Mar 6, 2011

Backs to the Future

The other day Harsh pointed out the immense increase in the numbers of pre-schools (and nurseries, unless they are all the same), measured purely by the number of vehicles carrying children to these pre-schools. This was further underlined by an ad in the ToI for an exhibition on pre-schools.

That's right. A pre-school Expo (termed "Future Kids" - which seems wrong. The kids are already present, aren't they?). Cars, real estate, pots and pans, handlooms, and even plant fibre have had such shows dedicated to them. But this is the first time I've heard of a pre-school expo.

Of course, children are going out of the house much earlier than their parents used to (some of their grandparents never even left the house). I'm sure that as a result, they will grow up to be better informed and more socially confident than us (err, than me). Kind of Virat Kohli vs. Venkatapathy Raju. There's no contest, really.

Calculating using the current rate of acceleration, by 2030, pre-schools will also begin offering IIT-JEE coaching. It's not that absurd - this is the land of Abhimanyu after all, and perhaps Kota's famed coaching classes will have auxiliary maternity rooms where the immortal words of Halliday and Resnick will echo throughout the day.

And remember kids, unlike in Abhimanyu's case, the answers to equations involving concentric circles will be available at the end of the book.

4 comments:

Aadinath said...

One of the large (=rich) and popular educational trusts in the city has recently begun its own pre-school. They already run a high-school and an engineering college. They are planning a Medical college facility next. Perhaps in a few years, they can offer a complete maternity to degree package. Of course, early birds get the special JEE discount.

J Ramanand said...

Cradle to Grave. Scary!

preeti said...

Small town India is not far behind either. A 'couching' class in Chhattisgarh is doing just that. "Std 3 to IITJEE and all other competitive exams." They have all bases covered. But, in this case, I came away with a sense of optimism about what that town was trying hard to achieve considering the circumstances in which they lead their lives.

J Ramanand said...

Preeti: that's interesting. I wouldn't joke about them though :-)