International Baccalaureate Program - Pros and Cons

The concept of International schools is rapidly gaining popularity among the Indian parents. They have realised the flaws in the Indian educational system and orthodox pedagogy and these limitations hinder the growth of their children.These educational institutes follow globally accredited curriculum is accepted all over the world. But, as it is said that every coin has two sides, even International Baccalaureate Programme has its merits and limitations. There are certain benchmarks that an International school has to achieve in order to get approval from the IBO. So, they hire highly qualified and trained teachers as well as auxiliary staff in order to maintain a certain level and achieve the set criteria that is needed to get the accreditation.Thus, your child would get the best teachers in the town. These schools have to follow International Baccalaureate Programme, which is structured within the set standards that are acceptable all over the globe; this allows your child to grow and adapt to the trends that universally accepted and followed. Thus, helps the child to be concurrent with the global community. But, it is quite unfortunate that not all Indian students can benefit from such a well designed and contemporary curriculum, as many parents cannot afford it.International Schools are out of the reach for middle class and lower middle class families in India. Many critics term it as “School of classes” as only a certain elite section of society can access it. The cost of implementation of the IB programme is huge; the school wanting to applyit has to pay application fees that are very high as per the Indian standards, thus they charge fees which Indian middle class cannot pay. Moreover, it has to achieve and maintain some standards for education and infrastructure that are in accordance with globally accepted standards.Thus, International Schools take enormous fees from the children to manage its position. Majority of Indian students suffer from “Exam phobia”, as the examination that is conducted in many public and private schools test the memory and speed of the child, not his skills. International Baccalaureate Programmeevaluatesthe aptitude of the child and allows each student to develop his cognitive abilities by working on an extended essay on the topic of their choice. However, many experts are of the opinion that writing an extended essay for advances International Baccalaureate Programme is more stressful to the children than writing an exam, as every child does not possess an ability to write original piece of essay. International schools are mostly situated in urban areas, as the management would get the intended crowd from the cities. Thus, it becomes inaccessible for majority of Indian children who reside in small town and rural areas. Moreover, it is not easily accessible to the students residing in cities, as these schools are mostly on outskirts. Transportation charges for to and fro travel are unfeasible for those who come for a middle income family. People have their own views for International Schools. A complimenter would find only their merits and a critic would only speak about the demerits. Everything has two aspects to it. For instance, if these schools offer world class education, it is wise to consider this positive aspect of it and not nag over high fees. Nagging over a problem is not the solution, it is better to find a permanent solution. Government should lend financial help to these schools, so students from every section can benefit. It is better to not find faults, but try to bring an improvement in the areas where there are problems.