormed with Cadi and Alex some of the things they thought people would be interested in hearing about their school. Here’s what they shared, along with some of my additions. This first pic is of a welcome sign that greeted us when we had orientation.
The school has pre-kindergarten (cutest kids on earth) up through 10th grade (standard). There are important exams at that point, so it’s no uncommon for schools to stop at grade 10. There are grades 11 and 12, but I also understand some go right to university after grade 10.
Despite the title, families pay tuition to attend the school.
The school day starts early – at 7:40. There are busses that bring students, but a lot of student walk. The day ends at 2:40. Here’s a picture of Alex’s schedule (left) and Acadia’s schedule (right). We’re still not sure what all of them mean!
Cadi does have classes some Saturdays. They do a half day. This Saturday, they’re preparing for a literary festival next week.
For the different subjects, the teachers move, not the kids. The exceptions are subjects like art and dance. The classes (which stay together all day) are named by the year/grade – called standard – and then “division” which is your particular class. Acadia is VI C and Alex is IV D. You do have a “home room” teacher, but you have many teachers throughout the day. Note that there’s no “leveling” of students. It is heterogenous up through at least grade 10. In grade 10, I understand there can be 2 different levels of math. Otherwise though, students are taught in the same classes the same curriculum. (In one conversation I had with the principal, she was very interested in this choice idea – asking if we had choice for students in high school.)
Every morning they do roll call. The teacher calls the numbers, and students say present – well, they say “Present Ma’am”. If a student is absent, it will either be silent, or another student will say “Absent Ma’am.” Acadia’s roll number if 36; Alex’s is #4. Acadia has 36 kids in her class and Alex has 35.
As there are so many classes, not surprisingly there are a lot of books. Acadia has 15, and Alex has 10! They also have 2 notebooks. There are very few (no?) handouts. Everything is copied into their notebooks. There is a chalkboard in each room (yes!) and a smart board. Every announcements are shared by having students copy the announcements from the board. No RemindApp, not flyers, no emails – at least none that they’ve allowed us to see!
The girls report there are no clocks in the rooms. Acadia’s group can’t hear any bells. Alex’s group hears loud bells.
The day starts with the National Anthem and morning announcements. What surprised me most is that when this National Anthem comes on – or the National Song at the end of the day- EVERYONE stops and stands. We were in a meeting with the principal earlier this week and when the song came on, she paused, stood up, and we did the same. I have yet to figure out if you’re supposed to face a certain way, or look at a certain place. Even parents outside – nearly all – stop talking at the end of the day when the song comes on. I took a brief video so you could hear what it’s like – imagine a school of 2300 bustling along with the activities for dismissal, and then the song comes on, and all that bustle goes silent. I can’t upload a video apparently – I’ll work on getting in a link.
The classrooms have tables, not desks. The assembly hall is just a huge open room. There are some chairs on the sides (for teachers), but the kids sit on the floor. Everything in school – and in India in general – is mutliuse, so you need to have flexibility in the space. In Acadia’s class, there are 3 columns of tables, with 2 students at each table. Each day, you move up a row, until you’re in the front, and then you and your partner go to the back of the row.
For lunch, there is a cafeteria you can go to and buy lunch, but it seems very few children do that, other than a few 9th and 10th graders. You’d also then eat in the cafeteria. Everyone else eats lunch in their classrooms. Most kids eat baaji and poori (that’s vegetables – imagine a typical Indian dish with spices and lots of chopped veggies, and the flat Indian bread). Apparently some parents (moms really) are still old-school and will bring the lunch box by just before lunch so the food is warm. Everyone else just has room temperature – which is also typical of meals and food in India. It’s not a thing to have it served hot like the US. (And I’ve learned this is 100% necessary as we have only 2 stove top burners!)
Alex is still bringing peanut butter and honey (note: peanut allergies aren’t a thing here), but Acadia really wanted to bring baaji and poori, which prompted her to learn how to make poori! Between having seen her Aaji (gramma) do make it and watching YouTube, she figured it out. She is now our poori maker! (Alex and I can step in after the dough is made and help roll it out. Mine have yet to be round. I get shapes like elephant ears, India, my coffee spills… still yummy though :-). ) Here is Cadi making her first poori!
The students address their teachers just as Teacher, or their name followed by Ma’am, Miss, or Sir. I don’t know if this is just because it’s private, or if they would do the same in a public school. I think Teacher is general. (Shilpa, Parag’s cousin, tutors, and her students call her Teacher, or sometimes Shilpa Teacher.) Alex, for example, calls her home room teacher “Anu Miss” and Acadia calls her teacher “Jyoti Ma’am”.
The girls have 2 different uniforms. Acadia’s has yet to arrive (!). They were out of her size. But they promised it soon. Here is a picture of Alex in the typical, daily uniform. Then they wear their sports uniform – Cadi is pictured here in her house’s uniform. Cadi is in Sapphire House (blue). Alex is in Topaz (yellow).
Here’s the girls looking at the houses, their mottos, and who is ahead in points on the day we toured.
Each standard (grade) has one day per week where they wear their house uniform. Presumably this is on the day they have MPE (which is Mass Physical Education), but neither girl has had that class actually yet! The schedule is very fluid – classes are often replaced by other classes.
I should add we received a very, very warm welcome from the school. They have been just wonderful. The principal, who lived in Canada for several years and happens to have a daughter who just moved to Manchester, Connecticut (!!), has made sure our transition has gone well. Also, Diya, who works the front office, is fabulous. She’s just who you want in that job! Here’s a selfie she took with us when we toured the school. The others in the picture are Anu Miss (far left) – Alex’s home teacher, and Hindi and Marathi; Diya – office person extraordinaire (front and center); and to the right of Anu Miss is Arti Ma’am, Alex’s English teacher.
Well, I think that’s enough for now. The girls are adjusting to the new experience. The kids have been great overall too, though both girls report MANY questions and lots of attention. For Acadia, they have to switch who sits with her every day as all the girls want to! It’s definitely a challenge at times to make sense of a new system and work with a new style of learning – much more direct, copy notes, etc. Acadia is more familiar with this; for Alex, it’s a little bit more of an adjustment.
We’ll finish with a couple pics of the school, which perhaps I should have led with!
Top pic is from the courtyard in the middle of the school. Here they are preparing for the Ganapati Festival. The bottom left is a picture of one of the entrances at dismissal time. Parents are gathering to get their children. The bottom right is the gate into the school grounds (the yellow). You can see a couple of the high rises in the background. We don’t live in those, but those are very similar to what we are in.
Joshi-Staples Family India Adventure! 