“Catching them young” is the new mantra when it comes to education, with educational institutions realising the importance of moulding children in their formative years. Increasingly, engineering colleges and deemed universities have started setting up schools as a step towards better education. Recently, the Hindustan Group of Institutions (HGI) opened a CBSE school on the KCG College of Technology campus. “Over the years, we have seen a lot of gaps in the skill-sets of students who come in for engineering. Rather than attempting to fill these gaps in four years, we decided to start earlier,” Annie Jacob, director, Hindustan International School and HGI said.
“Understanding of mathematics and science is an important facet of education. Communication skills and other soft skills also cannot be taught in a year or two of college education. Our schools will train students in these skills, so engineering and other higher education is easy for them,” she added.
Almost all the schools started by these higher education institutions offer either CBSE or international curriculum. According to P. Venkatesh Raja, director, S.A. Engineering college, which runs the Surdharsanam Vidhyaashram on their campus, the choice was because the CBSE curriculum was more geared towards professional education. “Students who come in from CBSE schools tend to understand concepts better,” he felt.
Students from these schools linked to higher education institutions often have the advantage of access.
“Many of these schools are on the college campus, and being linked to engineering colleges, they tend to have better lab facilities,” K.R. Maalathi, CEO, Auuro Educational Services, said.
In many colleges, however, these schools function more as feeder schools, with students from the school given the option of joining the college even with a lower cut-off, experts say.
“Unless there is a focus on good education, joining these schools linked to engineering colleges will not make much of a difference,” she added.
Higher education institutions are aiming to catch students young so that their mathematics and science skills improve
