This was the first proper school I went to, as a child in the period late 1980s - 1994. Located in Mandeville Gardens in Kolkata, it wasn’t very far from my current parental residence. This is what I have to say about my first real schooling experience.
SOME HISTORY ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
It is a private school belonging to the M.P. Birla Group. Apparently, it also held a place in the Guiness Book Of World Records between 1984 - 1992 for being the largest educational institute in the world. It was introduced in 1954 by Satikanta Guha and subsequently a "High School" was also introduced in 1960. The "High School" was then shifted to a different location. It has classes from "Nursery", "Transition" and then from grades I to V. Grade VI onwards, it is "High School". 2011 onwards, I believe a provision has been introduced to choose between West Bengal / C.B.S.E. board now. It wasn’t there, when I studied, if I remember correctly. It is an English medium school. Students of this school are generally referred to as "Pointers".
ABOUT MY SCHOOLING EXPERIENCE
1) TEACHER-STUDENT RATIO: "South Point" was never really short of teachers or students, even during the times I studied. Huge number of students and quite a few teachers characterized the premises. But what that leads to, is a poor student-teacher ratio. You have huge classes of students, attended to by a single teacher. I’m not sure if the same teacher was also attending to other classes. If so, seems like a mountain to climb, from the teacher’s perspective.
2) CURRICULUM: Regarding rigorousness of the curriculum, it was very good. One was really encouraged to cover things pertaining to studies thoroughly here by the teachers. But at times, it also felt a bit redundant.
I must say my natural proclivity was on similar lines already, so this didn’t feel bad. From a global perspective, one would consider this a positive aspect.
3) CO-EDUCATION: It was a co-ed school for day scholars. We had a good ratio of male and female students studying together. I think that has to count as a positive, especially during the stage of a child’s growth.
Also perhaps if that is the case, one learns how the other sex reacts and grows with increasing burden / level of studies, along with their own during the course of their own growth, among other things.
4) EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: Regarding extra-curricular activities, there were some internal provisions for the same. But I suppose one could argue that it wasn’t enough. There was very little in terms of outdoor activities because of the nature of the campus.
Owing to the huge rigour of the curriculum, it was difficult to focus on personal extra-curricular activities as well during one’s leisure time. During one’s free time also, one ended up doing a lot of studies.
5) SCHOOL TRANSPORT: There was the provision of school buses for commuting to school, for those who wanted to use the same. There was separate numbering for different routes. It was quite well organized with very rare lapses.
The real challenge with regards to commuting to school was the water logging on rainy days. If it was too serious, we had unplanned holidays on this account. I definitely won’t complain about that. :D
6) SYLLABUS: Regarding the syllabi, I think most of it was systematic and relevant till grade IV, up to which I studied there. But West Bengal board is known to somewhat lack in practical applicability of content in later grades. So, I think it’s good they have provided a provision of switchover to C.B.S.E. from senior school onwards.
7) INFRASTRUCTURE: Even though the basic infrastructure was decent, infra-structure for external references within the premises was less at the time I joined. Even for extra-curricular activities.
But at the time I was leaving the school for another, there was a nice library which had just been created. There were some encouraging changes in the pipeline. The premises in general, were getting a makeover in some respects. In any case, external reading material / references would be more relevant only for higher grade study, so I can’t say it impacted me adversely in any way.
8) TEACHING: The teaching was good in general. I can’t honestly say it was lackluster. Don’t know if I’d call it superb though. But then, I didn’t stay there till higher grades to find out the rest of the story. For e.g. senior school.
9) INTERACTIVE STUDIES: Maybe not some huge flaw, but I think the extent of interactive studies in the context of student-teacher interaction was less. Not that it necessarily hindered anything in the grades I studied. The student-teacher ratio not being too favorable, definitely played a part in this. But maybe in this case, initiative also needed some reforms.
10) SCHOOL UNIFORM / MASCOT ETC: The uniform appealed to me. It was a white shirt with blue pants / shorts (skirts for girls) depending on the season with a blue tie with white stripes and a symbol of a crowlike bird on the shirt / dress. Black shoes unless there were some physical training session. My opinion about the PT sessions wasn’t very flattering.
The school slogan was "Courage to Know". Sounds sort of encouraging. But maybe "Courage to be studious / industrious" is a more apt caption, considering the rigour associated with academics here. :D
11) SEATING / SPACIOUSNESS: There were big classrooms aplenty but the seating felt a bit to crowded and cramped in most classrooms. But the institution did have ample sizable rooms to support its huge head count which is a plus.
To conclude, I would say my time here definitely helped in terms of building seriousness towards academics. However, it also appeared that academics alone would define my personality if I stayed on longer. I would have exposure to little else. But overall, it felt like a decent educational institution which takes most of whatever it undertakes, quite seriously. I had a 50-50 mundane-cum-interesting but reasonably fruitful stint here. I would probably rate this close to a 3.5 / 5.