Open / Pvt. Schooling - Primary & Middle School / 1st - 7th Std. / CBSE & ICSE Curriculum

Literally-speaking, "Open Learning" is defined as a method that allows learners/students the flexibility & choice over where, when, how and at what pace the children learn, whatever they wish to learn.
This format was designed essentially to help such students who could not pursue regular school classes for various personal, family & financial reasons, and who in later years, desirous of picking up qualifications (Certificates, Degrees & Diplomas), could opt for enrolling in a course of their choosing.

With the objective of providing comprehensive development of/for children, the NORMAL SCHOOL SYSTEM works on TWO AREAS of students' development :
> FIRSTLY, the ACADEMICS as per
• a "structured", fixed curriculum,
• in a scheduled framework, &
• fixed time-table of studies.
> SECONDLY, the "CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES", comprising of -
• Physical training (PT) classes/Yoga (optional), etc,
• Outdoor Sports,
• Music /Fine Arts/ other Hobby classes, etc.
So UNLIKE REGULAR SCHOOLS, OPEN SCHOOLS FOCUS ONLY ON ACADEMICS, & not on the Co - Curricular activities front.

> Though the concept of Normal Schooling was/is very scientific and well laid-down, it's a pity that unlike till a few decades ago, where the teacher : student ratio was a reasonably good one, with teachers truly (both in letter & spirit) focussing on the quality of their interaction with each of their students in their classes, the pressure of HIGH CLASS STRENGTHS (45-50 students per class), in the last few decades, has forced the teachers' focus primarily towards "finishing the syllabus", and thus NOT BEING ABLE TO GIVE INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION TO A LOT OF STUDENTS.
> As a result, students not being able to comprehend certain/most portions of the Curriculum, eventually get "left behind".
> The fallout is that with the rat-race having built up enormously, both for select graduate courses & also careers getting extremely competitive, parents enrol students in After-school tuition classes, with the motive of securing higher competitive-range marks.(And strangely not on "conceptual" learning !!).
> Unfortunately, this not only exerts further academic pressure on the children, but more often than not, a lot of professional tutorials ironically, ALSO RUN THEIR CLASSES WITH A LARGE CLASS STRENGTH THEMSELVES, and INSTEAD OF WORKING ON CONCEPTS , focus on "Select old Question Papers pattern", with the motive of getting the student to secure high competitive marks.
> As such, the objective of students opting to join tuition classes, is in effect not solved one little bit, and the root problem continues. > SO THE QUESTION THAT ARISES IS THAT :
• If the children are unable to get their "due attention" at school in understanding of the various subjects on the one hand...
• And the so-called professional tutorial classes also operating with large student strengths themselves, on the other hand...
WHAT GOOD IS IT DOING TO THE STUDENTS, even after spending extra time at the tuition classes, which they could have spent instead on areas of their games or hobbies of interest ?
THIS IS WHERE THE LITTLE PRODIGIES PHILOSOPHY iS DIFFERENT (See in point no 4 below).

Having analysed the above prevailing lacunae in our Education system, the LITTLE PRODIGIES Model works like this :
> COMING TO THE CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FIRST, in the current social environment, almost all neighbourhoods/societies, have a lot of professionals specializing in various fields, running After-School Activities classes/practical sessions in areas like Fine Arts, Instrumental & Vocal Music, Chess, Various Dance Forms (both classical & modern), Martial Arts, Skating, etc. (The Little Prodigies too has tie-ups with highly experienced professionals to conduct evening classes in such disciplines at the School premises itself).
As such, students can enrol in any of these classes in their neighbourhood (or at Li'l Prodigies) in the evening hours, AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SUCH CLASSES AT REGULAR SCHOOL, & THUS NOT MISS OUT on this aspect of their development process.
> Now COMING BACK TO THE MAIN LEARNING POINT - "ACADEMICS", the TRUE meaning of "EDUCATION" lies in STUDENTS being GUIDED into FOCUSSING ON acquiring "APPLICABLE" Knowledge and ANALYTICAL SKILLS and a STRONG SET OF VALUES & PERSONALITY - the Why's/how's/where's/when's - leading to LOGICAL LEARNING, instead of placing the acquiring of high marks & Certificates as their Primary objective.
(The Marks & Certificates in this context therefore, should be a BY- PRODUCT of the students' self - development process and not the other way round !!!)
As such, the LITTLE PRODIGIES CONCEPT / MODEL OF "OPEN SCHOOLING , while focussing on the Normal School Pattern wrt :
> FIXED TIMINGS (to inculcate respect for Time in students)
> Also adopts the CBSE/ICSE SYLLABII ...
> BUT with a STRENGTH OF MAXIMUM 15 STUDENTS ONLY PER CLASS ,
> thus enabling it's experienced teachers to devote PERSONAL ATTENTION TO EACH STUDENT's "COMPREHENSION" of the various subjects.
The emphasis is first on "learning" & not on securing high marks Only, which in any case will happen on its own if the students understand the Concepts, instead of rote-learning only.
THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF THIS PRODIGIES MODEL are listed above as well, in a point-wise manner.

Any School follows two basic criteria for admissions :
A) AGE APPROPRIATENESS - Eg , the requirement for class 6th admission is that the child should be 12 yrs old / for class 7th - 13 yrs old & so on... Thus, this point is not an issue..
B) The next & really important point that the schools would rightfully like to assess is whether the Child is fully knowledgeable of the syllabus of the class preceding the class in which admission is being sought ? (So that he does not lag behind in the class he wishes to join).
Now, since at Little Prodigies children would have really done well academically, having learnt the concepts properly in a small class of max 15 students only, there is no rational reason why they will not fare exceedingly better in the ELIGIBILITY/ENTRANCE TEST that the school would like them to take.
In the above context, such students will be fully eligible to take admissions in any Regular High School.