Review for National Center for Excellence (NCFE)

I am writing below post for all those parents who stay in IndiraNagar/C V Raman Nagar or nearby areas, and wish to see their child study in a reputed school in the nearby areas. This is a glimpse of what we went though and what you may face too.

Like most parents, we had filled up forms for all the schools in radius of 6-8 kms (which I consider a MAX for 2.5 yr old kid to travel in a school bus). Among these schools were NPS Indiranagar, Shishu Griha, NCFE, NHPS etc.

The first form filled was for Shishu Griha, back in Sep, and I was told very clearly by the admin who sits in their office, that the interview calls should be expected sometime in Nov. So when I was asked in office to travel to US for a couple of weeks in Oct, I thought it wouldn't create any problem, as far as the admission for my son is concerned. But, as sometime happens in life, you are met with a surprise at the most inopportune time. Just 1 day after I left the country, we got an interview call from Shishu Griha (a phone call on my wife's mobile). Call it the bad/immature/senseless policy of the school or  bad thinking/reasoning/logic (or the lack of it) behind it, they did no allow my wife to even attend the interview in my absence. They simply said - "as per school policy/norm, both the parents need to be present at the time of interview". Now god only knows why the presence of "both" the parents is a must for just attending the interview? How about one parent falling sick or travelling (as in my case) or just not able to visit school on that particular day for any of the possible hundreds of reasons - is it justified for a school to decline the interview and thus  play with the future of a child just because a parent in not able to attend interview? Even after repeasted requests/calls/emails, the school just turned their blind eye towards us. It took us sometime to understand that its not worth sending the child to send to such an insensible/irresponsible school.

Next, we got call from Hew horizon public school (NHPS) Indiranagar. What sent on there was another lesson to learn. After the interview formalities/assessment, we were informed that seats are not available in NHPS Indiranagar, but we can get a seat in their new school - New Horizon Gurukul, which is on Outer ring road. It wasn't surprising, and definitely not difficult to understand that school was trying to first fill in seats of their new & not-so-well-known school, while saving seats in NHPS to sell them later in the name of Management seats, at a higher price. Obviously we decided not to admit our child in Gurukul.

Finally we got a call from NCFE and went for the assessment. To my pleasant surprise, neither the presence of both the parents (or any parent for that matter) was mandatory, nor did the school show any other indications of cheap ways to extract more money.

My son, aged 2.5 yrs was taken into a classroom (yes, alone without me/wife), alongwith other children of same age and was asked to do some activities (like playing some simple games, throw the ball etc). The focus was only on assessing child, unlike at many other schools. Next day I came to know that my son is selected and we will need to pay the fee within next 3 days.

Though fees may initially look on the higher side, but actually it is comparable to many other schools in Bangalore. Finally I have decided to admit my son in NCFE.