[Chetan_Rao]

Finland's education system would be an Utopian dream in a country like ours, where a vast majority has no access to education of any kind.

What I really find baffling though, is the lack of serious emphasis on vocational training in India. One would think a (majorly) poor country could do with alternative skills training to earn livelihoods, but we're horrendously lacking there too.

I pity the kids going to school these days; they're cramming a whole lot, remembering a bit, learning mostly nothing of real use. If an Indian school wanted to take kids on field trips to forests in an environmental science curriculum, most parents would probably demand a fee refund and take their kids to other 'studious' schools.

[Dieseltuned]

Hi all,

I am planning to enroll my daughter in 'Gopal Garden High School' at Borivali East. This is an institution run by the ISKCON trust and has a very reasonable fee structure.

It would be very helpful if anybody has any prior experience with this school ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

[adg_andy]

Hi, I have just relocated to Kolkata and am looking for CBSE schools around Salt Lake-New Town area. I'd prefer schools who do not encourage just cramming of text books. This is for my 5 year old daughter for LKG. The New Town school (I've heard good reviews) charges 1.22 !!! and DPS is a no-no (ICSE). Pointers please

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by adg_andy

Hi, I have just relocated to Kolkata and am looking for CBSE schools around Salt Lake-New Town area. I'd prefer schools who do not encourage just cramming of text books. This is for my 5 year old daughter for LKG. The New Town school (I've heard good reviews) charges 1.22 !!! and DPS is a no-no (ICSE). Pointers please

What's the issue with ICSE? My brat goes to one.

And I am an ex-Dipsite. It was not ICSE when I studied.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Finland's education system would be an Utopian dream in a country like ours

Finland is also home to 50% tax on income (31.75% state, 22.5% communal, 2% church tax) and the $100,000 speeding ticket. If we need education like that, we should be ready for taxes like those unless we strike oil or something.

Originally Posted by adg_andy

and DPS is a no-no (ICSE).

My son goes to ICSE and is now in 10th. I think you are barking up the wrong tree as ICSE is definitely not the culprit when it comes to cramming. By the 10th, ICSE syllabus is vast and requires deep understanding of multiple topics, something many students struggle with. In ICSE, cramming is limited to things like various laws in physics, 3/4 rows and columns of the periodic table and so on.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

Finland is also home to 50% tax on income (31.75% state, 22.5% communal, 2% church tax) and the $100,000 speeding ticket. If we need education like that, we should be ready for taxes like those unless we strike oil or something.......

Exactly why I mentioned 'Utopia'.

On a lighter note, if I'm getting absolute ZILCH in return for 20-30%, getting Finland-ed for 50% doesn't seem all that bad, does it?

[adg_andy]

Originally Posted by Oxy

What's the issue with ICSE? My brat goes to one.

And I am an ex-Dipsite. It was not ICSE when I studied.

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

My son goes to ICSE and is now in 10th. I think you are barking up the wrong tree as ICSE is definitely not the culprit when it comes to cramming. .

I myself did my 10 and 10+2 from ICSE and ISCE respectively. It a personal choice- no offence guys DPS has both ICSE and CBSE schools now. It so happens that the ones near my home are not CBSE.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

On a lighter note, if I'm getting absolute ZILCH in return for 20-30%, getting Finland-ed for 50% doesn't seem all that bad, does it?

Not all of us are paying taxes, right? Unlike Finland where they publish who pays exactly how much tax. Tax and consequently income of everyone is public knowledge there, that's why they have speeding tickets based on income.

Originally Posted by adg_andy

I myself did my 10 and 10+2 from ICSE and ISCE respectively. It a personal choice- no offence guys DPS has both ICSE and CBSE schools now. It so happens that the ones near my home are not CBSE.

No sentiments involved here as I have a child with multiple learning disabilities and I took a long hard look a few years ago as to what my options are.

As far as your concern on cramming is concerned, you have to firstly identify what kind of cramming is involved. There is always some cramming such as multiplication tables or ABCD and so on. This is different from the cramming that can be avoided such as learning entire answers instead of formulating them. The latter type is the real problem here as students who are unable to grasp the subject matter will resort to learning entire answers by rote. Heck, I had a very studious colleague in engineering who used to score high marks by memorizing entire computer programs.

When I compare what students learn in ICSE 9/10 such as part of the periodic table and so on, I find that their counterparts in the US are doing the same thing. The US makes better use of mnemonics to remember unlike what we do in India.

A case can be made, and I strongly support it, for less writing for answers. The only alternative to the Indian systems that made any sense to me was IGCSE/IB as the answers there are usually multiple choice and it works well for those like my son who are not always able to pen their thoughts correctly on paper. But I stand by what I said earlier, ICSE is by far and away not the main culprit among the 3 choices usually available in India.

[Thumping Soul]

My son is now 2yr 10months and hence we have been school hunting to put him into Nursery. We stay in Borewell Road, Whitefield and are looking out for schools in the vicinity to keep transportation at the minimum.

So we went about visiting the following schools:
1. Chrysalis Kids, behind FoodWorld, Whitefield Main Road. They had some parent-kids orientation programme going on and summarily refused admission stating that seats are full at this centre and instead adviced us to approach their AECS Layout centre.

