Many parents with affordable means prefer their children to join a boarding school to their studying in a day-time government or public school. One of the many reasons given for this preference is that living in a hostel is necessary for discipline, academic excellence and inculcating self-discipline.
One other reason is an extremely busy schedule of both the parents which forces them to part with their children, when they are young, and send them to boarding schools. Yet another factor could be the fact that both the parents are employed in different parts of the country.
But nobody can deny the fact, and the actual story from the mouth of a boarder can be really moving that the children who are sent to such schools tend to suffer a lot from homesickness and loneliness, initially. Later on, they get used to the new routine and do quite well.
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Whatever the gains of a boarding school, the fact is that nothing can substitute parents while the children are growing up. It is really very cruel to send a child of 6 or 7 years of age to a boarding school.
After the 6th or 7th grade, a child could be expected to cope with the problem of separation from parents, but before that it is a cruel denial of his due, i.e. care, love and affection of his father, mother and other members of the family.
However, it can’t be denied that in a boarding school a child does learn values that he or she might miss at home, such as sharing, better social adjustment, initiative, leadership and the like.
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The child has perforce to make his decisions there- choose his companions, find his own time to study, mix with all kinds of students and face day-to-day problems on his own. In brief, we can say that he matures faster, becomes less dependent on others and learns to be more self-confident.
But there is every chance of his falling preys to a wrong company; pick up bad habits and indulge him in unwanted practices. Not being under the supervision of his parents, he could learn to tell lies and cheat and thieve in order to meet his vices, like smoking and gambling. Such things are quite prevalent in boarding schools.
Hence, it is the duty of all of us to keep checks on our children from time to time, and learn to detect the signs of any unusual changes in their behaviour. Then only can we hope to see our children growing up the best way.
It is a fact that many boarding schools have superb facilities for child development, but to be at the safer side, it is still necessary that we keep ourselves acquainted with the child’s development.