Review about best CBSE schools - Page 1

Kindly provide me information regarding the best CBSE syllabus schools in and around velachery (Arsh vidya mandir, DAV adambakkam, POon vidhyashram etc)

Some of children known to me are studying in pon vidyashram and they good reviews about the school

I did not hear good reviews about Pon vidyashram in Valasarawalkam. Any idea how  the madipakkam branch is excelling?

I have been following this discussion for a while- while my daughter does not go to a CBSE school- I am still interested in this discussion. I think it would be good to clearly state what we mean by a "good school" Each one of us have different expectations from a school. 

Some of my friends whose children go to CBSE schools in Delhi often say that when compared to Chennai CBSE schools, the Delhi ones are far better- their complaints being that the Chennai CBSE schools are very marks oreinted and not learning focussed. I am just repeating what they say... This is just a thought that I wanted to share with you.

Best

Meera

Hi, even I did not hear good reviews about Pon Vidyayashram. I have no personal experience on this school and this is hearsay.

All the best

Lavanya

hi every one,

i will go with meera, take DAV for eg., students are sqeezed to study in other words get more marks, Nothing wrong as far as your child is interested in the regime. if you have a child who is more interested in other co-curicular activities it might take a back stage. PSBB is rot, and its sub or sis concerns are even worst. highly commercial. most of these upcoming and mushrooming so called big budget schools show their infrastructure to capture attention and lure parents.

your best interest will be how far your child will be comfortable in the school. whether teachers are well qualified, general attitudes of children studying in a particular school will help you analyse the school better. do not go by popular demand.

best lucks

mayura

Hi Mayura

Agreed totally- especially your opinion regarding the so called best schools. I have heard that PSBB students have to declare their caste in the information requested for by the school . The first page of the diary every year- you write what your caste it and god help you if you are not Iyer or Iyengar!!!!!

I wonder how in today's world when borders are shrinking and the visions are supponsedly widening we still want to know a person's caste!!! Can you imagine these kids will come out with the idea about a strong caste identity and when they grow up they will perpetuate it and we will continue to be a sub divided scoiety!! Education is supposed to widen the world's view, instill tolerence and build capacities.

This is supposed to be one of the "best schools" in south Chennai!!! One of my colleagues whose daugther moved to Delhi in a cbse school after a horrible experience at a Chennai CBSE school says that Chennai schools probably are the worst in India. They are marks centric and offer not scope for extra curriculur activities or over all growth. Their vision being limited to nurturing engineer embroyos!!!

Meera

thats true meera

but the fault is on us. may be you and i share the same wave length but you see parents pouring over their children and their studies. it is the parents to rate the schools not the outcome of the child. its a showy world. people should know it is stuff that matters. we are people who run around sania mirza when we have silent achievers as joshna chinnappa and i do not remember the girl who won the carrom world title. this is what we are ; until our perceptions change we cannot create a better world for our children.  

Hi Mayura and Meera, let me join your bandwagon of minority group. I share similar views.

Hi Dr. Ramesh

let us make this minority group into a majority. it is a matter of every child's future that is being discussed here. parents with their child's interest utmost in mind will surely agree with us. As meera says, having best brains in the world we are still unsucessful since our minds are not broad enough to accept changes. Lest it can be said that we chose to bend when it seems advantageous to us rather than the society as a whole. USA which thrives on indian brains to maintain their world ranking, Australia which depends on indian business community for their economic development still treat indians as dirtexcept  for the creamy layer they need for their welfare but we still want to ape them while there are people like sarath Babu who used his MBA to manufacture idlis and still make it big in INDIA. let us learn from him. As an Idli shop owner  he earns more than what our indian born enggrs. earn abroad. we want to choose the easy way out. tread on an already laid path. that is why we do not have many acheivers though we have the potential.

rgds

mayura.    

Hi Dr. Ramesh

let us make this minority group into a majority. it is a matter of every child's future that is being discussed here. parents with their child's interest utmost in mind will surely agree with us. As meera says, having best brains in the world we are still unsucessful since our minds are not broad enough to accept changes. Lest it can be said that we chose to bend when it seems advantageous to us rather than the society as a whole. USA which thrives on indian brains to maintain their world ranking, Australia which depends on indian business community for their economic development still treat indians as dirtexcept  for the creamy layer they need for their welfare but we still want to ape them while there are people like sarath Babu who used his MBA to manufacture idlis and still make it big in INDIA. let us learn from him. As an Idli shop owner  he earns more than what our indian born enggrs. earn abroad. we want to choose the easy way out. tread on an already laid path. that is why we do not have many acheivers though we have the potential.

rgds

mayura.    

