Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur (JPIS)

I give 0.1/10 because I graduated successfully, and I am still alive. Otherwise, I believe the experience was horrifying and a pure nightmare. I was an international student from Thailand that studied G9-12 from 2015-2019. Before JPIS, I studied in Shanghai, China for eight years (G1-G8). I had high expectations when I first entered the school. The castle, the green grass, everything seemed exciting and youthful. But what I didn't know was the immense challenge awaiting me. Hostel: The hostel rooms are alright. Just that during the colder days there were no hot water. In the hot summer, the Aircon doesn't work as well. There were insects, cockroaches and rats sometimes in the summer. The hostel parents were biased. Some girls were favored by them, so they could sneak food, mobile phones and gadgets around. Whereas initially in my first year, I could only be in contact with my parents once a week because of the restricted phone time. I feel this could be a strategy of isolating the child from their family. There was also an extreme madness about boys-girls contact or relations. Why is it so taboo to have an opposite gendered friend? Furthermore, one of the hostel parent was extremely unsupportive. When I really needed an emotional relief by hanging out at one of my friends' house for comfort, she wouldn't let me. Almost nothing was allowed. There were also verbal abuses and invasion of privacy. Children like me were not treated with care nor respect. Many become emotionally vulnerable. Some teachers occasionally drank and reek of alcohol. The teacher was respected and was supposed to protect the students, but after drinking, the teacher became disrespectful and crossed the line. It was dangerous. One of my other memory was when I had to travel to the airport at night in order to catch my flight home. At that time it was 2 AM. The hostel parent hurried me on to the car, which I paid 1000 rupees for. I requested for a Baiji or a hostel parent to go with me, or else it would be only myself and the Bhaiya who would be driving. My request was eventually rejected and I was alone with him at night in the car. I was 15. He sped up as he shouted into his phone. Nothing stopped him, not the cross of the cars, red lights, nor the long queue at the U-turn. I was scared. I couldn't really say a thing. It was at the tunnel where there were a flock of cars and they were honking, indicating that there may be an accident ahead. Bare in mind that I was very early for the flight and there was no rush. But the Bhaiya drove on the other side of the road, against the other cars, and onto the side walk through a bunch of trees, still speeding. I could literally smell a faint alcohol at the back seat. I was scared to death. Other times, when students requested transportation from school, we had to wait up to three hours. It wasn't that we were impatient. But in general, the city wasn't the safest place. The inconsideration just further reinstated the lack of care for the students. The infirmary was a prison. Basically, it was a single room that you are not allowed to exit. Your gadgets are all taken, and nurse Maam would come check up on you. But you cannot go for a walk or try to complete your assignments. The hostel students are expected full attendance although school is very stressful. In my batch, the classrooms were literally empty with only hostel students coming to class. This was the case since IB is stressful and apart from classes, we had to complete assignments and take tuitions, do extra-curriculas to fulfill our portfolios, write college essays, prepare for SATs and ACTs, personal competitions. It was so draining mentally. I was really depressed as I wasn't allowed a rest day and constantly working with no time to really complete the work in hostel. The point is, the dayboaders get days off when they want to. Therefore, they can work on the other EQUALLY important things. Not just stuck in school, studying things that already studied and not as urgent. Food: Maybe it has changed, but during my time there, the food was HORRIBLE. All my female friends experienced diarrhea and severe food poisoning. For me, the stress and unhealthy food triggered my migraines and I was vomiting for weeks. The most obvious problems was the unwillingness to put in more nutrients. The samosas were stuffed with potato and chunks of salt. The milk tasted sour. Sometimes blood reeked out of my roasted chicken which suggested it was not cooked long enough. Other times the food was so oily, it dripped with oil and it hurt my throat and I suffered from cough for weeks. In the daal and curries there were only two kinds of tastes: salty and spicy. Once my friend asked the principal if the daal can be made less spicy. She told my friend "Paani daal de.. (Just add more water)." Which was completely inconsiderate. There was no effort to cater the students' needs. For the school’s credit, there were occassionally some good food. But it only occurred when there are special guests. I still don’t understand why the students (actual consumers) had to be treated in such a way. Sport, dance, music, other activities. The school prides itself with how culturally immersed it is. And this is demonstrated through a annual function. A ritual to return to the money contributors—parents. I was raised studying western classical music, playing the violin. Nonetheless, when I arrived JPIS, I was ASTONISHED. The violins were basically pieces of wood. Some only had two strings, that also were rusted already, and dangerous to play. Only one teacher knew how to read music scores. And no one taught me violin from then. I was a very averagely talented kid. But when I went to JPIS, I was like the best. As there is only one kid that can actually play western music. When I actually played the music, the school will act as if my talent is raised by them. How ridiculous. In IB, I wanted to study Music HL. But there was no such subject here, to my disappointment. Dance was more sophisticated, at least. There were more dance teachers, and we were taught some dances to perform in weekly assemblies. The other thing is Shiamak. Which is an outsourced organization that comes to JPIS seasonly to teach dance. Students were charged additional fees to participate. The participation itself was both voluntary and forced, as teachers will threaten your council position if you missed out. Sports were alright. JPIS was not a very sports focused school, and the sports periods were not (at the time) respected. For instance, how are you supposed to practice swimming, wash up, and go to class, all in 45 minutes? I had opted Taekwondo class once. That was extremely awkward as I was the only student in that class for some time, facing a male teacher. Sport days were tiring. Students were brought out to cheer for no reason when they could have been much more productive Academics & College Applications: When I was there, the school functioned by preferences. You see, there would be a privileged group in school, who were notified all the important competitions, invited to MUNs, given the priority to be TEDX speakers, and provided the platform