[Visaster]

Originally Posted by hserus

forms start disappearing very fast as only a limited number are issued.

Thanks a lot on that input. So don't check into all the boxes they look for, will just give it a try then.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Finland is the most literate country in the world. It also has one of the best education systems in world. When you see their system, one can realise how bad our system is.

http://www.takepart.com/photos/ten-s...ws-what-s-best

Residing in Finland since 4 yrs, I may have a few lines to contribute -
The education system really works well since it relies heavily on practical learning at a young age. When we have schools in India starting with A for apple, Finnish teachers are taking the kids to the woods and showing them nature and teaching with practical learning. They are encouraged experimenting on things in the Indoor sessions. In fact this is the nature of education across all levels. My wife did her Master degree in a local university post her Indian MBA. the level of learning she has gained thanks to a very practical problem based learning is simply incredible. something her text book based MBA teaching has failed to give her.

Back to kids - they are taught table manners, road manners etc very early off. You may be aware, schooling really starts only at the age of 6 when in India it practically starts at 3. However, by the time high school ends in India, Finnish kids catch up and do so without exams. There are no exams and/or homework till then but yet come out on tops.

The difference, as I see it, is the teaching fraternity. They are constantly trained and are one of the best of the breed locally. In fact the selection process for teaching is very rigorous and not all make it through. It is a fairly well paid job as well. For eg: an IT engineer earns a tad lesser than a teacher.

the way I see it, there is a huge imbalance in this area in Indian schools as of now. Teachers/professors do make a huge difference in a childs formative years and I do hope this is fixed sooner than later.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Visaster

I am at the look out for admission into PRE-KG at Chennai for the year 2017-2018, for my son. PSBB KK nagar is in the list of choice of schools.

Had gone through the process for 2012-13 for my daughter. Application is online, was put online then on Thanksgiving Day of 2011 (second last week of November). There is no limit on number of applications, but I remember it was online only for 2 or 3 days then. The interview letters came around Xmas-New Year and first round of admissions were 3rd week of January then.

The distance criteria is true, should actually be a criteria from parents than school though. Other than that, something that they were looking was whether the kid was able to speak and respond in the interview. The parents were not asked anything. Classes were approximately 30 kids each with 50:50 boy-girl ratio. One thing is, you can apply only to one of the 4 branches.

I'd say apply as many that are within a commute range (< 5 km) and leave it until admissions to be done to make a choice. Its not so a task if you are admitting at PreKG, you will have choices if you are flexible. We had 3 at that stage.

You should see how schools across the board(barring few exceptions) respond when seeking admission for primary school like say 3rd or 4th grade

Originally Posted by Samurai

Finland is the most literate country in the world. It also has one of the best education systems in world. When you see their system, one can realise how bad our system is.

There are some little things that can be done and not so difficult to implement:

- Getting all kids on stage, not just some preferred kids.
- Teacher attrition: My daughter will have the same teacher till 5th grade. I had 4 changes in 4th grade alone, and this was in late 80s. Don't even think about it now. To top it, its not a sought off profession either which is total contrast in this part of the world.
- Emphasis on quality than quantity: This somehow doesn't reach most of the parents brain either. Most have a perception that learning more is a good thing. Too much is stuffed even by the age of 5
- Homework: Some schools already don't do it in India. Why not all?
- Comparison structure: No need to have a rank at all. Why breed it at the first place? Parents are equally guilty on this as well.

[yogesa]

Originally Posted by hserus

The areas you mention have some of the best schools in Bangalore - NPS, MES Kishore Kendra etc.

However the annual fees are 1 to 2 lakhs - that 65k figure is usual for much more obscure and recently founded schools (eg: St. Patricks Academy in Sarjapur, a 4 or 5 year old brand new startup by the same church organization that runs the various St. Patricks / St. Michaels etc in Calcutta, Jamshedpur, Chennai etc etc).

If you are alone - you may want to try this outfit. https://www.nestaway.com/ - sort of an ola / uber for rentals, and they don't ask for a deposit looks like. I've just seen fb ads for them, never had to use them myself, so caveat emptor.

Originally Posted by NPV

If you're going to be posted at various places in India, you may want to decide on ICSE vs CBSE now instead of later.
I think there are many more CBSE schools, especially in the northern parts of India.

Based on that decision you can zero in on the school that will near the locality of your stay in Bangalore.
Of course if you decide to let your family remain in Pune, there is no issue right now. Good luck, circle back if you need more information.

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Hi,
In case you are anticipating a change in your work location in Bangalore, my advise would be to wait until the next academic year as the last thing you would want to do is for your child to endure the traffic here. Whether it be Rajajinagar or Indiranagar you may try the local NPS franchise: I will refrain from commenting on NPS, tends to evoke strong reactions either way and you would have to decide if their brand of education is what your child needs. There are a number of old world missionary schools in the vicinity should you pick Indiranagar/Ulsoor to stay in. There is FAPS at Ulsoor, St Germain and Clarence at Frazer town and St Joseph's, a little further off at museum road. They are not as 'contemporary' as the new age pvt schools but still difficult to get in. Fees in these schools are at the bottom of the spectrum and you would pay less than what you are currently paying at Pune.

All the best

Thank you all!!

Finally, I got admission for my son in Malleswaram in B.P.Indian Public School for the ICSE 2nd Std., in Bangalore. The cost was not much and was within my budget. The admission was purely without any influence or any string-pulling, though the wait of 3 days for their decision/confirmation, was nail-biting. Only after this we applied for the Exit from the School at Pune.

The Exit from Wisdom World School (ICSE), Hadapsar Pune was very smooth, and I am grateful to the staff and teachers there, for understanding my situation (relocation).

