Holiday homework is getting just too stressful and complicated for students to do it themselves, or for that matter, for parents to get it together. From Class III students being told to make a model of the globe and human skeleton, and Class II being assigned to list the seven wonders of the world, countries and their capitals, to a Class V student being asked to design a recipe book and a Maths-in-Food crossword, vacations have become the last thing in the world the parents want. SHAlINI SAKSENA speaks to teachers and parents to fathom why summer holidays are no more fun and why tasks far removed from the curriculum are being assigned by schools
While children may not be too happy that summer vacations are over and it is back to school, parents have heaved a sigh of relief that their ward is back in school and the Damocles sword, in this case the holiday homework, hanging over their heads has been vanquished.
In fact, a parent whose child studies in a prestigious school in south Delhi says that she is better off if the school didn’t give summer vacations.
“I used to look forward to summer breaks. But this year, when I saw the 16-page holiday homework of my daughter who is in Class III, I wanted her to go back to school. I don’t understand why the school gave such complicated homework which no student of her age can do. What is the point if I do the assignment or outsource it to the homework professionalsIJ This year, my daughter besides the various questions and answers and Internet search-based projects, had to make big cutouts of animals from cardboard, colour them and stick them on a thick sheet. Even if my daughter could manage the drawings how would she have cut them out herselfIJ,” Anita Garg says.
Another parent had to draw five wild animals and colour them for his prep class son. “For a five-year-old, making a straight line is difficult, so how does the school expect him to draw big animalsIJ Even if I were to press him to draw it, it will not be neat and marks will be cut. I don’t want my child to feel his work is inferior so I made the drawings and coloured them,” Naveen Sharma, who works with an IT company in Gurgaon, tells you.
From working models of electricity, water and even energy globules to detailed cursive writing to high-end scrapbooks based on Google searches, parents are at their wits’ end trying to get over the stress of school assignments. But educationist Dr Shayama Chona insists that barring, may be a few unknown schools, no establishment in Delhi gives any holiday homework that is undoable, stressful for the child or has nothing to do with his or her creative personality development.
“Schools are giving holiday homework that is creative, imaginative and innovative. That can’t be all textual. Gone are the days when a student had to write the same thing 10 times. Today’s schools ensure that vacation work is fun and interesting. If there is any part of the work a child can’t do, the parents should approach the school and tell them so. Why do parents not come forward and tell the teacher or the school that a particular homework was difficult for the childIJ All good schools will take the feedback positively,” Chona says.
A working parent of a Class VII student tells you why parents are scared to complain. “I was aghast to see my son’s holiday homework for English. From the entire list of books from where he had to choose one to read and review, not a single was available in markets in south Delhi. We asked relatives to find one in north Delhi. Someone said, a shop in Amar Colony market was selling photocopies of one of the listed books. I rushed there and bought the book. But the print was so fine that my son refused to read it. In the end, I had to read some 160 pages and do what was required.
“I am a working mother. The last thing I want to do is go home and do my child’s holiday work. When I told other parents that we need to take this matter up with the school, they said: ‘What is the pointIJ The teacher will target my child, give him low grade and, anyways, the work is done’. I have no option but to keep silent on the matter as well,” lata Singh says. She had to spend Rs 2,000 on various projects her son had to do.
“I know of parents who have spent around Rs 8,000. I don’t have that kind of money. Anyways, why should I spend money on homework that has no bearing on the curriculum,” lata asks pertinently.
A mother of a tony school in Gurgaon agrees completely. She says, “Many a time I find that lazy teachers recycle undone Classwork as holiday homework which is not fair. And then, how can you so presumptuously assume that every family can go on a holiday. My daughter, who is in Class II, was told to go on a hill station holiday with parents, click pictures of the place and write about the flora and fauna of that area with, mind you, botanical names to everything!”
And if that is not enough, another mother of a new entrant in Delhi was so zapped by the holiday homework that she seriously contemplated returning to her small town for her son’s education. “I don’t know what is the logic behind so much holiday homework and exploring topics that have nothing or little to do with course books, like designing crosswords and recipe books,” Ritu, the harried mother of a Class V student, says. Other than the huge pressure of completing this work, there is also the issue of the high spend that these vacation homeworks entail. “We spent close to Rs 6,000 on the homework which was preposterous,” she adds.
The teachers, however, defend the assignments. “Most schools give homework a student can do on his own. We ensure that the work is light so that the child can enjoy the break. For example, this year we gave an integrated work around mango. So every work centred around it, whether it was Maths, Hindi or English. But this doesn’t mean that some schools give work that is tough and parents struggle with it,” a primary teacher with a prestigious school in the Capital tells you. Teachers say it is all a part of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation, an education system newly introduced by the CBSE. Innovative and out-of-the-box projects that schools are giving are part of the skill testing. And since the Board has allocated marks for these projects, it has become necessary that students submit them, they say. One is also told that some schools, in order to compete with each other, are coming up with tougher projects. Sometimes, parents complain that the project is not imaginative enough, a teacher said.
