Review for Neev

My wife and I chose Neev's new Koramangala branch as our toddler's first school after researching several play-schools and day-cares, mostly based on online reviews.

Despite the high fees and the fact that we were not allowed to attend a 'live' session (they allow prospective parents to view a session only with advance notice at one particular time of their choice) we were impressed by the facilities and the principal and decided to register with Neev.

Right from the first day we noticed that many of the teachers seemed to lack the enthusiasm and energy in their interaction with the children. Admittedly, this was the first week and there will be some amount of uncertainty on the part of the children and parents but this is exactly where the teachers should have stepped up and ensured everyone’s made comfortable and welcome. Little things, like not using saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ with kids, allowing shoes for everyone even in the toddler areas where kids spend most of their time on the floor, and leaving the sandpit unattended while children were playing there, just add up to form a big problem.

But most important, was our very surreal experience when we wished to discuss our concerns with the centre head and principal, together. First, we were denied an appointment with the principal and were forced to talk only with the centre head. The principal did appear half-way thought the meeting and even before we could finish explaining our point of view she went on the defensive, completely closed to what we had to say. Within minutes, what was an open discussion deteriorated into a rude defence based on how we did not know enough to judge right or wrong about the environment and teachers at Neev. The principal actually asked us why we were wasting the centre head's time (the appointment was given by their staff the previous day- we hadn't insisted on any particular time). The scene was more like a road-side quarrel than a parent-teacher discussion. Long story short, we left Neev more baffled than angry at the extremely discourteous, ill-mannered and closed attitude of the principal. Needless to say, the principal completely refused to even talk about the Rs. Sixty-three Thousand we had already paid them. Our child went to Neev all of three days.

The point of this long-winded review is that prospective parents keep in mind that reputation of a certain school or branch certainly does not guarantee good service and high standards. In this case though, the principal's actions definitely explain the sorry state of Neev: Big on talk before you pay up, zero in implementation and simple courtesy afterwards.