TIP: For State to State Migration, the School Leaving Certificate needs to be endorsed by the Block Education Officer or Equivalent, without which admission cannot be granted by the new school.
This too happened in a matter of Minutes at Pune Zilla Panchayath Complex near SGS Mall.

And finally a colleague helped me in getting a Flat on rent very near to the school at Malleswaram, which the owner had not advertised, and kept vacant for 4 months, and was insisting for a known person as tenant. I was overwhelmed, by all things falling into place gradually.

Thanks to you all at TEAM-BHP!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by yogesa

I was overwhelmed, by all things falling into place gradually.

Thanks to you all at TEAM-BHP!

Very happy to hear that everything fell in place without you having to run from pillar to post. Welcome to Bangalore, reach out if you need any help

[BulZire]

Guys, Need a help.

Can Someone suggest a good school around Koramangala,HSR,BTM, Electronic city where there is an option to take tamil as second language and having CBSE syllabus.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by BulZire

Guys, Need a help.

Can Someone suggest a good school around Koramangala,HSR,BTM, Electronic city where there is an option to take tamil as second language and having CBSE syllabus.

Very few such schools.

India International school near the wipro campus on sarjapur road, Ebenezer Inernational School near Electronic city. Then there's a much better known school Kumaran's Childrens Home, which is near Kanakapura Road so very far (40 km ++) from both areas.

[sushantr5]

I need some inputs from the people who moved from abroad to India with kids.

I am currently residing in Germany and planned to return to India in October-November 2017.

My Son will go to first standard in next year for academic year 2017-2018.

Now here in Germany my son goes to kindergarten and here also he is eligible for first grade in next year. But academic year in Germany starts in October where as in India it starts in April.

Now in such situations when I return to India next year. Will my son get admission in First Grade where he will start in month of November which is at the end of first term in India. Or can I get my son in First Grade, lets say if I return little late in January 2018 which is almost at end of first grade year.

[hangover]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Now in such situations when I return to India next year. Will my son get admission in First Grade where he will start in month of November which is at the end of first term in India. Or can I get my son in First Grade, lets say if I return little late in January 2018 which is almost at end of first grade year.

IMHO, this is not possible. There have been exceptions. One or two kids did join in the middle of the academic year while I was at school. Those were rare cases and their parents were probably close personal friends with the principal.

Now-a-days most schools insist the kids start in June (irrespective of class/grade) which is the beginning of the academic year (June 2017 to March 2018). Sometimes it is at the end of May.

There are international schools which are broad minded on such cases. They have kids whose parents who are travelling most of the year. On these, I do not have any insight.

[pareshraheja]

People, wanted some quick info here. Have the schools started issuing forms for admissions for the next academic year.

My question is specific for Bangalore as I am looking at NPS Montessari for my daughter who will turn 3 years in April.

Cheers

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by pareshraheja

People, wanted some quick info here. Have the schools started issuing forms for admissions for the next academic year.

My question is specific for Bangalore as I am looking at NPS Montessari for my daughter who will turn 3 years in April.

Cheers

Yes, most of the schools are already taking admissions from last two months or so and may close anytime soon. Last year in November I went and checked with DPS Kanakapura road (for my daughter) and admissions were already closed. You better check all your options without any delay.

KK

[Nav-i-gator]

One quick query regarding admissions in Gurgaon. My kid's birth certificate does not have his name in it. It just says gender male, and baby of (mother & father name) in the name column. Is it required to have a name in the birth certificate? Or we can enroll him in Kindergarten and add a name there?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

I am currently residing in Germany and planned to return to India in October-November 2017. Or can I get my son in First Grade, lets say if I return little late in January 2018 which is almost at end of first grade year.

If you are looking to return in 2017, you have to start searching now talk to schools over phone and plan your return back accordingly. I'd estimate anywhere between March to June 2017. Its better to do it this year since your son is still in kindergarten in Germany, there wouldnt be formal schooling yet, and its easier to move your kid this year than it would be next year (2017-18).

If you are planning on a 2018 return, I'd say plan an India trip in summer 2017 look around for schools to join for 2018-19 academic year and fly back. Based on the leads you can plan your return. Do note that the academic year will likely finish late May-early June and academic year begins roundabout the same time in India. January end date won't help, your son would have done only half the year in Germany.

[dass]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

One quick query regarding admissions in Gurgaon. My kid's birth certificate does not have his name in it. It just says gender male, and baby of (mother & father name) in the name column. Is it required to have a name in the birth certificate? Or we can enroll him in Kindergarten and add a name there?

Get your kids name on the certificate. If not now, it will be needed in the future. You may get admission based on the certificate now, but you never know in the future. Ideally, this should have been done immediately after you decided on a name for the kid.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

One quick query regarding admissions in Gurgaon. My kid's birth certificate does not have his name in it. It just says gender male, and baby of (mother & father name) in the name column. Is it required to have a name in the birth certificate? Or we can enroll him in Kindergarten and add a name there?

Originally Posted by dass

Get your kids name on the certificate. If not now, it will be needed in the future. You may get admission based on the certificate now, but you never know in the future. Ideally, this should have been done immediately after you decided on a name for the kid.

Agree with what dass says. There also exists a time restriction (confused whether it is 3 or 15 years) in which you can get the birth certificate reissued with the name, beyond which you can't.

Some of the Indians in my town who were applying for EU residence permit as a spouse were asked to submit their birth certificate. We ourselves attempted to get it as a precautionary measure, when we knew about this restriction.

Additionally I'd suggest getting the certificate reissued with the full passport name, not with the initials. I'd also suggest to have the full name in school as well, as it would get propagated on all educational certificates starting from this point forward. This way the name matches across all documents.

It might look trivial to do it at this point. But it saves lot of bureaucracy later in life