Mum: Parents burden; school orders iPads for children

Mumbai, Dec 14: Podar International school in Santacruz has decided to introduce iPads for middle and high school students from the next academic year. The school administration has asked 840 students to buy iPads.

Some parents have accepted the move whereas others feel that Steve Job's fancy tablet is not feasible for children.

The school circular states, "We are pleased to announce that the decision taken by the school management of using Apple iPad2 in the classroom by the students has been welcomed by the parent community. Parents now have the choice of either purchasing the iPad2 from the school on an outright basis or avail of a finance scheme on offer. You also need to indicate if the iPad2 will be purchased by you on your own. You are requested to mark your choice... to take further steps to initiate the process and negotiate the bulk order purchase."

"I was a student once and I know what education is. If you change the syllabus, that is digestible. But if you change the system with some weird logic, it is problematic. I want my kid to follow the existing method of education that millions in this country are following, and setting a benchmark for others. I am not against the use of iPad. But I do no find it feasible for my kid," said K Mahesh (name changed), parent of a student.

Sushma Shah (name changed), another parent said that, "I use an iPad and I know how difficult it is to handle."

"After observing how gadget-savvy students have become and how they are familiar with iPads, I took the initiative to introduce the iPad2. It will help students to retain the content. They can download as many textbooks as they want. Further, a research by a laptop manufacturing company concluded that more use of technology has improved the performance of students in subjects like Biology, Chemistry, History, and Earth Science," said Vandana Lulla, Director of Podar International School.

Vandana explained the reason behind her decision to introduce iPads - "One, we have a parent working for Apple and, two, the iPad2 has the best applications. We moved from blackboards to interactive boards and from there to laptops and now, it is the iPad2.

"The games application will be blocked in school when a child enters with the iPad2. After we took the decision to bring in the iPad2 earlier this year, we provided training to all our teachers, including me.

"There are only 5-10 per cent of parents who do not want the iPad2. It is not mandatory and children of parents who do not buy it can learn from interactive boards," she added.

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