Student to Student: From India to Ireland...

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SERIES

Young people deserve to hear from the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of other young people.

I believe we can learn from each other and help each other as we navigate the Irish education system.

I aim to draw from as many points of view as possible, making sure this advice is relevant to as many different students as possible.

The articles over these 10 weeks will look at study skills, career route options, Leaving Cert reflections, school experiences, and so on.

ABOUT AKSHITA

Akshita Gupta is in Transition Year. This piece is about the contrast between her two school experiences.

In her own words, this “is a little story of my journey as a 14-year-old Indian navigating through a completely new and different education system when I moved to Ireland two years ago”.

“When I look back at 2021, I always wonder how I was able to get through the massive change.” she said.

“In the end, the move taught me a lot of things, not just in education but also built my interpersonal skills because I had to start over everything at the age of 14.

“Shifting from old to new learning habits, making new friends, settling into a completely different culture, and most importantly I learnt how to have an open mindset!

“Back in India, the education system is a very strict and advanced one. For some perspective… what we learn here in 3rd year is taught in 1st year in India. The competition is way higher and most students tend to be very academically focused.

Many of you would think that the move would have been very easy for me because of the impression that I moved from a “harder education system to an easier one”... but here’s what actually struck me about Irish education.

“Let’s take English, for example. In India, the exam is divided into literature, grammar, unseen passages and creative writing. But in the entire exam, the only section where you get to write your own thoughts/ opinions is the creative writing section. The rest are all based on your capacity to learn. And that’s why scoring a distinction is a trivial thing in India!

“But when I came here and got an insight into how languages are taught here, I was blown away! I got to experience how a language should be learnt authentically, and it’s not about how much you can learn but how much you can express yourself in English! It opened my mind to create my own thoughts and ideas which would have never happened in any subject in India.”

Akshita compared the two school experiences.

“I am immensely patriotic and deeply passionate for my country, but I am also extremely critical of our education system in India. It undoubtedly teaches students to be hard-working but it never teaches them to be better thinkers!”

On the other hand, she seemed to much prefer the Irish equivalent - whilst of course being aware of its flaws.

The Irish education system is definitely not a perfect one but it gave me the skills of problem-solving and the ability to express my own opinions.

“This might seem like not a big deal to people born and brought up in Ireland. But, through this story… I urge you all to take a moment and reflect on education in Ireland.”

Although I too complain about the rigid side of the Irish education system, I definitely feel more grateful for the level of freedom and individuality that we are afforded as students here.

Her advice to any students moving to Ireland from another school system is interesting to hear, even as someone who grew up here.

“The change was indeed the toughest thing I have experienced in my life so far... but it truly defined who I am.”

Her message to all the students who have experienced this change themselves is: “Trust me, you got this! Just be open to new experiences and learn your way through it.”

Here is one of Akshita’s favourite quotes, and a wonderful note to end this piece, along with the Student to Student series on:

“Education is not the learning of facts, rather the training of the mind to think” - Albert Einstein

I hope you have enjoyed and found the Student to Student series interesting and helpful. Best of luck to all students facing the school year ahead.

You can catch up on the entire Student to Student series online at EchoLive.ie