Getting a right choice of school can be tiring and confusing because of the indices to be examined. Parents and guardians should note that choosing a ‘good’ or ‘perfect’ school for their children or wards, be it private or public school; should be considered a MUST, irrespective of tuition being free or paid! It has […]
Getting a right choice of school can be tiring and confusing because of the indices to be examined. Parents and guardians should note that choosing a ‘good’ or ‘perfect’ school for their children or wards, be it private or public school; should be considered a MUST, irrespective of tuition being free or paid! It has become a common where most parents get their children enrol in schools based on proximity and tuition, very few parents take their time to plan and make detailed enquiries about curriculum, Sports/games enhancing infrastructures, space, Parents/teachers friendly associations, boarding school and health facilities etc., before decision are made on choices. Tuition and proximity are economic reasons for selecting a school, but do they translate into quality and balanced education in terms of physical/mental wellbeing and talent/skills discovery for that child or ward? Thus, how do I choose a ‘perfect’ school for my child? The points given below will be of help:
- Planning: Selecting a school for your child MUST be carefully and deliberately planned by parents. Decision on where to send the child to MUST also be void of sentiments and unanimously taken by both parents. Husbands should not be too busy to allow their wives handle this sensitive task. Reasons being that women are most likely to sentimentally select school that their friends children attend, select school based on how the uniform fits the female pupils or students or make a choice because the students of a particular school speak English with a ‘westernized accent’. Again will these reasons address the academic and social –emotional well-being of that child? I think NO! One should know how the schools are viewed in a particular state, district, region or community. Another thing to note about the school is how the school and parents handle problems with drugs, examination malpractice, violence and other forms of vices.
- Reputation of The Teachers: Teachers should be qualified and well experienced in their subject areas. They should have well-structured way of imparting values in their pupils/students beginning with themselves as role models. Teachers should be balanced in commitment i.e. Pro-Constituted authorities and Pro students. They should be comfortable assessing themselves based on the students’ performance.
- Reputation Of The Students: This has to do with how the school system is structured to enshrine values for studies and knowledge in their students. Hence, the look-out-for in the choice of school in this case are: Inter-personal respect among students (I.e. less or no cases of bully), well equipped and user friendly library, respect for teachers and adults in general, punctuality/regularity protocols, evidence of existence of social study groups, inter-disciplinary competitions, inter-house sports, frequency/high impact in inter-school activities and so on.
- Academic Rating/Ranking Of The School: Academic ratings are based on participation in challenging courses and standardized test such as advanced placement. Ranking provides the most useful comparison across the state, region, district and community on how much your child will be stretched. It is important here to know special achievements the school of choice has received, if the test scores has increased or decreased in the past few years and compare their test scores with other schools .
- Visit and Observe The School: Experience the school neighbourhood, corridors to observe how well organized the school is. Observe keenly the attitude of the students and staff. How receptive the school administrator is. You can also take a step further to drive around the school during school and non-school hours just to be sure your child will be comfortable.
- Instinct: You must trust your instinct, consulting all other sources like friends, neighbours, family members. If you do not like the school, even if it is the best around, I advise you look elsewhere because your children are not likely to do well in a school you don’t like. This is because nobody is a better expert than you are.
Choosing a ‘perfect’ school is an herculean task for parents that understands that education is beyond just enrolling a child in a school. This is because they also know that a perfect school will make the educational experience of the child and the parent a reward to relish.
Mrs Krystal IBHADE Tamunosiki
