Homeschooling in India
By: The Education Growth Summit
Tags: Tegs, Homeschooling Law India, Alternative Education, Education, Homeschooling

Raagini Ram

Picture sources: Pixabay

Is home-schooling legal in India?

The passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) makes formal education compulsory for every child between the ages of 6 to 14, this had essentially delegalized the status of home schools, however the ministry of Human Resource Development has given multiple statements about the legality and recognition of homeschooling in India. To put it in more simpler terms, yes homeschooling is legal.

Homeschooling is a relatively new concept in India and out of the millions of school going children only a handful are being homeschooled. The most commonly used homeschooling methods in India are Montessori method, Unschooling, Radical unschooling, Walldorf education and the traditional stay-at-home schooling. In India, parents of homeschooled children either opt for existing boards like CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB or create their own curriculum by borrowing from each of these boards. Many homeschoolers also follow formal education methods through NIOS (National Institute of Open schooling). NIOS was set up by the government in 1989 in an effort to promote education and make it more accessible.

Apart from offering vocational programmes, NIOS offers Open Basic Education (OBE) programmes for school education. Here the curriculum is made by NIOS which requires students to write an external assessment at the end of each level. OBE is divided into -

● OBE level A: equivalent to class I — III

● OBE level B: equivalent to class IV -V

● OBE level C: equivalent to VI-VIII

In addition to this, the Maharashtra government launched the “Open SSC board” in January of 2019 with the goal of helping students between the classes of 6th to 12th standard. This board is aimed at aiding athletes, artists, and others who wish to continue their academic pursuits while focusing on other interests and obligations.

In recent years, quite a few homeschooled children have made it into prestigious institutions like IIT and MIT. In fact, homeschooled children choose to integrate themselves back into mainstream education at some point. Satya Narayan R, the founder of “Career Launcher” in one of the most prominent names in the education industry who has been homeschooled.

Picture sources: Pixabay

Some benefits of Homeschooling include –

Individual tutoring — Studies have shown that the smaller the student-teacher ratio, the better the learning. One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is the fact that students get individual attention. Moreover, teachers ensure that students know the basics before moving on to another level. This ensures that learning genuinely takes place. Additionally, homeschooling allows parents to customise their children’s learning to suit their strengths, weaknesses and therefore helps them focus on certain parts.

Growth of Independent thinking — these students are highly unlikely to follow the ideas of groups since they are taught to think independently. These students don’t get influenced by peer pressure either and are in general more mature and thoughtful than others.

Eliminates boredom and monotony — Learning is customised as per the likes of the student. Since learning here is catered to the individuals it requires them to constantly put in the effort. Considering that fact learning is self-paced, they don’t need to waste time on what they already know and can move on.

Safe learning environment — Homeschooling offers a conducive environment for students to learn. This type of schooling reduces stress and other academic pressures that an individual would otherwise face in a traditional school setting. Having said that, homeschooling requires a lot of self-motivation without which the student might end up learning nothing.

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