"Are
we crazy to send our son to study in India"-
By Kul Bhushan
NRIs in 'reverse trend' on children's
education(SPECIAL)
New Delhi
By Kul Bhushan
'Are we crazy to send our son to study in India when
we have the best facilities here in the US?' asked
Krishna 'Kris' Chandran, an NRI in Washington. He
had a point. Nearly 100,000 Indians are studying for
bachelors or post-graduate degrees and advanced courses
in the US. But a new report from a Washington research
institute reveals that the number of Americans studying
abroad has risen by almost 10 percent. A 'reverse
trend' is beginning with a small number of American
students coming to India.
Of course, Europe, led by Britain, is the most favoured
destination for American students. But India and China
are attracting more and more American students, according
to the Institute for International Education. No wonder.
These two countries have grown in their economic importance
to the US and indeed the West: China with its goods
and India with its services. Unlike China, India has
an advantage with the widespread use of English language
that makes learning - and daily interaction - easier.
'It's better to learn at the place where our jobs
are going,' said the young Chandran. Indeed, India
has the edge in IT courses that are as good as anywhere
in the world with a fraction of the training costs.
In Britain, a short, two-week course in most IT services
would cost hundreds of pounds while similar courses
in India would cost the same amount in rupees. Even
if one adds air travel and board and lodging expenses,
it works out much cheaper. So students from Africa,
the Middle East and the Far East have been coming
to India for IT courses for years.
Considering that the Silicon Valley is full of graduates
from Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs, it is
worthwhile getting into these, if one can pass the
rigorous admission tests. Medical training has long
been popular with NRIs and many medical colleges have
reserved seats for NRIs.
India has one of the world's largest and most diverse
education systems with over 320 universities and 16,000
colleges. Nearly 9.3 million students study at conventional
universities, specialty institutions, professional
and generic colleges, management institutions, and
institutions for medicine and engineering. The medium
of instruction in these places is invariably English
except for a few that teach arts subjects or humanities
in regional languages. Since most of India's universities
and centres of higher learning and research are autonomous,
it enables them to emphasise on academic excellence.
The best example of the 'reverse trend' of American
students coming to India is found in many American
universities offering numerous programmes and courses
held in India. 'American students are much more interested
in the sub-continent now. They feel that if you want
to figure out what is going on in the world, it is
important to be in South Asia and China,' Sreenath
Sreenivasan, the Dean of Students in the Columbia
Graduate School of Journalism, told a Mumbai newspaper.
'I am leading a group of students on a field trip
to India this year. The number of applications we
received was unbelievable,' he added.
A US delegation led by Senator Michael B. Enzi and
US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings among
others visited India recently to study the educational
system and how India is able to produce a large number
of highly skilled professionals - the reason for so
many American industries and companies coming to India
to relocate their operations and to expand. The mission
visited Bangalore to see major Indian IT companies
at work. Spellings said the US would encourage American
students to come to India to learn and their numbers
- excluding NRIs - will increase from less than a
thousand now.
NRIs have been sending their school-going children
to India at renowned public schools for decades. Some
still do. But a new group of these 'public schools'
has cropped up. These are classy schools teaching
for a British secondary school examination or the
International Baccalaureate for admission into any
foreign university.
Awesome construction, talented faculty from India
and abroad, huge libraries, massive IT systems, impressive
array of sports and cultural activities, counselling,
global cuisine, 24-hour health services, well appointed
rooms with only two or three beds instead of dreary
dormitories and a very low teacher-pupil ratio...
these schools have it all.
These schools cater for executives of the multinational
companies in India, high income Indians and, of course,
NRIs. Many NRIs have established such schools, especially
in Punjab, for their children for top quality education
with a large dose of Indian culture. Just surf the
web for these opportunities in India and you will
be surprised.
Says Chandran: 'If you can survive as a student in
India, then for the rest of your life, you can survive
anywhere in the world.'
(Kul Bhushan, a media consultant, has worked abroad
as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 55
countries. He lives in New Delhi and can be contacted
at kulbhushan2038@gmail.com)
Copyright Indo-Asian News Service
