Nilambur Visits
We had the opportunity to visit multiple schools in Nilambur. During these visits, we were often honored as special guests, though the honor was truly ours as we got to know the staff and students. Peeves is a public boarding school and Springs International is a private Montessori school; both very different from the government school that hosted us. Here is a review of the experiences at these two schools.
Peeves is a public boarding school in Nilambur with amazing facilities (outdoor Olympic-sized pool, basketball courts, soccer fields, cricket pitch, music studio, art room, food service with all meals made on premises), but the rooms where the students lived were bare and quite like barracks with hard bunk beds and minimal decor. There was no “home away from home” feeling, at least compared to dorms in the US. The girl-to-boy ratio (only forty young ladies at the school) made it difficult for the girls to form multiple groups of friends, although the small groups seemed close.
Peeves offers different classes including: chemistry, computers, languages and Physical Education and the director was very engaging and excited for the concept. Students come from UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and the Philippines and are expected to stay on campus—quite far from the main road in Nilambur, so there is not much to do outside of school and school-realated activities and their only friends are people from their school. It seems limited, yet at the same time, students have a much more expanded world view than others in Nilambur.
The students and staff at Peeves welcomed us in their reception area and we had a lovely conversation with the director. He was very proud of his school and was excited to have us meet the students who would take us on the tours. They, too, were very excited to show us around. After the tour, we went to a Q and A session with students (a welcome relief after the drums, dances and parades of earlier visits at other schools) and we appreciated their thoughtful questions and attentiveness to our responses.
After returning to GGVHSS during the day, we visited Springs International School in Nilambur in the evening. The name is a little ironic because all students were from Kerala (maybe the “international” comes from it being a Montessori school). The school offered us songs, poems, a Q and A session, tours and dinner! It was a full evening and, to be fair, students had elected to stay after school so they get points for that. The evening, however, seemed to reflect a disorganized pattern.
Upon arrival, students took us on a quick tour of the perimeter classrooms. While they had a very open feel (native plants were along the inside wall of the classroom), classrooms were largely empty of furniture and had no visuals, posters, or pictures except one poster of native flowers for three kindergarten classrooms. The rooms seemed fresh and inviting otherwise and the little kids had a play area and man-made pond in their pod. After looking at this classroom area, we moved into the courtyard for a Q and A session with students.
The students seemed unprepared with questions and the evening program bounced between questions and songs and poetry. We were offered expanded tours after the program, and the three of us were in different tour groups. My group headed toward the entry and kindergarten area and my partners headed toward the interior gardens and classrooms. My tour guide (the art teacher) seemed far more interested in photo opportunities than in having me truly understand their philosophy. He directed our group toward a 3-D giving tree that he designed where students were encouraged to make monetary donations for charity. As I looked at it, click click click went the photographer’s camera. He then took us down the path to the kindergarten area and the students and I let him know that we’d seen this already. “Just stand here by the sign,” he directed. Click click. We then went down the lane toward the entry gate. “We have trails for trekking!” he proudly exclaimed. “The students get dressed and go trekking at least once per week. Come see the trails!” He pushed the group toward the top of a hill covered in vegetation and wood chips. Click click.
“It’s lovely. OK, we can go back now,” I said. “I’m wearing sandals and a dress. Let’s go back so we can see the classrooms,” I protested. Nope. Click click click. He was quite insistent on continuing. The girls on the tour turned around and headed back to the road. With the teacher in front of me and eight to ten boys (and the cameraman) behind me, I couldn’t turn back.
“It’s a short trek. Only a few minutes. Look! This is where the wild pigs live!” as he pointed to some brush that looked like a small den. Click click click. I trekked on with a forced smile as I attempted to avoid the mud. I trekked on. In a dress. And sandals. With cameras flashing every three seconds. Not only did I learn almost nothing about the school, I felt this group was disrespectful. As we practically slid down the last 20m of the trail, there was the photographer, clicking away (somehow, he had escaped to the road for the last fifteen minutes of the trek). Sweating and slapping at mammoth mosquitoes, we made our way back up the hill to the school. My main thought was to find Riyas and my colleagues and go! I’m all for experiencing new things, but I felt very uncomfortable and disappointed that teachers and students here did not seem to respect their guests, nor were they prepared to answer our questions.
When I finally met up with my colleagues, their experiences were quite similar (although they weren’t trekking!). Cameras clicked as they walked into classrooms, labs, and gardens. They were asked to pose with equipment and in front of chalkboards. They also experienced uncomfortable silence as they asked students questions about their learning and none seemed to be able to answer. We all agreed that our presence there was more about PR and less about a true exchange of ideas.
The school did offer us dinner at sundown (it was Ramadan and dinner was served to break the fast), but we were so tired and overwhelmed at this point that our main focus was maintaining composure long enough to make it to the car and relax our painted-on smiles. Perhaps it was just a long day of visits and questions and cameras, but we left with a renewed gratitude for “our girls” at GGVHSS Wandoor!