2. Maple Bear, next to FabIndia, Whitefield Main Road.They were open for admissions and had detailed discussions focussed on their fee structure, which was okay. But somehow, i wasn't very impressed with the school.

3. The Foundation Play School, Borewell Road, Whitefield. The discussion with these folks was focussed around their teaching methodology which i liked to an extent. Fee structure was also okayish.

4. Glentree Academy, Siddapura-Nallurahalli Road, Whitefied. This is the first proper k-12 school we visited. This is the new avatar of Whitefield Public School. The older school has been taken over by the 'Learning Edge India' group (owners of the Little Elly chain of play schools). They have classes right from Nursery to 10th standard and are affiliated to CBSE. This year they had their 1st batch of students passing out the Xth standard. The school is also conveniently located, approx 8mins walk from my home. Fee structure was quite good and they had some good offer due to their corporate tie-up with my employer.

5. Vydehi School of Excellence, Vydehi Junction, Whitefield. Vydehi is a school of repute and has been known for good quality education. We met the admission counselers and had a detailed discussions in terms of admission process & fees as well. Both kids of a close friend goto this school and he has all good things to say about it.

So mostly, we have zeroed-in on 'Glentree Academy'.

Wanted to know if others here on the forum have approached Glentree or any of these schools and what's your take on them?

Regards
Saurav

[GrammarNazi]

Guys, my nephew has completed his 10th grade, ICSE, and has somehow managed to score 80%.

He needs to know which is a good college for +2 for science.

Kid is simple minded, but very very dedicated & keen to learn. Good tutoring would be more important than popularity.

Any recommendations?

Dear Mods : Please move post to appropriate thread if there is one. Could only find this one.

[ashokrajagopal]

My 3.3 years old daugher is now going to a Nursery ( half day); planning to send her to day care post noon.
I am in that "worried" frame of mind regarding admitting her to LKG in a proper school in 2017 june.

I am from a typical middle class background. Eventhough I did schooling in a private ICSE school in TVPM, consider myself fortunate to have had class mates from a wide variety of economic backgrounds.
Judging by the price range of fees, it looks to me like the high rated schools can be used only by wards of IT guys, business men or anything upwards.

It seems to me like the older convent type institutions that have about 50k fee per year would be able to accommodate children from a wider background. Am I way off reality here ?

I dont know if it is too much to expect a school to have children of roadside workers and NRIs in the same class. But is there a bunch of schools I could look at where normal people(read teachers, nurses, clerks, police men ) etc could afford the fees ? I only have 2 requirements -- large grounds, and 100% pass(not distinctions and ranks).

[raghu.t.k]

My son is april born, and next year he would be short of 3.5 yrs required for LKG. Does this mean that there are no exceptions and he would need to forgo the whole academic year ? What options do I have?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

My son is april born, and next year he would be short of 3.5 yrs required for LKG. Does this mean that there are no exceptions and he would need to forgo the whole academic year ? What options do I have?

In Karnataka, the minimum age for entry to Class I is 5 years & 10 months as of June 1 that year, so April born will definitely be fine here, do check there in Chennai as well.

Even if the child has to join a year later, do not worry. It is good for the child as mental development will be better when he is in school. In my daughters class, she was one of the youngest and we found that the other older children found it easier to cope up at least till class 3.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

My son is april born, and next year he would be short of 3.5 yrs required for LKG. Does this mean that there are no exceptions and he would need to forgo the whole academic year ? What options do I have?

Agree with NPV. I am also of the opinion that its better to be older in the class than younger. Your son will just over 3 years in June 2017. That is too young to be in lkg. As NPV said here in Karnataka for lkg the child should be 3 yr 10 months. Many schools still take kids above 3 years 6 months. But have not seen schools take into lkg before that.

But I know in TN, the general trend has been lkg at 3.

[hangover]

Frankly my kid too had this minimum age problem to face. I was told by well wishers to declare a false age and put the kid in a good school.

I refused. Not because I'm honest and law fearing. I refused because my kid has 12 years of school to "suffer". Let them enjoy a little now. So my kid was 4 years 6 months when Lkg started.

Absolutely no complaints from anyone - kid, home minister or in laws.

Being 6 months older is an advantage. Actually 1 year older than a few fake birth certificate holding classmates. My kid is stronger at sports and better at studies.

Plus I got 6 months "extra" (irreplaceable and priceless) play time with my kid.
Once they cross 14-15 then daddy is only a mobile recharger/money machine/car driver.

Being good at studies is my contribution. I don't mean my einsteinium brains and genes. I teach the kid.
I'm sad that even in my kids so called "reputed" school (I'm an alumni) teaching is bad.

I'll give an example. They learnt about perennial rivers. My kid lists out A-Z of the names. I asked, what is a perennial river. Answer was snow melting etcetra.
I asked what about South Indian perineal rivers. No snow in the south. No answer.
I asked what about the seas. Are they also perennial? No answer.

Then I took class. Explained about most major rivers. Made some drawings and so on.

So if nothing else, my kid knows perennial rivers better than a hydrologist.

My point being, we gentlemen have to take an interest in kids studies.

Hopefully we can explain better. Since we know about this and that.
Except differential calculus. That, to me is more blood chilling than facing a man eating tiger. A tiger is just an overgrown cat.

Else, as many have commented, there's a good chance "mugging" and merely passing useless exams becomes accepted as normal. It's not. It shouldn't be.