Your hunt for the ideal school ends with a series of new challenges, when your child’s schooling starts with a new institution. There are plenty of things that you need to arrange followed by a lot of expectations from the new school. As a parent, we make a choice by selecting a good online school, and try to believe that it is the best one for your kid!
However, there are always chances of falling into the trap of illegitimate institutions at the end of the day!
School education has certain aspects that you must scrutinize before making your final pick. And this is the case even with an online school!
Here are the things you must check before taking your online school admission:
1. Recognition & Accreditation
Accreditation is a term used internationally for schools or post-secondary institutions to provide credibility, when they meet the desired standards set by the state or accrediting body. If a school is properly accredited it will be a good school for acceptance at the next level of formal education. Broadly, it is related to the level of quality maintained by the institution. And depicts operational efficiency along with credibility.
In India, when an online school is accredited by a legitimate accrediting agency, it would mean that the program has recognition. And you can find it safe and credible for your child.
Make sure you check this, along with a affiliation number that proves recognition from the government before taking admission into any online school. Failing which, you might fall into the trap of an online school scam without even realizing it!
The best part about choosing an accredited online school is that you get surety of quality, as such schools have to pass all the quality checks from the accrediting body in order to get legal accreditation.
2. Subjects & Courses
The virtual schooling options available are supposed to be better than any traditional schools. So make sure you check out the core courses, other options, and even the courses available in the following classes. Do not settle for something that is purely not relevant in our Indian educational setting. As you might want to revert back to a traditional school someday, due to some reasons. The course options should be such that they hold value and validity, outside the online school.
Our students, their needs, future prospects, and even their career choices are different in this part of the world. Keep all this in mind and see how that particular institution can serve your purpose.
3. Assistance & Support
This is another BIG THING! Your choice of a virtual school should make you relaxed and sure about enough assistance especially if you have kids of elementary level age groups. For school admission, choose an online learning platform that gives enough handholding to your kid, and do not ignore the other support facilities.
With virtual learning, you get several virtual classes, options to connect with the teachers (like parent-teacher association meetings), and even a technical support assurance at times. Check how you will manage the classes, see if the count is sufficient, and also make sure that the timings do not clash with your job/home responsibilities much.
In the initial days, you might feel the need of being there to see how it is going. And also to settle your kid in the new learning environment. Gauge all the possibilities well and give a final go-ahead only after careful thought.
4. Teacher & Content
When it comes to supporting at school, we instantly think of a TEACHER!
Yes! This does not change with an online school as well. Along with the digital learning content, you have the support of trained online teachers who take your kid through the learning process. Make sure you interact with the teacher or know enough about him/her before taking admission in an online school.
It is also important to get convinced with the skills of the teacher as he/she should know how to manage and engage kids online. A good traditional school teacher doesn’t need to excel equally well with online schooling. So check the level of the teaching staff in advance.
5. Practicality & Offerings
Another important aspect that have a sinister impact on child is, the sync of virtual school’s education with other institutions. Because if online school simply imitates the trends of other education systems, it might lose its relevance for Indian conditions. We are sure you do not wish to waste your precious time in explaining to traditional schools, how this virtual education is at par or even better than regular Indian education.
Just a small tip here– An ideal virtual school successfully creates a online school program, designed to fill in the voids with better educational practices of the world, especially for your country.
Wait till you build this understanding about the best practices. And needless to say, it should be from the horse’s mouth!
Other factors such as reviews, feedback, perks, discounts, new admission offer on fees, and online academic content also makes a difference. So add these as well to your priority list.
We hope this piece of information helped in selecting a good online school for your kids!
