Bangalore Schools - Categorization

Found the below mentioned useful categorization at a r2iclubforums link. Very good and useful.

School Categorization:
1) Govt. and public schools - govt. schools, Army schools, central schools

• Fee - Free or very nominal?
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - none

2) Neigborhood and private schools - Ryan, DPS, NPS, Josephs, Cottons, Freedom Intl, Frank Anthony's etc., etc. Tons of schools in this category.

• Patronized by the Indian middleclass, upper middleclass, NRIs etc.
• Fee - INR 30k to 50k
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Some require yrly donations

3) Academy's and wannabe intl schools - Gear, Greenwood, VIBGYOR, Inventure, Vidyashilp, NAFL, etc.

• Patronized by the Indian upper middleclass, NRIs, etc.
• Fee - INR 60k to 100k (a new school like VIBGYOR are exceptions)
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

4) Intl school - TISB, Canadian, BLR Intl, Sarla Birla, JIRS, Deccan, Valley(?), et all

• Patronized by expats, NRIs and the wealthy
• Fee - Over 1 lakh
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

Methodology: Most schools under category 3 and 4 seem to follow the western style of teaching up to grade 5 (i.e smaller class sizes, smaller units within a classroom, no tests and exams(?), one does not even prescribe homework. Each school seems to follow its own methodology. There doesn't appear to be any standard or benchmark.

Kannada exposure (at least as a third language) is a must for all schools (except Central/Army schools)? And that 3rd lang. requirement starts 6th std. onwards?

• In most category 1 - Severe Kannada "pain" for sure
• Category 2 - mild to moderate - Can be substituted w/ Hindi or Sanskrit pain
• Category 3 - mild
• Category 4 - Students can opt for Spanish or French pain instead?

Security?

• Category 2 - usually boasts of an old man in blue uniform sitting by the gate.
• Category 3 - could have restricted entry and an younger guy in full (shoes and all) blue uniform. (Some like Gear is very strict - Prospective parents are not even allowed inside to inquire, prior to admitting their ward. They are strict and I'm sure they have their reason for it...)
• Category 4 - Security rivals that of any large multinational S/W firm since they are residential schools as well.

Kids presence for admission:

• Kids presence and admission tests are dependent of school policies. Most require a test for higher grades.
• In the lower grades, one could get a child admitted w/o making the trip -we did.