A little perspective

So here I am settling in Pune and loving the journey back home. Nothing surprises me or shocks me greatly as I am not so new to this environment. I lived in India, in Mumbai for 26 years of my life and was lucky to have enough exposure to the city with all it's beauty and madness. America has changed me however I can still relate and while things have changed quite dramatically India is still India. Now a little perspective. When I was growing up I went to a local SSC school 5 minutes from home. It was a good school, later I realized it was considered as one of the very best schools in Santacruz. Again, good is so relative in a land of over a 1,241,491,960 people (data from world bank). Not too different from saying North Edison has a good schooling system (as compared to what ?? south edison,Iselin, Metuchen or Central NJ, northern,south or East coast or America). So this is the relativity factor. Remember this is just a elementary/high or even middle school. But lets not take things too lightly especially education. A good foundation is very important. Kids need good schools from when ??? as early as possible. Since they develop most of their brain, develop attitudes and form life long habits between the ages of 2yrs - 10 yrs (says who ??? again I think Sigmund Freud). So going back to my story, I studied in a school where the student to class ratio was 1:40 with only 2 divisions per class, meaning in Grade/Std 1 the entire school would only have 80 kids studying in 1st Grade.By the end of my school life I knew everyone pretty well. I think this was not out of choice, our school was the size of a big bunglow owned privately by a Christian lady and this was all she could provide. However, as I mentioned the fees were higher than all other comparable schools in the area. Now, the area was 20 km radius. We are not talking about schools in Juhu, Khar or Bandra. Point I am trying to make, getting there....this is my blog so please go with the flow !! My two best friends not going to the same school went to other schools where each grade/standard had 80 kids and there were about 6/7 classes,which means about 500 kids in each grade. These schools were bigger in size, teachers were not so good and personal attention was a term not heard or used.At the end of schooling when it was time for the results X STD, i scored 84%, my friends 89% and 92%. Of course they studied harder, were smarter, more focused, more disciplined, more serious about their careers. BUT did school matter at this point ????? NO. OK....how about schools better than mine. I had the opportunity of studying with kids that had gone to bigger and better schools than mine. ICSE board, CBSE board and eventually we all got on the same level play field. So who scored better ?? The kids who went to the municipal schools got scholarships to study abroad while most rich school kids dropped out. Could not take the pressure, the hard work,perseverance and even the competition. In the real world I once again got the chance to work as a recruiter and have seen thousands of resumes and seen people making 200k -400k salaries coming out of top MBA and technology schools from such humble backgrounds. States and cities and towns and villages that I never knew existed.It is is so remarkable that they must have faced such great challenges may it be language, facilities, amenities or just the convenience money can buy that they did not have. I highly doubt they could have afforded private tutions or coaches/mentors to guide them with their career decisions. It is their sheer will power, hard work and determination and with GOD'S GRACE that they got here. Why do i say God because THANK GOD he is looking after the poor, less fortunate otherwise leave it to India, only the rich have accessibility to everything. It is because of talent,knowledge,hard work that cricketers, singers,actors,scientist, entrepreneurs have made it. Back to now, I am trying to secure admissions for my two little ones in LKG and UKG. The schools are handing me brochures which must have cost them quite a good sum of money explaining the facilities they provide. Child to teacher ratio 1:4 in kindergarten!!! They will get them ready for real school which means my child will learn to read/write and count.Seriously after so may years of studying (and teaching I use to teach up to grade X all subjects as pocket money/pass time income when I was studying)I can do this and should do this. Home schooling suddenly seems so appealing...O please my kids have and will learn all other survival skills without these expensive schools. My kids are 4yrs and 5yrs old, not 4/5 month babies.If you are trying to replicate America PLEASE get your facts right. American public school system is very robust where each child gets a decent education and a well rounded curriculum. However it is nothing as fancy as you imagine. Schools in India are offering swimming pool,skating,taekwondo,gymnastics,tennis,dance,music,drama....am i missing anything.Parents are sending their kids to schools hours away from home hoping to get them great education whereas they might be just fine with a decent local school. At this rate the next generation will bring a lot of Olympic medals into the country. Believe me I am not being sarcastic, I truly hope so.The one thing i missed growing up was the opportunity to play sports or join any extra curricular activities except a drawing and dance class. Both lasted for a couple of years at a stretch.However this is just a fad, a promise made not delivered just to charge an exorbitant amount of money unimaginable for a middle class family to be able to afford. Yet everyone aspires to send their kids to these schools as it will be an opportunity lost. My child will fail and I will be responsible, what a shame.So I will work harder, spend less time with family, send him/her to classes, not have a big family so my child will succeed. Really.....Good luck with that !!! If this were true and money was the only criterion for success all rich kids would succeed. I am not a socialist and neither against rich people, as a matter of fact I want to be very rich and by God's grace I am fine. The point is for a country like India where the middle class is so wide, is this realistic ??? Anyways I am sure all parents of this generation are well aware of this fact and nothing I write is news. This is what is bothers me, I was coming back from one such school and I saw 2 girls exactly the ages of my daughters 8 and 5.Both sisters holding hands coming back from school walking on the construction pebble filled roads of Pune. It must be about 40 degrees and literally the entire road was only pebbles. The younger girl had no slippers. I noticed and we stopped, my husband gave me a 100 rupee note which I gave the older sister and told her to ask her mom to buy her slippers. I don't know if she will, I don't care to get a guarantee. All i know is no mother would send her daughter to school or anywhere like that if she had a choice.So somewhere the money will be put to good use. I stop writing here as I need not say more. I hope someday all kids have a chance at a better future.Education should be equal and free in a great nation.