Never Go To A Boarding School

A few of my hostel mates and friends...Taken in 1997

By 1997 November I changed school from AMHS Kalaketty to St.Joseph`s Neeloor,40 kms away from home.I was admitted to the boarding because my parents and relatives thought boarding life will change me wholly.
There,even if I had lot of friends ,it felt like something worse than a jail.
No freedom,u can`t talk,u can`t watch movies.....I was fed up.Only studying and praying...What a boring life...There is no contact with the outside world.You are confined inside the 4 walls of the boarding.Your world is within this 4 walls.
I have known how bad the environment there is for a child`s growth.Children learn from their parents and from their surroundings.If they live in a boarding,from whom is the child going to learn?From his friends only..Who is there to point him what is right and what is wrong?
Let the children live with their parents.It is parents` duty to bring up their children;not of some nun or a priest.
Boarding schools are never `HOME AWAY FROM HOME`...They are all
``JAILS AWAY FROM HOMES``...!!
Even jail is better than a boarding ....
To send a child to a boarding is like ``keeping a butterfly in a cage...``
So soon, just after one month,I left the boarding to become a day schooler.I travelled the 40+ kms to school by bus..To reach school in time I had to start early as 6:15 AM and walked 3 kms to catch the bus.Travelling took 2+ hours to school itself.But I enjoyed it.The early morning walk,the journey by bus through the mountains that are covered in the mist....For three years I went to school like this.