Looking for the right school for your child?

Looking for the right school
July 13: Getting one's child admitted in a school is like playing darts - there are not too many chances and one may never hit the bull's eye. The bull's eye here is the right school - it may be the most reputed one, the posh one or the one which offers an environment for your child where his/her skills are best channelised.

Come admission season and a lot of parents start looking for the right school. This means filling forms in schools, going through 'interrogations' garbed as orientation exercises and worse, pumping the child with information of little consequence. Harried parents leave no stone unturned to get their wards 'in' as it is a matter of social standing in society and of course, their ego.

Majority of parents contacted by this scribe on their criteria for choosing a school accorded high weightage to the reputation of school. Quality of teaching emerges as the most important factor in determining their choice. Other factors such as the physical lay out of the school, availability of learning aids, student-teacher ratio and parent-teacher interaction are also taken into consideration. Not much importance is however given by parents to the distance of school from home, school timings and bus facility.

Nasreen Akhtar, mother of five-year-old kid said City School was her obvious choice as the school enjoys good reputation in many fields - academics, sports and extra-curricular activities. This also saves me the headache of looking for another school for the next 10 years. "I would have been heart broken if he would not have got through for I had not applied elsewhere and had pinned all my hopes here only, she confessed.

Anyhow, parents who want good education for their kids opt for schools like Army Public Schools, Beaconhouse, City School, Roots School, Convent or St Mary as according to them; these offer a healthier overall personality development.

Col. Aziz, one such parent has opted for Convent mainly because he wants his son "to grow up without any complexes". His preference is also because the school emphasises on all-round education and is nearer home. Nabeela Rafiq, wanted her son to be involved in a variety of outdoor activities has put him in Beaconhouse as the school has provision for such activities. "Fewer students in each section not only ensured personalised attention but also good academic standards.

Altaf Malik, who has put his daughter in Convent, is of the view that name of the institution feedback from friends whose daughters are already studying there and personalised care of girls helped him make the choice. With a view to give her child a solid base in the formative years, Razia Saad thought more in terms of quality of education than just reputation. While some deterioration has crept in the working of some missionary schools, by and large they still do not believe in fleecing parents by making unreasonable demands. These schools also take measures to ensure that weaker students do not lag behind. The system of education is such that it saves the students the stress of carrying heavy loads of bags every day.

Parents who believe in greater degree of individual attention go in for schools like Foundation Montessori. According to Jalila Hasan, "I chose Viqar-un-Nias School for my daughter for I was looking for a school which is not located in a residential house and has spacious open surroundings."

Raheela Saud, who had done enough spade work for choosing a school, said he did not want his son to go to a school where his friends flaunt their social status in this hierarchy-minded city. His preference was for missionary schools which have a blend of children

from different sections of society and the emphasis was on imbibing them with the right kinds of values to be good human beings.

Maheen Saeed says the student-teacher ratio; the methodology should also be taken into consideration rather than just joining the rat race of what others are doing. -By Ibne Ahmad