About ICSE Syllabus in India...

[lordstanher]

I dont know about other states but this is not true in Karnataka with the SSE syllabus to my knowledge. In karnataka except for 10 std exams papers all the rest classes exam papers are set and corrected in the respective school itself.

Yes sorry, I was actually referring to the 10th exam papers too .....(which r also called board exams as they're set by the board)!
Even in AP in ICSE (& I think even CBSE?), the final exam papers from 1-9th std. r set/corrected by the teachers of the respective schools themselves......but in SSC (atleast in AP), there is a board exam even in 7th, apart from of course, 10th.......

But the SSE has same syllabus/text books throughout state with SSE schools.

Yep, same case w/ the State board (SSC) in AP.......and in ICSE, its the same throughout India atleast for 8th/9th/10th classes (since they share a common board exam paper for 10th).......in the lower classes sum books r common to schools in diff. states altho in my time there were sum minor differences in which classes the same book/s was/were used.......for eg. the same history text bk. tat I studied in 5th std. at Orissa was used only a year later (6th) in my 'new' school in Hyd......
So even tho I'd joined mid-way in 6th at Hyd. I wasn't really worried abt having missed out on the portion in History since I'd already studied it all b4hand!

[lordstanher]

you dont have to - since Hindi is the official language in Hyd

Ur indeed right.......aside, if u might be aware, the Hyderabadi Hindi is quite a lot different from the 'standard' Hindi....so even many local Hindi speakers in Hyd. faced quite alot of difficulties in studying Hindi......esp. for most of us in 8th-10th where we had an old, strict Hindi teacher who, being a northie, was very pro-'standard' hindi.....

Bengalis proficiently use the "sh" sound even substituting it for the 's' - Even noticed they pronounce "Sarkar" like "Shorkar" and "Saurav" like "Shorub"?

Yes even Oriyas pronounce it tat way.......but I was certainly told tat Bengalis tend to pronounce evn Sha as Sa......?
There was a friend of mine in Sing. who was born/raised in Calcutta.......her name was supposed to be Shweta but she said in her school they pronounced it as Sweta, so tats how it'd been entered in the records!

The confusion is with the surnames, Kar and Das are very common surnames used by both bengalis and oriyans -

I knew tat Kar is Oriya......never heard of Bongs having it??
And Das is very much Bengali, but in Oriya in sum cases, its 'Dash'.....which, as I said, makes it similar to Bengali.....

But the best way of identifying bongs is by their 'healthy' cheeks - the result of consuming tons of sweets, the average bengali consumes atleast 100gms of mishti every day

Not to mention the ever famous Roshogullas??

I find it easier to identify esp. Bengali men tho......

[napolims445]

On that note-
The bengalis pronounce "Va" as "Ba" varsha as barsha example...
i know that biharis pronounce "Sha" as "Sa" like sheets as seets varsha as varsa etc...because i had a bihar friend in college

[NM]

Arattai arangam? Oh dont get too excited by it - here's a description of Arattai Arangam in Lollu Express:
<Begin quote>In that program you can see thaikulam sentiment/appa sentiment/amma sentiment/naikkutty sentiment/poonai & eli sentiment etc...there were times when people used to hug each other and cry(anandha kanner)!Makkal romba unarchi vasa padaranga.<End quote>
AA is merely a packaged program used to whip up sentiments, the mainstream public doesnt care about it - they attend it merely to appear on TV - nobody wishes to practice what is preached there Only good is some Rotaract clubs come forward to offer money to the poor.

Thanks walrus! didn't know that. I just voiced out what I saw on tele and felt proud of the youngsters...

Ok I understand the repressive policies of the Malay government, just like in Sri Lanka, and the 2nd class treatment handed out to Indians. But dont u think tamils(since 90% of msian indians are tamils) will make a bigger impact if they join the mainstream instead of staying aloof by themselves? As such, there is a certain amount of bickering when tams get together, it cant be helped.

Yup, agreed! Tams or rather indians must stand united!

BTW, i keep thinking NM and ratchasi are the same person - due to similar writing style and age i guess, its so hard to distinguish

Well, didn't you know?? We are twins, separated at birth!
Anyway, we aren't and are ages apart! Perhaps we were, in our previous lifes??

[a.ratchasi]

BTW, i keep thinking NM and ratchasi are the same person - due to similar writing style and age i guess, its so hard to distinguish

Perhaps, it's due to both NM and I got 'emotional' on the same topic!!


Funny that you mentioned it, cos I had a feeling before that blahblah and yourself were the same person!!

Cheers to my 'sis'!!

[hehehewalrus]

Well, didn't you know?? We are twins, separated at birth!

Okay, ok. I get the complete story. Before you got separated, your parents taught you the reunion song "Yethanai Kaalam dhaan yemaathuvaanga indha naatile, nam naatile" as an expression of dissent against the malaysian education policies. Both of you kept singing this song(wearing the same yellow-flowers-in-blue background dress which was the color of the dress during your last birthday at home) in your respective Malaysian Indian Women Association functions, hoping to find the long last other twin. Then both got attracted by the contents of this thread and bumped into each other?

[NM]

Well, didn't you know?? We are twins, separated at birth!

