Private Secondary Education

Most of the children attending private higher secondary schools travel to Vellore. The Rural Unit for Health and Social Affairs provides a bus to take children living on the RUHSA campus to the Ida Scudder School. The children are driven from their homes on the campus directly to the school which is behind secure gates in Vellore. Some families have chosen to move closer to Vellore so that their children do not have the long journey each day.

Sunny and his younger brother Christopher attend the Sunbeam Metriculation Higher Secondary School, studying in English Medium. The family moved to Vellore so the children did not have as far to travel.

Jesuren has attended the Ida Scudder School, a private, non-residential, co-educational school in Vellore, since he was 5 years old and will stay until he completes Year 12.

The Ida Scudder School is a Christian School following a curriculum based on the UK system but it has no restrictions on creed, caste or colour in the admission of students. However it does give preference to children of the staff of the Christian Medical College and Hospital if they meet the academic requirements.

The Head Teacher of Ida Scudder School is very proud of its modern facilities and progressive curriculum. All students take part in games and athletics and are required to join at least two clubs or societies where they will learn new skills. Clubs include dance, music etc. They also take part in raising funds to help those less fortunate.

The school relies totally on fee collection to cover all its running expense. Fees vary according to age but the average cost to parents is about Rs 12,000 per year. This is about £150.

The school facilities are very modern.

The new Science Laboratories are vastly different from those at the Government Higher Secondary Schools.

Jesuren Loves his school. His parents chose the school because the teaching methods are not like the state schools. They believe the children are given more freedom and the projects they study help them to develop independent learning skills.

Students have the use of the school library at lunch times. Newspapers are provided and they are encouraged to keep up to date with local and world affairs.

One of the main differences between private schools like the Ida Scudder School and government high schools is that in the private schools the pupils are not allowed to speak in Tamil. English is treated as a first language and at Ida Scudder Tamil and Hindi are offered as second and third languages. This means that all the children learn to speak English and therefore are able to communicate with people throughout India and the wider world. Most pupils will go on to higher education.