NRIs play an important role - be it the economy or the image of India in the outside world, to name just two. I still clearly remember the first time when I went to Jakarta, in 1996 where my husband’s secretary asked me very innocently, “Do Indians always run around bushes and sing songs when they are happy?” It surprised me that people have a very filmy opinion about the Indian lifestyle. Just as we look at aping the West, Indonesians actually look up to Indians. Hard to believe isn’t it? Bollywood movies, music, bindis and tandooris are all well-known! NRIs are respected for their brains and brawns. Just as Indians (residing in India) look for foreign brands here, as NRIs we craved for Indian stuff and actually traveled hundreds of kms to get them! Nike, Reebok, Pepe, Subway, Barista, name it and you get them all in every metro of the country today. Now that the market is flooded with exported goods customs notified shops are losing their importance because of the surplus available. Coming to the education front Cambridge was once affordable only if you belonged to the Nehru clan, but now the international schools are offering IGCSE curriculum that hones the skills and makes the child an all rounder. When India has so much to offer how can the NRIs sit back and resist? Many reputed schools in the city today are flooded with NRI s returning in search of education. Whilst some attribute their comeback to growing career opportunities, some say they are coming back to show their children their roots. Well, whatever the reason might  be, many Indians seem to be happy to settle down here. The Career Guide interacted with many NRI s (once known as Non Returning Indians) in the city to find out  why the trend has reversed.

Interestingly enough among those who are coming back to their motherland many NRIs plan to return after schooling, graduation etc., and fly back to Foreign Universities with their citizenship as entry into foreign universities is easier (assured) for them.

Hema Surapaneni, an IB teacher in the Oakridge International School has a lot to share with us on this matter.          
On the driving factor behind the comeback..
The driving factor other than money could possibly be ‘good standards of living’, more opportunities to choose both in education and career, quality life style.
Application based , not just rote learning..
Education system abroad is good as they have hands-on activities but lack in certain values and skills that make up for the all round development in a child. Hence though the Indian education system is not activity based, it helps in inculcating certain values, ethics and morals in a student to a great extent. Some of the NRI parents often express this point, while comparing both the systems of education.
 On curriculum...
Anything that is new and novel is always a thing of attraction to our Indians and so some of our parents and students get attracted to these boards even without knowing what they have taken up. They have no clue as what it would lead to. Some of them who are aware of it are happy to take it as it would provide a base to get to abroad universities and colleges. For some, it is a prestigious issue to boast about their schooling and the board they are studying in.
Burdened with bags and books...
I do support the fact that a child should enjoy the process of learning and hence it is very important that his early years of schooling should be joyous like in the US and the other European countries but the curriculum should be balanced in such a way that it need not get burdensome in the higher classes. Most of the topics are repeated in every class in India that gets boring and difficult. (For example in science- Universe, Light, Sound, electricity, magnetism, environmental issues, photosynthesis, human body and its systems, etc). The topics can be dealt every alternate year and many hands on activities can be introduced in the curriculum so that learning can be fun and at the same time they don’t feel the difficulty of comprehending the concepts. In the US and other countries, there are many high school drop outs and in Indian system, due to monotony and pressure of education, the students under go a lot of stress. A balance should be struck in both the systems in the process of learning.
On ‘Concept Schools’...
‘Concept school ‘, is a new term to attract the enthusiastic parents in the market of education and taking them for a good ride. A concept school needs to be equipped with huge amount of resources (human as well as other educational)and competent teaching/facilitating faculty and good infrastructure. I see that the concept schools in India are promising too many things to the parents but are no where close to even working at it.
Robots or Thinking Machines?
It is horrifying to see the photostat machines we are producing in India in the name of tutorials and round the clock studies. We, in India, need to be in the process of making more number of “thinking machines”.
Acclimatizing....
A child from the US gets easily adapted like a fish that  takes to the water .Oakridge has the environment that is more or less similar to the schools abroad. But a child going to the other schools in the city face a lot of problems like being ridiculed for his American accent, the schools here not having the concept of clean and hygienic rest rooms, not having lockers for each student, absence of the spirit of socializing with their seniors and juniors, availability of computers and access to the internet, methodology of teaching, non friendly approach of the student to his teacher, etc.
On learning the local language...
It is not mandatory to learn the language of the state the child is studying in but if it happens to be the mother tongue of the child then it might help.
Spotrs et al...
Extra curricular activities in schools and colleges should be made mandatory for the all round personality development.
Snobbish?
I do agree that the NRI kids have an attitude problem and they are not very disciplined to a great extent as the parents in the US give too much of freedom to the children in every aspect with out making them aware of their limits. The child is too independent and develops an attitude. Though it may not be true in some cases where the parents spend a lot of time with their children teaching them about the Indian culture, traditions and values. Hence the behaviour of a child reflects the family he comes from. Here in India , we are encountering many indisciplined children with peculiar attitude and recklessness.