I agree with Mayura. But more than looking at education as a mere capacity building initiative to help with increased income, I think we should seriously debate the power of education to inculcate values among children. I cannot think of any school that seriously looks at values. I have found children using unhealthy tactics to get that extra 10 marks or so While I do not deny that it is our role as parents to do something about it, it is also the responsibility of the school to actively discourage these kinds of unhealthy behaviour. Simple things like helping others seem to be "going out of fashion"!! A well behaved child who is also a good human being should be the goal that all "good" schools should strive for. But I guess that will not be so long as schools are treated as entreprenuerial opportunities by their promoters, teachers treating thier vocation as jobs. So if that is so then education has no meaning. It is not a change in knowledge and values it will simply be accumulation of marks, seats in colleges and a society that is filled with people who refuse to acknowledge that we as humans have a duty towards each other and this planet we live in..

Sorry, I dont wnat to sermonize but I think that is what most of these "good" schools are getting into.

We are moving ahead, the school like PSBB taking our childs way back in 40's by doing admission based on caste system. Most of our collegues and friends may recived from PSBB letter regreting admission because of excess numbers of apllication. I would suggest to file RTI against these school so that the peoplles will actually know how they are doing admission process. I am 100% confident that  school admission is based only on CASTE basis.Thery are not making educated indian, but they are unfortuntely dividing indian by caste.

Hello Prashant

I agree with your views on the PSBB admission issues possibly being determined by caste. But tell me something-do we want our children to get into a school like that? I can imagine the trauma a child like my daugther with a Hindu mother and a Christian father would face in a school like that!! She would be clueless about Varalakshmi Nombus and Avaniavattam type of festivals!!! IThey would treat her like a untouchable. I think we are getting to be more and caste focussed over the years! 

You know ours is a secular country. Even the birth certificate does not have a column for relgion and neither do any other official documents like drivers licence, passport etc. So why do we have to declare caste based info? If it is for accessing some entitlement for e.g do SC/ST students in schools like these have reservation? If yes then one can just ask that instead of asking "mother's caste" and "father's caste".

And I am shocked that these are considered to be the "best schools" in Chennai!! I 

But this discussion is getting interesting. I dont think we are minority group as someone mentioned. There are enough people like us and we should raise our voices against such things.

Meera

Hi all,

I have been following this discussion for a while and I too subscribe to the same philosophy on education. I went to a city school, but happily, I have been able to have the "study for learning sake" attitude as far as my own education went.

But I have to admit, I have zero knowledge of ground realities with respect to schooling now. I will be trying to admit my daughter in a city school in the coming academic year. And am becoming anxious about the same things. Will competition kill curiosity and the creative spirit in the child? Will I be able to keep the balance by teaching her my own values ?

Can you share your personal experiences in this regard ? Are there schools which are open-minded and truly developing young minds ?

- Indira

Hi Indira

You can try some schools like Abacus and Navadisha which are Montessori schools affiliated to the ICSE board. Other ICSE schools in the city are KFI and Shishya. While I do not know much about shishya I think KFI does insist on value education and concept based learning. Generally all ICSE schools do that because the board insists on that. I find that most ICSE schools however "mainstream" retain the focus on learning and not on marks because I guess the push comes from the regulatory athority - the board. This has been consistent from the time I was doing my ICSE and ISC. I am not so sure about the NCERT and its regulatory processes of the CBSE schools.

Montessori education is different in the sense that it is child friendly and is not "teaching' oreinted but learning focussed. 

But I dont know about the admission procedures now in any of these schools because my daugther is 12 years old and has been in the same school for about 8 years now. 

Wish you all the best and my request would be not to get subsumed into the marks rat race that certain kind of schools propogate! 

Regards

Meera 

Thanks, Meera.  I really appreciate your advice.

This year we would be moving into Chennai and living in the Adyar area. I have heard about 'The school - KFI', and when the time comes, I will try for admission there. Your thoughts on ICSE schooling is very encouraging.   I was going to give a good shot at Bala Vidya mandir (CBSE) and Harishree Vidyalayam (ICSE) for pre-kg admission.  

- Indira

Yes. Both schools are good I think. Harishree is a new school and they are evolving over the years as they upgrade. Bala Vidya Mandir I am told is probably the best CBSE school in Chennai. It has focus on all round development of the child. Actually even its parent school Vidya Mandir is a good one. But you will find some of the caste issues that PSBB has in this school.  Though the school in its philosophy does not propogate it ( unlike PSBB), the students and their parents do. So if you dont belong to the dominant community that studies in that school your child is likely to feel like an outcaste.

