“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts”. ― C.S. Lewis.
Choosing the right school for your child is a harrowing process. Most reputed schools put you through a harrowing obstacle course during the admission process. From pointless interviews for your child, crony recommendations and under the table capitation fees.
After you negotiate this maze to an admission process, you are often left questioning the quality of the education provided. The issues with schools in Hyderabad are painfully obvious. The older reputed schools like HPS, Bhavans, DPS, etc provide the right kind of education but are out of reach for most of the middle class. They also posses quite rigid systems and might not be conducive to parent’s suggestions in comparison to their newer counterparts.
Most new schools fare much worse they suffer from a myriad of issues. Many of them over promise at the time of admissions, others operate as coaching factories which provide no or little overall development, The teachers in these schools might have lot of experience but their respective tenures with the given schools is usually less than 3 years. This is due to a highly aggressive market for quality school teachers and they jump ship for better pay packages. This inhibits a development of a heritage or culture in these schools.
After sending my daughter to a Hyderabad based school for three years. I decided to perform a more detailed study of my other alternatives. I was determined to find a better option for my son who is 4 years younger to my older child.
After extensive and detailed pros & cons analysis and other techniques I had learned in my MBA. I could find very few schools that met my basic requirements like good infrastructure, necessary focus on extracurriculars, affordability, quality teachers with good experience who maintained tenure with the school.
I finally had my Eureka moment when my neighbor who cribbed that after shifting from a Tier 2 city like Warangal to Hyderabad. She was surprised she couldn’t find a good school in spite of Hyderabad being a cosmopolitan city. She stated the school her kids attended in the Warangal was far superior in almost every aspect to the school her kids attended to today.
This struck a light bulb in me. I enquired the details of the school it was DPS Warangal. The next weekend I made a trip to Warangal with my spouse to the school. What waited for us there was truly a pleasant surprise.
To start off with the campus is on sprawling grounds rivaling colleges and resorts in size and infrastructure. The school had a hygienic and comfortable hostel. The grounds included a full sized cricket cum football ground and had the setup for various others sports (Cement skating rink and a basketball court).
The food in the messes was clean and freshly prepared and I believe its routine as our visit was unannounced.
Next, I met the teachers and were pleasantly surprised to know most of them have been associated with the school since its inception, They were committed to the school and they possessed a universal temper in relation to the school. Needless to say, the curriculum thought was the tried and tested DPS curriculum.
I met with the Chairman cum Proprietor Mr. Ravi, whose family enterprise has been in the education field, his father serves prominently on the board of Kakatiya University. Told me he had considered opening his franchise of DPS in Hyderabad but realized he wouldn’t be able to provide the infrastructure he had on this campus and even if he did the investment would be so high that the fees he would have to charge would be out of reach for most of the middle class.
I gave this situation a good thought and realized sending my son to DPS Warangal with hostel boarding not only was economically viable but gave him opportunities that he would not have had in a city-based school.
My son stays in the Hostel during the weekdays. In the weekends and festival days, I have him visit home the drive from Hyderabad (Hitec City) to DPS Warangal is under three hours during morning hours.
I believe in due course good schools with boarding facility whose emphasis is on quality in satellite towns of Hyderabad will be the option for many parents from the middle class over their city based overpriced and over promising counterparts.
I have attached a link below to DPS Warangal’s website. I would advise prospective parents to also make one quick visit to the school and compare its infrastructure to your other alternatives.
http://www.dpswarangal.in/ ——————>>> School Website. Visit the contact us section for an appointment.
