(Updated On: 05/03/2026 10:17:40 AM)
"I write this because I am a student at the moment and this has really been one of the saddest and frustration experiences in education. As an IB institution that prides itself as having international standards, the actual situation is far from that. The difference between the promise of the parents and what students actually get is immense.
The services are appalling considering the high charges that are being charged. Most of the classrooms have projectors that are almost nonfunctional or totally out of date which is a waste of class time. The senior students do not have any smart boards despite the fact that these are basic tools in most contemporary schools. Furniture(tables and chairs) is battered and uncomfortable, and the infrastructure is generally not maintained. Even such simple things as air conditioning are a problem. The ACs are often not switched on at all and when they are, they are not functioning adequately. We are made to sit in hot classrooms paying high fees which makes us feel that we are not getting value of our money. At this stage, students really do not even know what happens to the money since it is evident that it is not getting to the facilities.
The food is of low quality and the environment offered to boarding is too strict and unfriendly. Certain boarding parents are judgmental and rough and they build an environment that is not conducive but rather scaring. Boarding can be chilled and dictatorial instead of a second home.
Once the school received some of the best university admits, the school marketed the results considerably and used them as their marketing. It is due to this that they enrolled approximately 40 additional students more than the normal size of the batch. This increase was obviously beyond the capability of the school. Classrooms are not enough and hence some of the classes are moved to other floors even in grade 12 classrooms. Most of the new students openly declare to have been misled by false advertisements and regretted their joining. Some have already left. The impression is that the school is more concentrated on the numbers and money and not the quality.
Academic credibility is the greatest problem. This is an alleged IB school, yet approximately a quarter of the educators are IB certified. The remaining are taught an IB curriculum without being adequately trained in IB thus having a direct impact on the quality of education. One after another teachers are leaving, and it has an especially harmful effect on DP1 and DP2 students since the change of teacher in the middle of the course affects their continuity and preparations to final testing.
There is also too much in the administration. Most employees are assigned too many duties to the extent of failing to attend classes adequately. There is also a very bad communication with parents and many students are left depending more on the private tuition teachers than their school teachers. Parents are paying approximately 9 lakhs per annum, but still need to outlay more on tuition fees due to poor performance academically by the school.
Another issue of concern is leadership. The school principal does not seem to be very qualified according to IB expectations. It is heavily preoccupied with appearance, hair, piercings, and minor rules rather than academics and student wellbeing. She frequently wastes more time screaming at students and imposing unrealistic/non-understood rules instead of facilitating learning. The leadership of her parents is not satisfactory. The regulations are also hypocritical-the students are fined [?]1000 in case they break regulations which in other times were not clearly stated before.
Serious issues that were not dealt with appropriately have also been witnessed. An incident occurred where a teacher was reported to report to school when he was drunk and nothing apparently was done. Meanwhile, random bag checks of students are conducted at which perfumes, lip balm, mouthwash and even tampons are seized. Priced jewels and religious artifacts have been removed, and permanently pierced students have been compelled to take off the piercings. Even the act of charity such as students who desire to donate their hair has been insensitively halted.
Planning in academics is sloppy as well. One instance was that the mandatory ISL trip was set on the same days as the SAT exams, and the school would not alter the days. This demonstrates a severe absence of concern about the future of the students.
The sports facilities are also very unsatisfactory. In case a student is serious about pursuing sports, he or she must do so outside school since the school cannot take him or her to a professional level. This is not acceptable of a school that receives such high fees.
The second issue is that in a majority of cases university admissions are really by external counselors, although the school boasts of the outcomes when promoting itself. They overstate performances to impress the top management or the executives coming to visit them. At the same time, the small group of truly good teachers who are likely 20 per cent are leaving individually and that is causing a severe situation in the DP classes.
The place is also contributing to the issue. The school is located in a very barren and isolated location, but they have almost 90 percent attendance requirement despite the fact that attendance is not mandatory in IB in the first place.
Worse still, the issue of teachers grading assignments and papers with the help of AI tools is an issue of concern as they are expected to do this task. The students are supposed to work with sincerity, but the feedback seems to be impersonal, and sometimes, it is automated.
I would not suggest anyone to come here and more so when there are much better schools in Pune that boasts of a healthier environment, better facilities and a more true orientation towards academics and student wellbeing."