Wish you all the best.

Meera

Thank you very much, Meera.

I really appreciate your kindness.

- Indira

dear meera

i am aparent from north chennai i have two daughters studying in anglo board but now iam planing to move them to cbse i have been trying many schools in mylapore and around but the fees in all these schools are not less than 30k they boast of all ultra modern facilities which i dont know whether they really have  my daughter has cleared her entrance test in the grove school now i am in a dilema whether to admit her in the school and whether it is worth paying 32k per year this school is a icse school and could u pls throw some prospects of studying in icse school is it suitable for our indian system of education ? pls reply immd ...

Hi Suteja

I can appreciate your concerns. The Grove is an ICSE school. But I think they only have till class 7 or so.  Pl check on their plans for upgrade. I have been to the campus. It is nice and the class sizes are good. But you need to make sure when they expect classes till 10th. Afterall moving a child out in the 7th of so to another school has its own problems. I would suggest that you go there and speak to the school and then make a decision.

I dont know how expensive Navadisha Montessori is. But you could check that too. They are at Velachery and affiliated to ICSE. They have till 10th std.

Wish you all the best.

Regards

Meera

Dear indira

i do not understand what you mean by competition. scoring marks in school studies fetches you nothing. pls understand that. its a wide world. everyone has enough space to succeed on their own and to the extend they wish to.  you need not kill your virtue to make it big. a person without virtue can succeed  but cannot sustain in the long run. cheetah is fastest but horse runs fast for a longer distance. think where yo will place yourself in the place or cheetah or horse??.

rgds

mayura 

Wow, excellent discussion is going on. I too really agree with what mayura has said. in this wide world, just scoring marks is not at all enough. the one which each child requires is exposure, discipline, indepedent to choose their interested career etc.

agreeing to all these points, can anyone tell the topmost 5 best cbse schools in chennai which satisfies our criterias?

Hi Mayura,

Thanks for your response. But, I have to say, for some reason you have misunderstood what I had written.

My intention as a parent is to ensure my child enjoys learning and the learning process. I have a firm belief that if there is a curious and creative spirit, she can learn anything she wants to when she is older. Having said that, I also feel that the environment at school and peers can affect her way of thinking. And hence, I have a need to search and find an environment where she can be nurtured. I don't think much about exams or marks at the primary level, which I believe takes the focus away from learning. Even if the school does have exams for primary classes, learning has to be for learning sake. This is what I practise, hopefully, my daughter will too :)

- Indira

I think when choosing schools for our kids we all voluntarily or involuntarily give a higher priority for academic performance of the schools. I dont think many of us would choose schools which, lets say ,have low pass percentage in board exams but come first in all sports activities. India still has very limited scope for making a career out of sports or other activities.  Going abroad to improve our scope also involves a lot of money which most of the middle class people cannot afford. The schools on their part try to get cent percent results, toppers in examinations by having extra classes and extra homework for the kids for the higher classes. Here the problem arises if the child is not able to perform academically even after lot of effort and have interest and excels in some other activity. In this case we as parents have no other choice but to pull our child from that school and put him in a school that will recognize and nurture his or her talents. These so called good established schools can afford to act arrogant since there are always people dying to get admissions there for their kids.

Not only PSBB, but I think many schools are community or religion based. For instance the Christian schools give preference for christian studends, similarly there are others who give preference to SC/ST probably. Good to know that PSBB gives preference for Iyers/Iyengars. Not that I am one, but I can expect what would most likely be the result if I apply to that school.

I think the minority Christian and Muslim institutions are far more accommodative in admitting wards from other religions compared to Hindu schools. I would say that most of the so called 'best' CBSE schools in Chennai are community based than religion based. Its disgusting truth! We parents want to bring up our kids with these schools and expect the schools teach them our 'traditional values' with a modern outlook. Shame on us!

Leaving aside the community/religion part, how many of these schools are accommodative to the economically poor people (who can't afford 15-30k as term fees per annum for a LKG). As the temples of wisdom, shouldn't these schools have a quota (like 25%) for the people coming from a poor background? Don't those kids also deserve a quality education?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Dr,

I wont agree to that atleast in my case, as being a Christian myself i would not have got an admission to Vidya Mandir, which is supposedly known as a Tambram school. And i got admission as a common man, applied as a common man, with no influence/ money whatsoever.

