Alternative Schools:Are they Harbors for Positive Education?

The research aimed to compare the difference between students studying in an alternative school and those studying in conventional school settings. The present study aimed at studying the difference in the levels of resilience, optimism and emotional maturity. It was hypothesized that students studying in an alternative school would score higher on optimism, resilience and emotional maturity compared to those studying in a conventional school. The sample comprised 124 students, 41 from an alternative school and 83 from a conventional school in Bangalore. The participants (both male and female) from class 6 to 10 were selected for the study using the purposive sampling technique. The Optimism scale developed by Spence, the Child Youth Resilience Scale-12 developed by Ungar and colleagues, and the Emotional Maturity Scale by Singh and Bhargava were administered to the students. An independent samples t-test was performed to analyze the data collected. Findings of the study revealed that the level of optimism, emotional maturity and resilience were higher for the alternative school group compared to the conventional school group, but there was statistically significant difference only for resilience. This indicates that resilience is an essential trait that alternative education nurtures.