Choosing the right school

When kids finish their preschooling, it’s time for parents to feel anxious and tense about getting admission into the mainstream school. There are many schools around with a variety of features. To zero down upon a couple of schools is the first big task, and then to get admission to the desired one is the second monumental task. Sometimes, parents don’t think much and go for schools to which the majority of kids from society go. Sometimes the decision is based more on the status symbol syndrome. But selecting a school on the basis of outside influence is perhaps not a very idea.

To decide upon a school, you need to be sure what kind of school you want for your child. And the latter depends on your choices, needs, preferences, circumstances, etc. Here are some points that go into school hunting:

• Budget: perhaps the most important factor. One needs to decide the maximum amount that can be shelled out on school education. It’s not only about managing school fees, it’s also about matching up with the general environment of the school. Even if a middle-class parent can afford the fees by stretching the budget a little bit, it may get difficult to maintain the same lifestyle as of rest of the kids who probably belong to very affluent families. In such a school, the lesser fortunate child is bound to feel inferior and it may affect his overall personality in the future, along with his education.
• Teaching methodology: this involves looking at whether the school’s focus is on Montessori, traditional, practical, theoretical, or mass/individual teaching methodologies. Some kids learn better when given space and freedom. For such kids, the Montessori environment does wonder. Some kids need that extra pressure in order to perform. They learn better in a traditional environment.
• Student-teacher ratio: this details how many kids are there under one teacher. This ratio also affects the overall learning process. In today’s urban culture where kids are quite used to personal attention, a high teacher-student ratio may make the child feel lost in the crowd. So if a child’s weak point lies in his inability to interact with the teacher if there are too many children around, then a high ratio will affect his learning immensely. Teaching methodology depends hugely on this ratio.
• Distance from home: that’s a simple point and may not need to be mentioned. There is no point in choosing a school in the south end when you live in the north end of the city no matter how good the school is. In big cities not only is the distance a big factor, but also the traffic. Sometimes during rush hour, it may take the school bus 1 hour to cover 5 kms. Long commuting hours are detrimental to small kids, both academically and developmentally.
• Board: people have their own preferences when it comes to the school board. It’s best to check and compare the current syllabus on the board website and decide according to your child's abilities. For example, many parents feel that the Indian boards put too much academic pressure on kids who are not very academically oriented, and thus prefer an International board for such kids.
• Extracurricular activities: some schools encourage their students to participate in lots of extracurricular activities, whereas some focus mainly on studies (read classwork-homework). Extracurricular activities are important for general and overall development and thus it is important to go for a school that visions beyond classroom learning.
• Load of homework: this looks like a small issue in the beginning but it shapes the entire education of the child. When the school hands out tons of pages of homework every day, a child hardly gets time to finish it, let alone do something on his own for his self-studies. Over a period of time, he starts believing that education means finishing homework and passing exams. this is very detrimental to his overall view on the education system (remember the movies, Taare Zameen Par and 3 idiots)
• Resources: some schools have a good support system for kids who are having learning disabilities or difficulties, or emotional/ behavioral problems, while some schools don’t believe in taking kids with any difficulties, let alone handling them. it may not seem to be a relevant point in the beginning, but in case of a problem, it’s best to have a support system at school

These are some of the points that go into deciding on a school for the child. It’s almost impossible to find a school that has all the good features. Each school has a set of features that match our needs and on the rest of the points, we may have to compromise. Care should be taken not to compromise on issues that are most important and relevant to you and your child.