Toddlers learn social graces and sophisticated airs in Calcutta to remain competitive

Youngsters with Raksha Kalla at Young Ones: learning to balance food on a forkRitu Parikh is just three. She can't tie her shoelaces but she knows all . the finer points of table manners. Or almost all. She recently asked for a knife and fork to drink a glass of milk. Ritwik Bose is even younger. The toddler has just learnt to talk. Yet he can-already recite convoluted Sanskrit verses.All the wild, spontaneous energy of childhood is becoming a thing of the past for youngsters in Calcutta. Ritu and Ritwik are tiny tots of the brave new generation who attend classes to learn etiquette and public speaking. The past two years have seen a mushrooming of such tutorials that prepare children at a tender age for the new highly competitive world. Although parents believe this is the way to "develop" children, psychologists such as Ranjana Mitra beg to differ. "Perhaps they want their children to have a bit of Amitabh Bachchan's smartness, the modulated demureness of Madhubala and the IQ of Einstein all rolled into one," she says sarcastically.Tutors are cashing in on the aspirations of ambitious parents. All classes, conducted in drawing rooms or garages, are full. Raksha Kalla and Neha Kampani, who began their business after graduating, have over 20 children coming home in central Calcutta three times a week. The monthly fee for each child is Rs 500 upwards.One reason parents will spend that kind of money is because admission to prestigious schools such as St Xavier's and Don Bosco is becoming tougher every day. Pratt Memorial School, for instance, received thousands of applications this year for a mere 100 places. Tutorials reassure parents by making them feel they have done everything possible. The acquired skills are considered useful 'extras' at admission time.School-going children are also admitted into tutorials to help them compete better in class. Sujit Banerji, whose five-year-old son Prashant takes tuition, explains: "No matter how much I dislike over-burdening my child, he has to keep up with his classmates." Rajeev Nanavati, a businessman, sends his son to a tutorial "because others also send their children".Rushing from school to tutorials, children have little time for play. They are pressurised not only to do well at school but also assume the mature, sophisticated air of adults. Meghna Gilani, 4, is the best - or worst - example. She is a star at social gatherings, politely wishing everybody "Good morning" or "Good afternoon", taking measured sips from her soft drink, and eating with anything but her hands. Her mother, Hasmita, beams: "She outshines all the others."The constant drill of 'you must do this, you can't do that' must wear down a child's spirit. At Anuradha Somani's classes, held at her Alipore apartment, around 20 children are taught to eat noodles with a spoon and fork. The allure of the hot steaming stuff is too much for some youngsters who attack it with their fingers. But they are ordered to pick up the noodles with a fork and eat without making a sound. The joy of eating becomes an ordeal. When it's over, they place the fork on the plate in the correct position.But it is the competitive spirit instilled into the children that alarms some people. "It is almost as if they are being tutored for professional courses like MBBS," admits Champa Bose, who runs Humpty-Dumpty for toddlers in the Salt Lake area. The consequences of children aping adults too early could be grave, warns Dr Bappaditya Deb, a psychiatrist attached to the R.G. Kar Medical College. "Children resemble an automobile assembly line,'' he says. With tuitions replacing the child's self-motivated learning process, confusion sets in. Either the child becomes submissive or rebellious. Deb also believes children who speak too early run the risk of burn-out in their twenties.But few parents care as they prepare their children to face the social jungle. It was Bertrand Russell who described how the British behaved towards children: "Whatever the child does is wrong. He must not talk, he must not fidget, he must not roll down a grassy park. The only thing he may do without getting into trouble is to sit still and wish he were dead." In the rush to control their bodies and refine their personalities, no one seems to have given a thought to the state of the Child's SOul.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 31, 2012 15:37 IST--- ENDS ---

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Toddlers learn social graces and sophisticated airs in Calcutta to remain competitive

Tutotials teaching children how to take on a highly competitive world are mushrooming in the city

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