to build a local NGOs. But the others never got to know any of it. You see, obviously the incumbent competitors, the students, they have the experience and would win again, again, and again. Especially when they were given the resources. The teachers were on their side, and it was Ayush Sir, Akriti Maam that stood behind them, helping them preparing those competitions. But what about the others? What about me? I had very limited friends and I totally didn’t know a thing. If I wasn’t given a first chance to these school affiliated competitions, how was I supposed to improve? To learn? To have something for my college application? These students eventually went to the IVYs and reknown colleges in the US. The teachers spoke mainly (and oftentimes, only) Hindi. I was an international student that barely knew English in 9th Grade. I basically had to pick up 2 languages at the same time. All my maths teacher NEVER spoke proper english. One of the Maths teachers said he became a Maths teacher because he failed the English test in spy qualification exam. How was I supposed to constructively study academically? I nonetheless feel grateful that I had a supportive History teacher that only spoke in English (beside from Hindi jokes) and tried her best to not make me feel left out. (I got a 7 in History HL in IB in the boards exam so cheers to her too) My Physics teacher also tried his best to prompt the students to discuss in English and all his materials is in English. This directly led me to choose Political Science/ Public Policy in University, since it was the only subject that I built a proper foundation on in my high school years. Other subjects I studied on my own, reading materials, asking a few friends relentlessly to try and understand. I was lucky I had these nice friends to hang on to. SAT and ACTs were my nightmare. As I said, English was a COMPLETELY new language to me. I had to start from grade 1 stuff in 2015. Yet, I was expected to take the SATs in 11th grade. I struggled and struggled. I was drowning with all the extra stress for college admission that the school put on me. The school wanted us to get in US colleges, and they did not care if the students did not actually want it. They just pushed us without giving us a chance to consult ourselves mentally. By the end of Grade 11, I felt so bad as my English tests were constantly giving bad results. Physical violence and particularly verbal abuse were rampant. I feel like no children should ever suffer from what I encountered. Some of my teachers, I latered found out, abused me in Hindi thinking I would not understand. I saw one classmate being slapped due to the progress in Maths IA one day. It was scarring. My IB Maths teacher made me so scarred of him, I started skipping classes and avoid confrontation. I signed up for a school, not a concentration policing mini regime. I hope this improved though. Lastly for academics, I would like to add on about what really happen after high school. Many of my friends got in to universities independently without the help from JPIS or college counselling that they provide to an exclusive group of kids. We struggled through high school, trying to figure out life, what we really wanted, who we wanted to become. And eventually, in University, we were very clear, fixed, and confident with ourselves. (I am saying this, but not advocating that the lack of support is right). In contrast, the privileged group of student would step out of a protected environment where everyone watched out for them, helped them with essays, tests, competitions, to a completely self-dependednt environment. Think about it. Their dreams were shaped by the counsellors, the advisors, the teachers. But do they really want the thing forcefully imposed on them? Through my friends, I heard some of my ex-classmates became confused, lacking direction, constantly changing majors. And this is a result of the too-much-care; using another word—the result of this business. As a business, JPIS wouldn’t care about the student’s personal growth as long as they had the results they wanted. Personal Relationships: Bullying? Racism? Rich VS middle income? I learned a lot in JPIS. In particular the enduring aspect. As the only Chinese-looking-Asian kid in class (and probably in the entire school) (there were only one or two international student in the entire class btw), I was called Chingy, China… Just… Disrespectful. When I first came to JPIS, I was in the free room minding my own business, and a bunch of girls came, surrounding me. They started chatting with each other, occasionally talking to me asking awkward questions. Turned out, they were actually making fun of my race (or identity, I would say). They knew I was new, and they knew I don’t understand them. This was very very mean. You could argue, as this entire memo was written in my perspective. But the entire cohort (2019) was very fake with a few exceptions. Most day boarders live a completely different life: partying, going out, smoking, drinking. In hostel, there is smoking as well though, won’t miss that here. It was hard to make friends, as everyone only talked in Hindi. It was hard to form genuine relationships. People stole my food, my stuff, my money, even my underwear! Sometimes there were horrifying drama, but I guess you won’t be interested in the story. Anyways, the boy hostel had much much much worse bullying. So I was grateful that I am a girl (especially during that time) Conclusion: I impulsively wrote this thing since a nostalgic feeling that coupled with anger and disappointment surrounded me. The traumatic experiences in the JPIS days will never fade, it just become more dusted and vague, occasionally pops out and reminded me of my past. I didn’t have many friends. But the ties do last, probably cuz the experience was so bad, and we really had each other’s back. But really. No one should ever experience JPIS. Even if you were treated nicely, it wasn’t educational. The school is a business. Your growth doesn’t profit them, and they don’t care even if you can suffer from a deep deep depression. Some of my friends in university recalled their high school years as wonderful, comfortable, fun, and gorgeous. That is how I want my high school life to be. But unfortunately, I cannot change the past. But you can choose your future. If you want a nice high school experience. Don’t go there. Don’t choose JPIS.

good

Very good facilities. From one of the reputed educational organisation in Jaipur. On the outskirts of Jaipur. Good school for kids for overall development. Wall of fame consisting of achievements of its students speaks of very impressive success of students in all the fields.

what a awesome building the school has. All modern facilities are available smart class etc synthetic courts for playing ac classrooms etc but one thing that bothers me is its location its far from Jaipur.

Top notch facilities but may not be the best for academic and too far from city.

THE FACILITIES ARE VERY GOOD.TEACHERS ARE VERY POLITE.THE SCHOOL ISNT MUCH FAR FROM THE CITY AND OFFERS A GREAT CAMPUS.

Don’t jump to conclusions, there may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw. Thanks to all