One ‘summer enrichment letter’ of a pre-primary student mentioned that the homework was meant to be pleasurable for the “entire family”. But the mother said, “It was a monstrous task the minute one opened the assignment attachment. It was difficult to comprehend what the various activities actually were. Something as bizarre as cut A-4 size newspapers and stick them with four parts of water and one part of Fevicol to make it into a paper mache! On this one had to stick pictures of the ward doing things himself. This was supposed to be a ‘responsibility wall’. While I appreciate the thought behind this, I don’t understand why the school could not make it less complicated by asking parents to post pictures on a cardboardIJ Then, there were other assignments which were meant solely for parents. We had to pen a story as told by the child on a booklet. And then to depict it pictorially. Not all parents are good at drawing. So, this task was tough for me,” Uttara Patnaik tells you.
Almost all parents question the premise behind holiday homework. There was a time when children visited their grandparents during summer breaks and many schools didn’t even give homework and even if they did, it was something the child could manage on his own. “When I was a student, I remember doing only one science project — I had to collect some 50 flowers and leaves, dry them, stick them in the scrap book and name them. Today, when I look at the homework children get, I thank God for letting me enjoy my summer vacations,” Anil Chopra says.
Chopra’s nephew is in Class IV and had to search the Internet and research on Malala Yousafzai and answer questions like ‘Why, where and how was Malala shot and who was responsible for her assassination attemptIJ What prizes has Malala been nominated forIJ Make a page for Malala with her date and place of birth, present residence, nationality, awards and book’s name. Though the homework is net-based and the information easy to access, Chopra wants to know why give work which requires Internet searchIJ
“Not everybody has a computer and Internet at home. There are many middle class parents who want their child to study in a good school but can’t afford too much extra curriculars. Where will their child go for this kind of homeworkIJ” he asks.
The specialists @ homework
With holiday homework becoming stressful and tough, parents have started outsourcing it to homework specialists. SHAlINI SAKSENA speaks to some who say that in the last few years the demand for them has doubled
There was a time when students, irrespective of what class they were in, did all their holiday homework themselves. They would spend hours pouring over newspapers to get information as there was no Internet. Also, parents insisted that the child do his own work. Today, things are different. There is competition and parents want their child to be a winner.
This is where homework specialists step in. At one point, these people only made models and typed for students in Classes X and above. Now, they are doing holiday homework even for nursery. “We get a lot of work where the child has to make a model. While the written work can be done by the student, it is the complicated projects which he can’t handle. A Class III student was asked to make a model of the solar system. A Class IV student was to make a physical model of the Taj Mahal in 3D, using gloss paper. This is something students can’t do. A Class IV student was given Algebra equations to solve. Though they were simple, where one was given the value of one variable and the value of the other had to be calculated, it was not easy for a newbie,” Vaibhav Attree of Homework Guru, a free online tutoring through chat and homework portal with its head office in the US, says.
He also tells you that the toughest project that came their way was a project given to a Class VI student. He had to make an entire project on acid rain — a full write-up with a working model. Not only this, he had to make a magazine with different articles, similar to monthly magazines in the market.
“We did all the project work and charged Rs 5,000. Otherwise we charge around Rs 2,000 for a single model. As for the write-ups, the price varies between Rs 350 and Rs 450. However, if the word count is less (sometimes the work involves writing a poem or jingles), we have freelancers who write for us at Rs 2.50 a word. Since we are an online portal, we get work from outside Delhi, like Bangalore,” Attree tells you.
Dhruv Mittal, a third year college student from Kirori Mal, earns approximately Rs 40,000 during the summer break doing holiday homework for others. “My work has doubled since last year. This year, the most complicated project I did was a model of a manometer, an instrument that uses a column of liquid to measure pressure,” Mittal tells you. For each completed project, he charges Rs 1,200. However, if the student just wants information, the charges are Rs 300. For a chart that he makes for Classes IX and above, the charges are Rs 500 and for lower classes it is Rs 350. “This is because for lower classes, the work need not be very neat. After all it should look as if it was done by a Class III or Class IV student,” Mittal who receives requests for holiday homework from Chennai and Bangalore, says.
And how does one match the hand writingIJ “I do all the creative work. But when it comes to writing, I ask parents to make the child write on his own. I give all the matter that has to be written. For example, if a chart has to be made, I stick the pictures etc. Then I make lines for the written matter like headline, which the student has to write on. The instructions on what to write are given on a separate piece of paper. It looks as if the student has done the work,” Mittal explains.
Another homework specialist who works with a company in Okhla says that the reason why the demand for experts is on the rise is because parents and students go out on holidays. Also, with both parents working, money is no longer an issue. “The fact that schools are also giving homework that boggles the mind is adding to the rise in demand for people like us,” Keerat Chadha who got a request to make a model of the globe and a human skeleton for a Class III student studying in the Capital, says.
And it is not just these individual experts who take the holiday homework money home. There are many stationery stores that take up entire assignments.
A local bookstore in Kalkaji gets so many orders that he has to turn down work. “We get at least 100 assignments on the first day of the summer break. This year, we ended up doing approximately 600 assignments and project for various classes starting from Class I to Class XII. We charge Rs 500 for just written matter and Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 for a model/project. We also get a lot of typing work for thesis so we can’t take too much work for school holiday homework like some other shops do. And yes, the homework is getting more and more complicated. It is no wonder that so much is being outsourced,” Pradeep Singh who did the most difficult project he got was of Class IV student who had to make a 3D model of any historical monument in India, tells you.