On accomodating people from the economically under priviledged class, the debate is socially valid, but from a practical point of view to provide amenities which all of us demand,  the school also needs money, and we all know how capable the political/adminisrtative machinery is in providing funds. It can be a ideal situation if CBSE or ICSE as a board has a control on admissions and it is seen that a certain % of people from the Economically Underpriviledged class get admitted. I studied in one of the best convent schools in Pune, and our school had free education to such kids throughout and in a class of 30 we would have 6-7 such kids.

regards

Santosh

Hi Santosh,

Yours is one of the 'odd' cases wrt VM. Look at the concerns people have with VM on the status of their application. If VM had the courtesy to call you by phone for the interview (though you did not show up in time, as per their letter to you), then why should so many parents still discuss about not being called for interviews. Shouldn't have they informed all the applicants in time on shortlist/reject status? Just FYI: VM has a Christian at a very senior level of management, who decides on the admission. When VM open the school in june/july-2010, check the % people from other religion (non-brahmin hindu % as well). You would find that it is far less from % of hindu students studying in schools like don bosco, holy angels, good sheperd etc.

I read somewhere that the central govt is reserving 25% of seats in primary schools for economically backward classes from next year, which will be funded by both central and states in 65:35 ratio. A welcome initiative. Economic imbalance is a bigger problem for India than caste.

I appreciate that you had your schooling from an institution which accommodate socio-economically underprivileged children as well. I hope that your classmates are also doing well in their lives and give back to society.

Cheers 

Hi Friends,

Reading all your comments and views were interesting.I got lots of information from your conversation. I am a very disturbed mother living in Tambaram looking for  a good school in and around Tambaram.Can any of you help me on this .I am working on this since my son was 2 years old. We have even decided to relocate to Annanagar to try get admission near any of these schools there since we find that none of the schools near tambaram are not upto our expectations.We do not have any other discussion at home other than picking a good school for my son Mridul. We find that the schools near by donot have proper permanent faculties they keep changing, some of the schools do not have even a play ground.I have a strong feeling that city schools will be of high standard than schools at tamabaram.They get more exposure.Please post ur comments.

Hi Mridul,

Visit Good earth school near Tambaram. I read some good reviews about this school.

Cheers

Hello everyone 

I am very perturbed that someone actually feels proud that "Iyers and Iyengars" are given preference in PSBB. I agree with Santosh. I studied in one of the b est convents in Calcutta and as a minority institution they had only a small percentage reserved for students of their religion ( even if the reservation % is high in terms of numbers minorities are still minorities). But a majority o fus belonged to other relgions. They never made us feel bad about not being Christian and never made any effort to convert us either. They gave us wholesome education and an introduction into spirutality without mentioning religion!! We always prayed to God- it was left to us whether we wanted to pray to Jesus, Allah or Krishna.

I find this religious bias very rabid in some of the schools here like DAV and PSBB. We are secular country. So why give preference to some castes. Incidently PSBB is not just a Hindu focussed school but a sub caste focussed school. Do we want that? Iam an Iyer and while I am not proud of it I am not ashamed of it either. It is just an identity issue that I choose to ignore in the public sphere.

I am shocked that there are educated parents like us in this group who feel proud that there are school for sub castes!!!!!

Dr. Ramesh, the issue is not about having a Christian person at a high level in any school. It is like the BJP having that token muslim and christian members!!! It is the ethos that is in question. Co option is not participation. But for your reference I had mentioned earlier that Vidya Mandir is not a PSBB kind of school . It is actually a nice school which is not into caste based discrimination. However the students who study there practice it. I know of a muslim boy who studies there and has no friends!!! No one wants to eat with him!!!!

Now I have studied in a catholic institution and I had 3 muslim friends, 2 hindu friends, 1 parsi friend but no christian friends!! All 6 of us were a gang who used to be together calling ourselves "Super six". My mother an orthodox brahmin lady never had any objections to my having them over at home. Two of my muslim friends were her favourites because they used to help her in the kitchen in cooking and serving whenver she had to feed our gang 

At school we celebrated all festivals. I learnt about the Parsi "Navroze" and we used to fight over " Sevai" made during Idd!! We made it a point to visit each one our close friends for their festivals.

I dont find any of this in Chennai!! I am so sorry to say this!! Here people keep to themselves and while they dont break mosques they let "others "know that they are not welcome either in their homes or in schools run by them.

Really a sad state of affairs. This is something that is practiced even when they go abroad- leading to ghettoistic mentality. 

Tagore says in his Gitanjanli of a heaven of freedome " Where the mind has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls..." I doubt with an education system like this and with champions who actually support this whether we will ever wake up into that Heaven of freedom.

Guess we can keep scoring 100 % in Maths, physics, Chem, aspire to join IIT, join a local engg college if that does not happen and try to run off to the US where we can propogate the same ideology!!

Sorry if I sound harsh. But it seems that is our comfort zone in Chennai!