Don't be a dinosaur!

Failure to change with the times is making some of the best educational institutions of yesteryear lose their sheen

When we were growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, it was common for many girls to study in what we then called convents. The Convent of Jesus and Mary (CJM), Loreto Convent (LC) and Carmel Convent were three well-known and respected institutions in Delhi. Boys were often sent to St. Columba’s, St. Xavier’s and Mount St Mary’s. Mumbai too had its own counterparts — Cathedral & John Connon, Queen Mary, Campion, branches of CJM and Loreto and Don Bosco to name a few.

But no matter which school you attended, St Stephen’s College in Delhi and Xavier’s College in Mumbai were quite the place to be. By and large, both institutions were the first choice for any student who finished their board examinations and were headed to college. 

But close to 30 years later, I find things have changed rather dramatically. Hardly anyone I know aspires to send their children to any of the schools I mention above. How many of you know children currently studying in St. Columba’s or Loreto Convent in Delhi? CJM? Be it Delhi or Mumbai, the old names have been relegated to the backbenches. 

In a certain set, the only names one hears of today are Sanskriti, Vasant Valley, The Shri Ram School, The British School and even The American Embassy School. These are considered “the” places to be. Those who fail to make it to what is considered the A list go to Modern School (slipped down from being in the A list back then), DPS and Step by Step, to name a few.

In Mumbai, where fewer new schools have been added, Bombay Scottish, Bombay International and Cathedral still figure quite high in the list. A new aspirational addition has been Dhirubhai Ambani International School but many more wealthy Indian parents send their wards to the American, German and French schools in the city and even overseas to United World College, Singapore.

The college scenario too has changed drastically. Almost anyone who can comfortably afford it heads out of the country after school, mainly to the US to pursue an undergraduate usually funded by parents. This holds true for both science and engineering fields and for the humanities. 

But even those who stay back seem less and less enamoured with St Stephen’s and St Xavier’s. Why has this happened? What has led to the decline of these Christian institutions — be it at the school or college level — that were once considered absolutely the best. I asked a few alumni and some academicians and here’s what they had to say. 

One, they all argue that these institutions have simply refused to change with the times. For instance, I was horrified to learn that St Stephen’s has failed to add any kind of liberal arts programme to its offerings. This at a time when several new private options like Symbiosis and Flame in Pune and Ashoka in Sonepat, offering a credible liberal arts degree, have sprung up. Why wouldn’t a St. Stephen’s manage to introduce a similar course and do a better job of it than the newbies?

In times as politically charged as today, I learnt to my surprise that St Stephen’s doesn’t even offer a degree in political science. In fact, the courses on offer were pretty much what they were 30 years ago when we went to college.

A former Xavier’s student told me that he recently visited the college to speak at a function and was amazed to find how little had changed. To repeat his words: “Everything seemed at a stand-still and set in stone”. While there’s something to be said for consistency, it’s alarming if an educational institution appears to be unchanged for three decades. Almost all the alumni were of the view that these institutions have failed to invest in their faculty.

The same holds for the schools. The philosophy, content, delivery and ethos in these convent schools has remained stubbornly unchanged. Coupled with this is the fact that many parents no longer see any advantages in keeping the two sexes apart: When the world comprises both men and women, learning to deal with them from the word go makes more sense than them being suddenly thrust in your face.

A more worrying factor has been the decline of these Christian institutions that has set in primarily after they reserved a large percentage of their seats for their own community. This has ensured that many students who fail to make it on merit get admission, resulting in both a drop in the quality of minds that are entering and subsequently leaving the institution and a reduction in diversity. 

None of these moves bode well for the institutions. Reserving seats, refusal to let go of traditions and teaching styles that have long outlived their utility and a failure to change with the times are ensuring that these institutions lose their edge. It’s a heavy price to pay.