There are no black and white answers to questions that challenge present day rules, predominant social outlook and prevailing wisdom. But ambiguity attached to it does not make these questions any less relevant. Voids shall have to be filled with answers, for if left unfilled it widens the possibility of something dangerous occupying it, and there is no denying to the fact that it never happens to be a cakewalk. The class of privileged people at the helm of power do not really care about obstacles, as offered by status quo, for it possesses enough means to go through and survive whatever situation they are being put up in.

Amidst much talk about reforms in country’s education system, in particular school education, the conversations surrounding alternatives to it has started grabbing a significant mainstream space. Alternatives being unschooling, home-schooling and other specially designed schools with separate strategies of learning but a sole aim to encourage kids to walk the street of self-exploration without being made to face rigid and tough each year based evaluation system.

To reach to the masses, this idea of new age took dramatic successes of some children following this methodology such as that of a teenager named Malvika Raj Joshi who got admission ticket for world famous MIT without a formal secondary or higher secondary board certificate. With time, the alternatives have reimagined its relevance for society for they are out now on their own. The idea is flourishing both in terms of its recognition by people as well as increasing count of people actually believing and moving ahead to adapt to it.

There has been growing concerns about inadequacies of Indian schooling system, as many have criticized the system for it is not really suitable for employing creative learning techniques at learning spaces and is also detrimental to self-explored creativity of any going kid itself. The evaluation based education system, as it has been the case with modern education, has travelled a long period and unfortunately giving up on its actual essence it has taken up a character of some kind of a toxic race.

Disillusionment with extant schooling system and better understanding of studies done in the west on the subject has started prompting, and actually attracting, Indian parents to think of alternatives that take care of actual learnings and pursuance of interests rather than just filling up projects files and models just for submissions ahead of some deadline. The big metro cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad etc. have seen a keen interest of people wanting to indulge in, with equal proportion of parents wanting to opt new ways to shed off unwarranted burden of their wards’ shoulders.

Alternatives such as home-schooling or unschooling are an imagination quite close to community schools. These learning spaces let kids to play, eat, sing, dance and learn whatever they want; the places where learning piano equals reading Wikipedia. The alternatives have all in it to enhance basic human qualities among children such as empathy, love, respect and above all human bonds. Imposition of a system with burdensome performance pressures don’t really help a child to be a responsible citizen or one who understands value of consent in relationships. Free will at grassroots’ level, that is, at tender age help in fashioning a generation that is sensitive to real causes.

Alternatives, as such, have a touch of serenity and peace, it cannot takeover all at once and it should not, for most of them are based on intensive parents’ care, which does not make it a viable way for everyone and financial constraints in a country like ours affects prospects of such a system. However, these models present a vision for reform in prevailing system of mass education. Walk on, there is much to learn, way to go!