In post-pandemic admission season, parents are seeking holistic education for children

Sports education, the options of remedial classes and increased attention are some of the parameters parents have before admitting their wards

Some parents, who have moved back to Bengaluru, are seeking admission for their children in the same school where they had studied before the pandemic struck. File. | Photo Credit: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

With just around two months left for the current academic year to draw to a close, the school admission process for the upcoming year is on in full swing in Bengaluru. While an average increase of 10% to 15% has been observed in admissions and applications, the focus of parents has now shifted to ensuring that their children receive holistic education.

After spending the better part of two years at home with children, parents have added more things to their checklists before seeking admissions. “Parents are seeking details regarding sports education and options of remedial classes for students who are falling behind due to impact of online learning earlier,” said Niru Agarwal, Managing Trustee, Greenwood High International School.

Unusual requests

Other schools have received enquiries that were not typical of the previous academic years. A private school principal, who requested anonymity, said, “Parents have asked me if we would be able to provide more attention to their children as they had got to used to it at home. We never received such enquiries before.”

Binuta P., a parent from Subramanyapura, said, “There have been many changes in the professional sector in the last few years. Now, good marks alone is not enough. Children should take part in co-curricular activities with the same interest, and hence, we are looking for schools that can provide good trainers and infrastructure for that.”

Back to old schools

As many parents had moved back to their hometowns in the previous years taking advantage of the work from home option, their children were admitted to schools there. Now, such parents are seeking admission back at the children’s original schools here.

Schools say that classes 1 and 3 were seeing the highest number of admissions. Allan Anderson, Director, Chaman Bhartiya School, said, “We had begun the admission process earlier last year. We noticed that parents who came back from abroad are also getting their children admitted in our schools. We have also seen that people are more conscious of the fee structure now,” said.