R2I-Returned to Bangalore

… when parents are gearing up for school admissions. Yes, Oct is around the time when application forms are given out at schools. I know of parents who start calling up school front-desks as early as Aug to find out when application forms are given out. It is not because they are being super cautious, but because sometimes the more sought after schools give out forms early and you may not really get to know. This year however, I haven’t heard of any schools that have given out forms as yet. A lot of them maybe giving them out after the Navarathri vacations.

If you are a parent who is keen on a popular school, it is best to admit your child at the Montessori 1 level or at the lower Kindergarten level. Only because, if your child gets into the school of your choice at this stage, he/she/you are spared of the hassle of getting into a school when the child is older. For example, getting a seat into any sought after school for lets say, the 2nd std isn’t easy. It isn’t easy for any class from 1st std onwards. Very likely, the child has to qualify to write a test, then write it, and then make it to the cut off. All of which is a bit much on everybody concerned.

How does anybody go about figuring out the “right” school for their young child? This is probably one of the trickiest things to figure out, especially since your  precious child gives you very little clue about his or her own choice of school at 3-4 yrs of age. I am constantly running into parents of the very young and the foremost topic of discussion is deciding on schools and getting school admissions. I have come to realise what a huge stress factor this one topic is amongst parents.

This brings me to analyze what the factors were for my husband and me when we went about school admissions for our older one in the last quarter of 06. She started lower Kindergarten in Jun 07.The younger one goes to Montessori in the same school now.

1. Students to teacher ratio. I was hoping for anywhere b/n 15 to 20 with the no. of children less than 30 is a kindergarten class. I was also hoping for the no. of children to be around 30 in higher classes as well. Did not want the children to be sitting in classes that had 50+ students that the schools I went to had.
2. Commute distance and time. I was calculating for the distance and time from where we are likely to be for most part of their school years and looked at schools in that area. This of course, wasn’t too near my own parents’ house, which is the neighborhood we were living in for the first couple of years after moving to India. Deciding on schools based on commute distance and time is a huge variable from what  I see. This is one factor which is to each his own. Some parents are extremely particular about school being really close by, some are not so particular if the mode of commute is taken care of. The Bangalore traffic is not user-friendly, leave alone children-friendly. So, this is a factor where one has to really give a thought about what will work for one’s own child/ren and family.
3. Fee, of course - these days putting children through school is like never before. I finished my 5 years of graduation for lesser than what some schools charge for a year of kindergarten now. So, yeah, that is a factor. What also comes under consideration is whether one is able to afford or not, one must keep in mind the child’s peers. Different affordability brings in different kinds of people into your and your child’s life. Pick the crowd you are most likely going to be comfortable with. While I said this in 2 sentences, the task is harder than that.
4. Look at the infrastructure the school provides. List down the ones that you think are essential to your child. Only pick schools that provide what you think are absolutely essential. For some parents, it is essential that the school opens the child to various extra-curricular activities, while for the others, they are open to taking the extra-curricular bit upon themselves.
5. It will make it easier to talk to parents whose children are already going to the schools you have narrowed down to. Talk also to the children studying in the schools. All this will make it easier for you to choose the school that may work best for you and your child. We spoke to a couple of our friends whose children went to the school that we were considering. We also got feedback on how the child has turned out in the time that he had been at the school. The feedback was probably what helped us narrow down the choice a bit for us.
6. What I am going to next say is a big issue currently in Bangalore - new managements running new-age schools and old-managements running the more mainstream schools and the fairly expensive mainstream schools adapting themselves to the changed times. The new managements can be anybody - realty corporations, spiritual organisations, or a bunch of people who got together to start a school - as simple as that. It is also these newer managements who do not have a track record in the department of education. So, again, it is a call you will have to make based on your own comfort level. The deal with the newer managements is also that sometimes, you get in thinking certain things/people are permanent and once you are in, you maybe surprised that things aren’t as certain. While I say this, I also know of folks who have tried the newer waters in terms of selecting schools that are run by newer managements and have been very happy with the schools. So, this is a fairly dicey factor to make a call on.

Let me end the post here. Please do add factors that you think are important in the comments section and I will keep adding it to the main post. All your thoughts are welcome, as always.

All my earlier posts about schools are here.

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