Schooling

Hmmm.....so here comes the t6opic which is still giving us kind of sleepless nights.

There are 2 types of parents-
1. Who become psychos to get a child admitted to #1 schools (And I am not saying they are wrong)
2. Who are kind of chilled out and accept that some people have to go at #2,#3......#n school also.

We are kind of mix but more in the second category for now.
NPS is the most sought after school in Bangalore and they have an extremely strict rules for admission. It is a very academics focussed school. Has 3 branches in Bangalore.

Then there are the convents- Bishop Cotton Boys, Bishop Cotton Girls, St. Mary's, Etc.
There is also a string of International schools. I have not done too much research yet but going by word of mouth, the international scholls' fees is about 4-5 Lakhs pa. As compared to about 1 lakh for NPS, and the likes.

The demand and supply for schools in Bangalore is really imbalanced. For every seat there are 300-500 applicants.

Our daughter was just 2 years and 2 months old when we moved back and people asked us to forget house hunting and to rush to schools and beg for admission. We had a short term panic attack.
But then we talked about it and decided to let the child take it easy for now. As it is she was dealing with a new country, new place, new people and c'mon....she was just 2. I started going to school at 4.
But social pressures in India are so much that you hav to do certain things even if you are not fully convinced. Otherwise people start looking at you with the 'you are a moron. you dont care about your child's education' eyes.
Whatever, once we settles down, I started visiting schools. I went to NPS first and was told that even if I get them an IAS officer's request, even then my girl cannot get an admission.
Forget it.
I started with the play schools- Eurokids, Kidzee, Shemrock, Neev, etc. I visited 12 schools. I am not exagerating.

So here goes the school hunting saga.
I was shocked to notice that in most of the play schools, the children did not wear any footwear. Not even socks. May be it's a south culture. And the schools I was visitng were in Indiranagar(one of the poshest areas of banaglore).
There were 2 inches nails coming out of the benches in some, the toilets were dirty in another one, the teachers looked like Aayas in some.

This one is worth a mention. I went to Poddar Jumbo Kids in Indira Nagar and the receptionist started telling me about the school. First, she could not speak proper english. I am not expecting her to be perfect or fluent, but I did not understand what she said at all. Then some teachers came out looking and smiling at us as if "bade din baad shikaar haath laga" (Going to get some good food tinight kinds).
Our daughter was with me and she rushed towards one of the classrooms. Before I could get up and stop her, she was inside the classroom. Suddenly I heard a woman screaming as if shoo-ing away a stray dog and my daughter was running out of the classroom, very scared. The teacher of that class had eyes wide open in anger, her hand towards the door, finger pointing outside, and screaming "go out, go out". "My baby is definitely not going to this school even if she remains uneducated all her life", I decided.

Finally, I decided on Kidspace in Indira Nagar. The staff was courteous, Principal very impressive and the teachers were welcoming even when we were taking a tour of the school. My daughter has been going there for the last 6 months now and I am very glad that I chose this school.

But to tell you the truth, even play schools have awaiting list-a very long one.

As for NPS, I have heard that the selection criterion are- Income of 50 Lakhs+, Single income Family, Returned NRIs, etc. They conduct an interview even before they give out the forms. But to get first hand account, you have to wait.
Also, Schools are insanly particular about age. Ex- If she is 3 years 3 months, she is eligible. If she is 3 yrs 4 months, she is not eligible types. Being an October born, our daughter will have to lose 1 year.

About the convents, they go through agents. The agent charges about 1.5-2 lakhs and then something for the school(I really don't know how much is that). Then you get admission in 3rd or 4th list.

I am not a big supporter of International schools because of fees and the frills, so I have not pondered much.

If you are moving to Bangalore and have a child of school going age, then I will strongly advice you to be here by Sep. because admissions start in Oct. and are closed by Dec.

Sometimes, I really get very jittery about the education situation here. If this is the condition for montessori or play schools, what will happen for university??