Sheebani Chothani (15) has been a topper since she was in class I of Mumba’s highly rated Bombay Scottish School. Not surprisingly last summer she was awarded a scholarship” open to all school students in India” by the British Council to attend school in Britain for a month. “The council awarded five scholarships last year including two for children with physical disabilities. The scholarships were announced in school and I applied,” says Sheebani. To qualify, applicants had to write an essay on the subject “Why you think you deserve to win this scholarship?” followed by a round of interviews with officials of the British Council.

Last June Sheebani attended class at the Farringtons & Stradford House School in Kent, UK, for a month. The objective of this British Council sponsored programme is to provide students from all over the world exposure to each other and the education system in Britain. Making a comparative assessment of the secondary school (CISCE) system in India, Sheebani believes that the syllabus and curriculums are more liberal in Britain. “You get a wider and more flexible choice of subjects and if you find that you are not up to scratch in one of them, you can drop a standard lower. Academically the CISCE syllabus is as good as the GCSE syllabus at Farringtons & Stradford House. Ditto for the curriculum. It is just sad that in India there’s less encouragement for sports education even if you are really good at it.”

Sheebani’s lament about discouragement of extra-curricular activities is understandable. An active footballer until class VII, she is currently a member of Bombay Scottish’s under-16 throwball team. She is also a Kathak dancer and draws and paints as well.

Encouraged by her parents Beena and Pandey Chothani (both architects), Sheebani has set her sights on reading science at the collegiate level, acquiring an IIT degree and rounding it off with an IIM diploma. Judging by her track record, she is unlikely to stop short of her goal.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)