Okay, ok. I get the complete story. Before you got separated, your parents taught you the reunion song "Yethanai Kaalam dhaan yemaathuvaanga indha naatile, nam naatile" as an expression of dissent against the malaysian education policies. Both of you kept singing this song in your respective Malaysian Indian Women Association, hoping to find the long last other twin. Then both got attracted by the contents of this thread and bumped into each other?

Haiyooh! walrus!! ..Yaadon Ki Bharat is more appropriate! Sorry for the digression!

[tomato]

Tomato,
Um......I'm afraid I've no idea reg. Bangalore schools?
Reg. books, yes they were sold to us at the school itself even during my schooldays.....
still, as for bookstores in Hyderabad, the ones I can (vaguely) remember selling ICSE books r at these places called Koti & also Abids in Hyd.....but has there been ne problem in buying them from the school itself, ie. difference in pricing etc.?

Ok, Ok I must explain my position better. I'm currently residing in singapore. And my six year old son will be starting his primary 1(Ist std) from Jan 2006. (Singapore local school- academic year is jan to dec). But in a couple of years I'm planning to go to India(Bangalore) for good. So I just want to go thru the books reffered by schools in India now so as to prepare my son in advance. Though I studied under state board I would like to go for ICSE/CBSE for my son cos of its uniform sylabus throughtout the country. And we do have 2 Indian international school here in singapore: Bhavan's -folllows CBSE(I think) & DPS - Follows ICSE(again not sure). But I find these school absurdly expensive and hence not worth it. Also on one of my visits to DPS, I did not like the atmosphere very much-snobbish parents ect. And thru friends I have not yet got a good report of Bhavan's school either. Most parents I talked to here send thier children to these schools coz they think thier child will be more comfortable in an 'Indian' kind of environment and it will be easier to settle into schools in India if and when they return to India.
lordstaner, can u pls give me the exact addresses of the book shops u have mentioned. i have folks in H'bad who could post me the books, but I need to give them the correct address coz they themselves r a bit new to the city.

[tomato]

Nowadays selection of schools depends on several factors like
1. proximity to home, 2. availability of transport
3. Quality of teaching 4. Results produced 5. Amount you wanna spend on kid's education etc. So you might want to weigh in all these factors before selecting(There may be some schools with good teaching, but also a hep school where lot of super-rich kids study and your kid might get corrupted as well! - so you need to think about all these If you are relatively new to Bangalore, you might want to talk to 7,8 parents who have put their wards in school)

You seem to have covered all the points that I myself will consider when I look for a school. I'm not at all interested in sending my child to a school full of rich brats. We do not have a roaring family bussiness for him to join when he grows up. So he has to carve a niche for himself and as parents we can only give him good education, support and guidance.

Just for starters, you might want to check this site : http://www.bishopcottons.com/
(Bishop Cotton is Bangalore's most famous school located on St.Marks Road and follows ICSE - i dont have any info about how good it is - talk to more people) You might get some idea of the fee structure and so on - dont be surprised if it costs a fortune to get an education there.

Thanx for the link. Heard of this school-quite reputated. It is also centrally located. The fee structure also looks OK. But as u said I need to talk to parents sending their children there. Only draw back I see is that it is a Boys only school. I personally prefer a mixed(both boys and girls) school as I feel it will encourage in healthy interaction and better social skills. In a mixed school u learn to accept and respect the opposite sex.

PS: I assume you are mallu, there are lot of smart mallus in bangalore, there must be a really good quality school run by the mallu associations, you would definitely like to put your kid in that type of a place and also run into long-lost relations :P

I'm amused at your assumption , but sorry to dissapoint U I'm not a mallu.

2. Where can I get the text books (reffered by ICSE/CBSE) for pimary 1(Ist standard)? During my schooling all text books were available at any book or stationary shop. But now I hear that the books r provided by the school itself. So would like to know if the text books r available at any book stores in Blore, Chennai or Hyderabad?

I dont know ur location, are u in Bangalore? What you need to do is get the list of prescribed books from the schools and compare the prices offered by the school and outside, it may differ. After that, if you're planning to buy outside, you might wanna try out Gangarams and Sapna, 2 good stores that stock textbooks and may offer discounts. Gangarams is on MG Road, a stone's thrown from Higginbothams(HB may stock school books as well, but they dont offer discounts). Sapna Book House is close to Majestic and KempeGowda terminus, it's just a 5-8 minute walk, you need to ask people for Tribhuvan Theater, the store is just beside, it's easily spottable since you will find lots of youngsters making their way to the shop. (PS: Gangarams and Sapna offer discounts for college books, not sure about school)

Aside: For novels/fiction, the preferred place is Premier Book Shop, its on a tiny lane called Church Street, just around Bishop Cottons on St.Marks Road - its a good repository of 2nd hand books for cheap rates. Of course, its not like Bombay's Flora Fountain where u can grab a dozen books for Rs.40 or Rs.50 depending on your bargaining power

Thanx for the info on book shops, I'll peep into gangaram and sapna book shop on my next visit to India.

[nirosha sen]

That was news, Tomato, abt Indian International schools in S'pore! Why do you find them snobbish???? Aren't most of them kids of Indian expats themselves????

I'm curious abt your son's education in S'pore. Isn't it easier to enrol him in a S'porean school where it's fully English medium???? Don't Indian schools accept kids, transferred from a Singaporean school???!!