A school is the place where a child spends most of his or her time. It is the second agent of socialization, only next to the family, which is the first agent of socialization. Moreover, a school also presents the third agent of socialization, which is the peer group. What the hell all this means? It means much of the foundation for who you are and what you become is laid by the school.
It is sad that even in this era, where opportunities are limited only by your mind, a school is judged by its mere academic results. What about raising a well-rounded leader with impressive communication and decision making skills? What about building a good character in our future citizens? Who cares about all these. I want my child to get straight-As in all subjects. Well, I dont quite agree with reducing the role of a school to mere mark generating factories.With this new- found wisdom, I started hunting for a school for my daughter.
Finding a right school is not less than a herculean task. With an array of options at your bay, it is natural to feel a little overwhelmed. Not to mention the advises that one has to field from the experienced parents. If one parent boasts of the international school that her daughter is associated with, the other one feels proud about the fact that she spends only peanuts on her child's education. At the end of the day, everybody wants to prove how smart they are. Add the ginormous amount of information available in the internet to it, you feel lost.
I feel my experience can give you a nudge in the right direction. I didn't put my daughter in a regular school for the initial few years as we were quite unsure about where and how we are settling. She continued her education till kinder garden in her play school.She enjoyed going to school and did not feel the pressure all these years. Now that the school teaches only till senior kinder garden, we are forced to look elsewhere. This is how our journey with admissions began.
Like many parents, my husband and I also had our criteria. Distance topped our list, given the infamous Bengaluru traffic. After zeroing on the schools at a distance of maximum 4 km, we stumbled upon the sheer variety of curriculum offered by the schools in Bengaluru. It ranges from the common CBSE and ICSE to a relatively new international Baccalaureate (IB), and a combination of IB and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGSE).
I was quite impressed with the IB curriculum as it offers a well-rounded education. However, it turned out that IB is a popular choice for children that either plan to pursue their higher studies abroad or those who plan to move in with their parents employed or employable in a foreign country. There are only a few schools that offer IB curriculum in Bengaluru and most of them cost a fortune (The fee structure of the school that we considered was reasonable and on par with Indian curriculum schools). So, we crossed IB from our list. Finally, we ticked CBSE as it is one of the popular curricula in India.
Now that the curriculum is sorted. What comes next? The infrastructure and sanitation facilities that most high-end schools flaunt to take the parents for a ride. According to me, a school without a playground is a burial ground. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about the vast expanse of manicured lawns. A simple plain ground that can let children run around and play. Also, a school without a playground means no physical education, which is necessary for building the stamina of children. On that note, a well-maintained and hygiene sanitation facility is a no-brainer.
Now coming back to my opening point of finding a school that focus on developing a well-rounded individual. We checked for schools that put equal emphasis on academics and non-academics. The opportunities they provide for children to showcase and develop their skills, not just improve their grades in one assessment after another. We were hell-bent on finding a school that provide an inspiring and creatively nourishing environment. We found some schools that bring in eminent leaders, authors, and public figures for an interaction with children. There are schools that send their students on cultural-exchange programmes to foreign countries. Many schools have affiliations with popular sports development centers to train their students displaying impressive skills in a sport. Well, all these don't come for free. They cost a bomb, anywhere between an atom bomb to an RDX bomb.
In other words, pay for a pizza, and get only the pizza, or order a pizza and top it with some cheese, olives, bell peppers, and mushrooms, which will cost you more. But, be mindful of paying extra for just a plain pizza. Waiting for a big revolution that will get me a pizza with all toppings for the cost of a plain pizza.
It is sad that even in this era, where opportunities are limited only by your mind, a school is judged by its mere academic results. What about raising a well-rounded leader with impressive communication and decision making skills? What about building a good character in our future citizens? Who cares about all these. I want my child to get straight-As in all subjects. Well, I dont quite agree with reducing the role of a school to mere mark generating factories.With this new- found wisdom, I started hunting for a school for my daughter.
Finding a right school is not less than a herculean task. With an array of options at your bay, it is natural to feel a little overwhelmed. Not to mention the advises that one has to field from the experienced parents. If one parent boasts of the international school that her daughter is associated with, the other one feels proud about the fact that she spends only peanuts on her child's education. At the end of the day, everybody wants to prove how smart they are. Add the ginormous amount of information available in the internet to it, you feel lost.
I feel my experience can give you a nudge in the right direction. I didn't put my daughter in a regular school for the initial few years as we were quite unsure about where and how we are settling. She continued her education till kinder garden in her play school.She enjoyed going to school and did not feel the pressure all these years. Now that the school teaches only till senior kinder garden, we are forced to look elsewhere. This is how our journey with admissions began.
Like many parents, my husband and I also had our criteria. Distance topped our list, given the infamous Bengaluru traffic. After zeroing on the schools at a distance of maximum 4 km, we stumbled upon the sheer variety of curriculum offered by the schools in Bengaluru. It ranges from the common CBSE and ICSE to a relatively new international Baccalaureate (IB), and a combination of IB and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGSE).
I was quite impressed with the IB curriculum as it offers a well-rounded education. However, it turned out that IB is a popular choice for children that either plan to pursue their higher studies abroad or those who plan to move in with their parents employed or employable in a foreign country. There are only a few schools that offer IB curriculum in Bengaluru and most of them cost a fortune (The fee structure of the school that we considered was reasonable and on par with Indian curriculum schools). So, we crossed IB from our list. Finally, we ticked CBSE as it is one of the popular curricula in India.
Now that the curriculum is sorted. What comes next? The infrastructure and sanitation facilities that most high-end schools flaunt to take the parents for a ride. According to me, a school without a playground is a burial ground. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about the vast expanse of manicured lawns. A simple plain ground that can let children run around and play. Also, a school without a playground means no physical education, which is necessary for building the stamina of children. On that note, a well-maintained and hygiene sanitation facility is a no-brainer.
Now coming back to my opening point of finding a school that focus on developing a well-rounded individual. We checked for schools that put equal emphasis on academics and non-academics. The opportunities they provide for children to showcase and develop their skills, not just improve their grades in one assessment after another. We were hell-bent on finding a school that provide an inspiring and creatively nourishing environment. We found some schools that bring in eminent leaders, authors, and public figures for an interaction with children. There are schools that send their students on cultural-exchange programmes to foreign countries. Many schools have affiliations with popular sports development centers to train their students displaying impressive skills in a sport. Well, all these don't come for free. They cost a bomb, anywhere between an atom bomb to an RDX bomb.
In other words, pay for a pizza, and get only the pizza, or order a pizza and top it with some cheese, olives, bell peppers, and mushrooms, which will cost you more. But, be mindful of paying extra for just a plain pizza. Waiting for a big revolution that will get me a pizza with all toppings for the cost of a plain pizza.
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