School hostel-Need or compulsion

Our country has the tradition of having Gurukuls where the children from all families would go and get education for life.Even the kings` and Shanshss` children were sent to the Gurus and Maulvis to learn the lessons of life. Gurukuls used to be away from the cities where the pupil were supposed to remain cut off from the general public.They were not only taught academics but also other life skills. There are many examples in the ancient books in which the all children were treated at par and they used to almost everything all by themselves. There were no helpers for anything and everything was to be done by them only. Whether it was to collect the wood or things required to cook food the responsibility was on the children.The wife of the Guru was addressed as Guru Maa, meaning thereby that she was treated as the mother of the pupil. Then over a period of time the gurukuls changed to 'Paathshalas' and education became more formal and structured.When the British empire took over the reins of the country they found it difficult to get their children educated along with other children. Also the weather conditions of the country were such that they thought of setting residential schools at the places which were climatically favourable and away from the approach of the common people. You may find many such schools functioning even today. The Indian people also realised the importance of education and the industrialist like G.D Birla Ji  thought of setting up schools for the benefit of the common people of the country and many more followed.Now there are a number of boarding schools which have come up in the last few decades. Some are within the reach of the common people and many are for a particular class.
Here we can try to analyse the need and importance of the residential schools. In the ancient time these were deliberately set up in the form of Gurkuls because the parents really wanted their children to be acquainted with all the facets of the life and not only the lavish life full of comforts they would enjoy at home. Later on new boarding school were opened because smaller places either did not have any schools or the quality of the schools was not good. The children were sent away for the sake of quality education. A time came when there were many schools available in the neighbourhood but still the children were sent to boarding schools and the main reason was that the families were big and due to that some children were drifting away from disciplined life so they were sent to hostel to  learn a disciplined life. This is true upto some extent even as on  today. Though this is not the only reason for the parents to send their children to boarding schools but the quality of education is a serious concern. Another serious factor is that many children are exposed to so many facilities at home that they rarely learn the importance of the hard work put in by the parents to achieve those things.
The exposure to TV and advertisements tempt the children and add to this misery and menace. The routine of the parents is such that the children go to sleep after 11 pm and they have to go to school early in the morning ,they hardly get sound and proper sleep. For parents it might be all right because they can afford to get up late.It has been observed that many children do not take the most important part of diet i.e; a proper breakfast  and at times do not get time for their routine jobs  because they are forced by the parents to get ready for the school otherwise they will be late for the school. If the children come in this state of mind ,will they be able to concentrate and learn what the teachers would be teaching? Other important factor is that the children are getting exposed to a lot of junk food which is not helping them to possess a sound mind and a healthy body .The companies which are promoting their  products should also realize this and take all measures to supply better food options as this is affecting the children of the cities more but now has started having its impact on smaller cities also. Somebody mentioned this fact which is ironical ,that in the villages milk is sold by the families to the dairy owners and soft drinks are served to the children.Though for such habits parents are to be held responsible and by the time they realise it the damage is already done.
Another problem  harming the children is lack of playgrounds in the neighbourhood and also in most of the schools. Consider a school which is built in one or two acres (In big cities you will find many of this size) how much play area is available. Even those schools where the play area is sufficient most of the children are not able to make use of that. There are two periods in a week which does not help the remain physically fit. To me this is imperative that if the children remain fit then only they will be able to do something for themselves , their family and the country.
 So, the residential schools have to play a significant role in making the children worthy and healthy citizen of the country. They are the ones who learn doing their work themselves and live disciplined life. They also learn to help each other and develop healthy food habits because there is no individual choice for anyone of them.
There may be some drawbacks of these schools but considering today`s situation advantages are more than disadvantages and the government has also realised the importance of residential schools that is why so many Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas were set up.Undoubtedly,an ideal school hostel that fulfills all the needs of its pupils becomes 'a home away from home' for them .

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