Alok and Rakhi were in the middle of a heated discussion when I dropped in on them recently. The subject was the virtues or otherwise of boarding school. Their son Vir had been registered at birth at the same public school that Alok had attended. At that stage Rakhi had no strong feelings on the subject and had gone along with Alok. But the day of reckoning had arrived. Vir was now at the age where a decision had to be made, and Rakhi found herself violently against the idea of sending him away. Predictably, Alok felt equally vehemently about the advantages boarding school offered. He was convinced that only his old school could give Vir the all- round education that he deserved.

?Why should Vir go away?? Rakhi demanded to know. ?We can give him all the education he needs right here!?

?Don?t talk nonsense,? countered Alok. ?Can you provide Vir with all the games and other activities that he would get at boarding school??

?What does it matter if he doesn?t play team games?? replied Rakhi hotly. ?We can always arrange for tennis coaching, and this would be far more useful to him as an adult rather than your stupid football and hockey.?

?And what about learning to be independent?? asked Alok angrily.

?And what about staying close to the family?? asked Rakhi, equally angrily. And so it went on.

I sympathised with Rakhi. No mother can bear to see her child leave home. But this was only a part of it. Boarding school, despite all the advantages it offers over day school, reduces the influence of the home just when a child is at an impressionable age. While a child may stay close to his parents and siblings, his ties with the extended family are weakened, his ?biradari? becoming not his cousins and uncles and aunts, but his schoolmates.

But I feel a more serious criticism of the boarding or public school system is that every child is cast in the same mould, with little or no scope for the expression of individuality or originality. With every minute of the day carefully orchestrated, the greatest deprivation a public school boy suffers is lack of time ? a lack of time in which to flower and develop in any but the accepted and stipulated way. For example, music may feature prominently in the school activities, but can a boy whose passion is the sitar concentrate on this to the exclusion of say, football? Even if the school made special arrangements, would the child escape the scorn of his peers?

It seems to me that the boarding school culture, admittedly of necessity, does nothing other than skim the surface of a well-rounded education. This is probably true of all schools, but in the case of a day school, however mediocre it is, the home can make up any lack. My vote would go to Rakhi, but how many fathers would agree?