Ghar mein pardesi? The ignorant glocal student

What happens when a highschooler in Mumbai spends more time studying British or American history in class rather than what happened in India Sure this sets them up to be a ldquocitizen of the worldrdquo but are they truly ready to be a citizen of their own countryThis was not a major concern in past decades when international schools were an option for an elite few a diplomatrsquos child or a political scion or heirs to business empires That is no longer the case India now has the secondhighest number of international schools in the world 972 according to education think tank ISC ResearchThe two most popular international boards that operate in India International Baccalaureate IB and Cambridge Assessment International Education CAIE which runs the IGCSE format were introduced in the 1970s and 1990s respectively But they truly took off in the early 2000s when the idea of going abroad for higher studies became an aspiration for the middle classes as well In fact recently the Ministry of External Affairs said that between 202425 between 76 lakh students were pursuing further education abroad mostly in Canada the US and the UKTherefore itrsquos no surprise that according to IBrsquos website wwwiboorg a total of 256 schools provide schooling under them While CAIE said in a LinkedIn post last year that there are over 400 schools under their board that cater to around 17000 learners And Maharashtra is leading the charge with 210 IB and IGCSE schoolsThese schools are praised for their inquiryled approach rather than learning by rote However a major gap that has begun to emerge in recent years is the lack of local cultural and historical context in these schoolsNo doubt many students will go on to study further abroad some will also go on to work and live there But are these schools merely preparing students for a future brain drain What of the rest who choose to make their lives in their home country do they possess enough knowledge to be go on to vote and perhaps decide Indiarsquos futureA 15yearold student tells us that she had no idea who was even contesting from their ward in the recent BMC elections ldquoI wouldnrsquot be able to tell you who was in the fray who the popular candidate was and who was unpopular Sometimes I wonder what else am I missing out onrdquo972Total no of international schools in IndiaISC Research report 2025256Total number of IB World schools in India that currently offer four International Baccalaureate IB programmes400No of schools in India that follow CambridgeIGCSE formatIB CAIEWherersquos the Indian contextA 15yearold who just appeared for her IGCSE exams says ldquoIn IGCSE history you have two options mdash the 19th century or the 20th century Most schools offer the second optionrdquoldquoWhat I like about the Board is that itrsquos meant to be inclusive Students can draw their own judgment on historical incidents and no one will tell you that you cannot have a particular take But all of the issues and questions that we study are Eurocentric For example the main topics that we have studied for years has been the time between World War I and the years between World War II and the entirety of Cold War mdash the Treaty of Versailles the League of Nations and control over Europe Therersquos no consideration of Asian or Indian issuesrdquoThis bright student cites an example of why this matters ldquoOur textbooks present Nobel laureate and former US President Woodrow Wilson as a good idealistic man because he stood against imperialism in Eastern Europe and wanted selfdetermination there But there is no mention of imperialism happening all across Asia at the time Suddenly imperialism by the British Empire in their colonies wasnrsquot a problemrdquoThey lament that the format has not lived up to its full potential especially for a system that has been functional in India for at least the last two decades ldquoIf they could just expand the syllabus to include Indian and Asian issues it would be incredible because the methodology of learning actually encourages free thoughtrdquo they sayldquoIronically though the curriculum encourages critical thinkingrdquo says the teen it puts the burden of learning essential local context entirely on the student ldquoYou often have to go that extra mile to understand an incident from all angles Or the alternative angle is mentioned in passing in our books which is not enough for us to understand why this might not be the whole picturerdquo they addItrsquos the same with Latin America they say ldquoThe only time Latin America was introduced to us in the syllabus was in the context of Cold War tensions They brought in Cuba only in the context of the US and the USSRrdquoThe cost of not knowing our own cultureldquoAlthough the international boards are built on the ethos of inquiring minds I think there is a gap many schools at their level are not able to address this lack of Indian history knowledge This also comes with the fact that most teachers are not trained in the methods of these boards primarily exhaustive documentation of class and curation of anecdotes in the class So we are in dire need to upskill our teachersrdquoSuraj Pandit and Swati Popat VatsChina takes a different approachThe only country with more international schools than India is China with 1124 institutes However Chinarsquos Patriotic Education Law of 2024 stipulates that in all schools curricula should reflect Chinese history and culture language ideology and politicsInternational boards in india thinspInternational Baccalaureate IB thinspCambridge Assessment International Education CAIE thinspFrench Baccalaureate FB thinspCanadian BoardNot all students interested in local contextMahesh SrivastavaMahesh Srivastava who was the regional director South Asia for CAIE between 2020 and 2024 points out that adapting the curriculum across multiple countries becomes a challenge because each countryrsquos perspective will be different ldquoHistory is very sensitive and specific to that country or geography and perspective may change while you cross the boundary like in the recent IranUS conflict where both claim they are winning To have Indian history as a subject you need enough students to launch that course But that doesnrsquot mean students canrsquot learn the subject Individual Online School IOS gives you that option along with Cambridge Boardrdquo he addsIGCSE also gives the option to study Marathi Hindi and Kannada among other languages