How to choose a CBSE school near Malihabad: eight questions worth asking

Every school brochure in Uttar Pradesh promises smart classes, a well-stocked library and holistic development. None of that tells you very much. What tells you something is what you see and hear on a working Tuesday, so here are the eight questions worth asking while you are there.

1. Can I walk in unannounced on a working day?
A school that says yes has nothing it needs half an hour to tidy. Ask to see a classroom mid-period, not an empty one.

2. Who supervises evening prep, and what are they qualified in?
For a boarding school this is the single most important answer. A subject teacher on the floor means a doubt gets settled the evening it appears. A warden with a register means it waits until the next class.

3. What is the real class size, not the sanctioned one?
Ask for the strength of the largest section in the class your child would join.

4. How many teachers left last year?
Staff turnover is the number schools least like to give and the one that predicts the next two years best.

5. What happens when a child falls ill at 2 am?
There should be a named person, a room, a doctor on call and a vehicle. If the answer is vague, so is the arrangement.

6. Show me last year's Class X and XII results in full.
Not the toppers — the whole sheet. The average and the bottom of the list say more about teaching than the top three names do.

7. What does the fee not include?
Transport, hostel, examination fees, uniform, books and trips are usually separate. Ask for the annual total, written down.

8. How does the school talk to parents?
Ask how you would find out that your child had a bad week. If there is no honest answer, you will find out at the PTM, which is too late.

Take the answers home and compare them side by side. Two schools that read identically on paper rarely survive this list looking the same.