Halfway around the world in a northern Madras suburb amongst homes and workshops a large gate stands ajar. It leads off the bustling street thronged with buses, cars and lorries; past rickshaws and bicycles weaving their way between dogs and cows scavenging at the road side to a large dusty compound. High walls enclose the buildings of Northwick Girls’ School, the boarding house, a recreational area and the site of the new science block.
The senior buildings are large and lofty giving a feeling of airiness in the hot Indian climate. Large glassless windows overlook the school grounds, the corridors are wide, the working space is well proportioned. However, close inspection reveals damp walls, peeling paint and empty rooms, evacuated as the roof is too dangerous.
Plaster falls on the girls at work. The steel joists holding the roof need replacing. Some classes take place in the corridors.
Northwick Girls’ School provides a formal education for 800 pupils up to the age of 18 years. Girls living in the urban areas of Madras travel to school daily but a small number from rural areas further afield live in the boarding house.
The distance girls travel to school illustrates how, particularly in rural areas, they face discrimination. Traditionally they are not allowed to walk any distance unchaperoned. So a family earning their living off the land would have to lose a second member, a labourer, to accompany their daughter to school. This would be a two-fold loss of wage - so girls are kept at home to clean, cook and draw water, follow the cattle or work in the fields. In towns they would become street children, looking after other children, minding stalls, sweeping or begging.
Hostel accommodation is part of the history of Indian education. Missionaries and charitable organisations established hostels to give children a chance to continue in education close to good secondary schools. The Diocese of Madras maintains several hostels for girls and boys. Parents anxious to give their children the chance of education seize the opportunity to take up hostel places which are free of charge and often make great personal and family sacrifices to do so.
Although education in India is free all ‘extras’ must be paid for and this means uniforms, pens, pencils, writing paper, exercise and text books - not sports equipment, swimming or music lessons, outings or school trips as in England.
During the term the girls are able to have visits from family members once a month and in the holidays are encouraged to return home, even if they have no immediate family to go to. This enables them to keep up contacts with both their extended family and the community in which they have grown up.
Boarding hostels still continue to provide the only real chance of an education for a child from a poor rural family. The advantage to the girl’s family of this system is that, as well as their daughter obtaining a good education, it means:
- there is one less mouth to feed and body to clothe at home
- there will be one child with an education who could go on to obtain ‘white collar’ employment and earn a salary which, in turn, will help to support the whole family.
Since the standard of education is better in urban schools, girls who are fortunate enough to board get the opportunity of a better education. In India there is a long tradition of sending children away from home for a period and the idea of hostel accommodation is not so strange.
The hostel accommodation, situated within the large school compound, has recently been extensively modernised. It is light and bright and offers a safe and secure boarding environment. It has simple but adequate cooking, washing, toilet and dormitory facilities. The daily routine is not ‘westernized’ and the girls are expected to help with the day-to-day tasks - washing their own school uniform and play clothes, preparing food, cleaning the boarding house and looking after the garden. They sleep on brightly coloured cane mats which are rolled up each morning and left with their possessions in a small suitcase.
Every evening after bible study and prayer, each girl has a private study period during which extra tuition is also given if necessary. In addition, girls may also be given extra help adjusting to hostel life.
Just as in other parts of the world education is highly valued in India but here parent’s desire to educate their children is frequently measured against the need to feed and clothe their families. When the family budget is as little as 50p a day education is a luxury.
The Diocese of Carlisle gave financial support to the recent renovation of the hostel. There are at present 50 boarding places but the Diocese of Madras would like to provide places for up to 100 girls. It costs £100 a year to keep a girl at the boarding house.
A wing of the school in need of restoration
Rice flour patterns on the floor of the dormitory
'Welcome' spelt out in flowers and white stones on the neatly swept path
A corner of the new kitchen in the boarding house
Girls in School uniform learning traditional dances
Staff and commemorative plaque outside the boarding house
A notice board and blackboard showing duty rotas, menus and the daily text
Girls sit cross-legged in the corridor writing exam papers
A junior class room
