A new report states migrant children from India are doing better at school than Australia-born kids.
According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), children from India, the Philippines and China are outperforming their Australian-born classmates by significant margins.
The report, “The Resilience of Students with an Immigrant Background” that looked at the literacy, numeracy, and science performance of students in 72 countries, ranked Australia seventh in the world for the academic performance of migrant students.
Singapore ranked first, Macao and Hong Kong in China ranked second and third respectively.
In Australia, migrant children from India, the Phillippines and China performed well academically while those who came from England, New Zealand and Scotland were less likely to achieve baseline academic proficiency than the children of native-born parents.
The 2017 NAPLAN National Report revealed that children who spoke a language other than English were outperforming native English speakers in spelling in some states.
The OECD report found the likelihood that migrant children would be academically, socially and emotionally resilient depended on the nation they came from, and the country in which they settled.
Good education for children is often a high priority for Indian migrants when they choose to migrate to Australia.
Sydney-based Gaurav Wadekar had left Australia and moved back to India to be closer to his family. But within couple of years, the family decided to move back to Australia for their children.
“Education is very important for us. And we moved back for our girls. We wanted to bring up our kids in an environment where there was overall development. Not just textual and theoretical learning but also practical knowledge. We feel there is a lot of pressure in India and we wanted to bring them out of that pressure-cooker environment,” he says.
He adds the OECD report doesn’t surprise him.
“I think when you are a migrant you tend to put in an extra effort. We all put in more effort to fit in when we come here. I guess we instill the same values in our kids and when they put it in extra effort and do it sincerely, kids perform better. I think it is this extra effort and their sincerity which results in their good results."
Darwin-based Dr Monani Devaki, a lecturer in Social Work at Charles Darwin University and a parent of a four-year-old girl, says, "I think the credit goes to parents. They are alert. They encourage their kids to learn and provide them with resources. In India, it starts early at 2.5 years. Here it is a bit later.
"So most of us who have come from India, we start early. We voluntarily teach them how to read and write before they do it at school. So i personally feel it gives them a head start at school and that carries on."
