Section 7e. Interviewing schools

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By Rajkamal Rao 


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Section 7e.  Interviewing schools

By this time, you have probably narrowed down your choice of schools based on location, type, curriculum and cost.  Next is the daunting task of pre-selecting and interviewing schools. 

Most school information is privately held and well-guarded from websites.  Online information is of the static variety with the “Contact us” page featuring a lifeless web form promising a response “shortly”.  The phone numbers listed on the contact page often go unanswered, or are answered by lower level officials who cannot answer your immediate questions.

So you owe it to yourself to conduct detailed interviews of pre-selected schools and find the right fit for your child.  This is best achieved during one of your India visits - preferably during the US summer vacation when Indian schools have just begun their academic year and are open to answer probing questions. 

Here are some questions to frame your interview of the school.  Remember to schedule an in-person discussion with the school principal or admissions director.  Anyone lower in the hierarchy would be wasting your time. 

1. Size of school:  How many students overall? 
2. Size of class:  Teacher/student ratio?
3. How is material taught?  Textbooks?  Class notes?  This is important because CBSE/CICSE only provide broad guidelines regarding curricula for earlier years, leading to Class X and Class XII. 
4. How can you get supplemental materials at home to help your child catch up (or hopefully, be ahead)?
5. What is the school's vision to teach?  Rote learning, or American style teaching of creative, project-based experimentation?  Or a hybrid approach?  Be careful how you ask this question.  If you show your biases one way or another, you'll likely receive the answer you like to hear!
6. Role of homework and tests - How is homework distributed, how much time do students have to complete homework, how are they graded, how can parents monitor performance? 
7. How often are student performance reports through the school year sent to parents? 
8. How often are parent-teacher conferences held? 
9. What is the role of the computer in school work?  Western kids like to do more work on their computer - would this be acceptable?  Can they submit homework via computer printouts as opposed to long-winded hand written content?
10. If CBSE or ICSE - what second languages are offered?  French is common (this shows the marketing strength of Alliance Francaise) while German, Mandarin and Spanish are rare. 
11. Discipline on school premises - smoking, drugs, co-ed relationships - what's the school's position on values?  Is the school more permissive and tolerant of western-type behaviors (to cater to the NRI clientele) or does it adhere to more traditional Indian standards?  Here again, don't show your biases or you will likely hear what you would like to hear.
12. School timings:  What about Saturday school?
13. What is the typical school calendar including duration of breaks (Christmas, Diwali)?
14. What are class-to-class promotion standards?  Does the school require an in-class final exam?  Are six-week measurements performed throughout the year, and if so, are these shared with parents?
15. Extra-curricular activities:  Athletics?  Cricket?  Music?  How are these included in evaluating student performance?
16. What is needed for admission - paperwork, entrance tests?
17. Fees:  What is the fee breakdown including tuition, books, computer, library, transportation?  How much does it cost you each year?
18. What is the best time to apply?  How do you apply? 
19. Bus transportation - how many stops from your location?
20. Lunchroom and other facilities?
21. Library and computer labs?
22. Safety on school grounds?
23. Bath rooms and toilets:  Please ask to inspect these facilities yourself.  Some schools may only have toilets on the ground floor of a multi-level building.  Others may have limited western toilets or none at all.  NRI kids are very sensitive to this question.  You may well end up eliminating a school on this single issue.