Bangalore's First Smart School

Okay. This thread might be dead already, and no more activities might be taking place, but I feel I must say something to clear a common misconception. As a student, I am aware that parents are ignorant and I feel parents know nothing. If you want information about the school, and how good it is, ask the child who goes there. In India, adults and parents have this ego problem and have a really annoying attitude about "what do they know? They're just stupid kids..." This is really annoying. Back to the topic, I joined PSBB Learning Leadership Academy way back in 2007, when the school was into the second year of it's life, and the then Principal was Mrs. Geetha Loganathan. I had moved back from the US three years ago, and joined this school after leaving Brigade School, which split up from PSBB in 2004/5. I studied in this school for five years (and going) and know the inside and out of this school as I have been closely associated with PSBB since Grade 3. When I joined PSBBLLA in Grade 6, I was a new student all over again. New school, new people and new culture. It was very Indian and Hindu. The teachers are so warm and welcoming. The then Principal (Mrs. Loganathan) was so friendly and approachable, that you could just walk into her office and ask her anything and she would always be there and entertain your doubts. In Grade 7, I was made the SPL or the Head Boy of the school. My class teachers were very encouraging and still are. This is when Mrs. Geetha Loganathan had to leave us and be replaced by Mrs. Mahalakshmi Kumar as the new Principal of the school. Things have not changed since Mrs. Mahalakshmi joined as the principal. And this is a good thing, because she has also always supported us as much (if not more) than Geetha Ma'am. I feel PSBBLLA is a one of a kind CBSE school where they give your child the most freedom an school can EVER offer in any country. Ask me, I've lived in USA, UK, France, sometime in Canada and India, and although the education system might be superior (which the school can't help anyway, because it follows directives issued by the board) the school isn't like your own family there. Here, it's not just my friends, but my teachers, and my principal who all seem to be like my closest family, even closer than my own blood-relatives. I think many of you parents are parents of children in lower classes (PreKG - Class 2/3) but I can assure you, when in middle school, your child WILL have FUN. I must at this point inform you, that if you're looking for a school with just academics and pressure of exams and nothing but classes to attend, please stop reading this post. This post, and this school is not for you. This school caters to those parents who believe they want holistic and all-round development with strong family values binding them and good leadership qualities. True, PSBBLLA might not satisfy you 100%, but hey, no school in the world can, right? And rest assured, PSBBLLA will definitely satisfy YOUR CHILD a guaranteed 99.9% true happiness, which is what is needed in a school going child. This school emphasizes on Academics, Co-Curricular Arts and Performing Arts, and also outside-school activites. Learning at PSBBLLA can be fun, if you accept just somethings. Speaking of the Principal, Mrs. Mahalakshmi Kumar, is one of the most caring and approachable principals I have ever seen. She is not one of those princiapls who strike a scary figure when a student passes her, but, she is so nice that you can't help but say Shri Gurubhyo Namaha (the way students greet their teachers at PSBBLLA, instead of the boring Good Morning Ma'am) every time you meet her. She commands that respect. It just comes out of you. And plus, you can go talk to her anytime during school hours and she ALWAYS has allowed me into her office, no matter how busy she is, and listened to what I/we had to say, and sometimes, noted it down too! AND, she does NOT use bad language, which I read from many parents in previous comments. SmartClass by the way, doesn't replace the teacher or make her job easier, it enhances her teaching, which I feel is already so good. We seniors have really nice teachers, the most kind you can find for high school. Just give the school a little time. And don't compare it to PSBB Chennai. That's been running for 50-60 years, and our school is 1/10th of that. and look how far we've come already! All schools have starting troubles, but I feel, with the support of Mrs. YG Parthasarathy, and others, they didn't go through much starting troubles. We've already moved to a new campus in Lakshmipura. I belong to the first graduating batch of PSBBLLA, and true, we were experimented for a while, but everything seems fine, it's above all the other average CBSE schools in Bangalore, and maybe our only competition is SKCH (Kumarans), but they've been running for 50 years too. Plus, for the kind of teaching, technology and infrastructure the school offers, I feel the fees is not at all expensive and that they are not out there to grab you money. Why is this so common in all parents? Any school you put your child into, that's all you say. In that case, why dont you quit your job and teach your child yourself? Anyways, if you're looking for a good CBSE school in Bangalore, PSBBLLA is among the top three (PSBBLLA, National Public School, and Kumarans) And I can assure your child (not you) that they will be happy children, because that's what the school's looking for. Congrats to PSBB and LLF for building such a nice school in such little time! -Arjun Krishna

My kid is in 1 std and the teacher knows only to complain, rather than to understand the Kid and help him to learn .every word she speaks ,she tells sylabus is conceptual .Dont understand how a 1std kid should start conceptual thinking at his age .looking to change school.

I agree with comments made by Kumar, my son as got very good Teacher for Kannada in 2006, after 4 years i have admitted to my Daughter Langauage teacher is not upto the mark, now overall the teaching has become worst in the school

Whether this puts additional burden on kids or helps them...time only can tell! There will be too much information available and they might end up getting frustrated since they can not understand/learn everything!

i want to join in good education (smart school) school near vijayawada in andhra pradesh.

I want to join my son for nursery. I was searching for schools near bannerghatta road. PSBB --was one of my options nice article thanks for information

Though there have been a lot of -ve comments on the board, I did not find the school that bad. Every school would have it's -ves and +ves. My son completed Pre KG and has learnt (a) to communicate in English (b) recite a host of prayers and slokas with clarity (c) my son likes his class teacher so much he wants her to be there in his new class as well. However, the school needs to (a) Improve on there school transport ( only contractor cannot be held responsible. School to take joint responsibilty. Few school buses are in very poor state) (b) Improve parent teacher communication. Net is not a solution for everything. (c) Spend some money on providing printed syllabus. They cannot be standing copying for hours. Next option put the information on net/students login. (d) Nursery school Principal need to learn to win hearts of small kids. She can't preach something to parents when she does not follow it. She should at least smile at kids..

The new Principal, Smt. Mahalakshmi Kumar, needs to take some lessons. She uses bad language while scolding the students and loses her temper too fast. What values will she instill in the students, if she herself is setting such a bad example? Now when the students start using the same language, she doesn't have any right to punish them.I feel sorry for Smt. YGP. She has entrusted such a big responsibility to a wrong person. The class 7 doesn't have any fans and when the students complained of feeling hot and uncomfortable in the class, she calls them "spoilt Bangalore kids"!! Aren't we paying fees comparable to all the good schools here? Its the school's responsibility to provide the basic amenities. It talks of big stuff like "smart class" but can't even provide basic things as fans in the classrooms! If things go on like this, am sure many of the parents will reconsider their decisions and pull out their kids from the school. There is no dirth of good schools here.

Has anyone taken the time to verify the qualifications of the teachers? Both nursery and senior teachers? I heard that in PSBB Millennium, Chennai a lot of teachers already have bogus B.Ed. degrees (B.Ed. course in 3 months!!) and more trying to get the same degrees. Is it the same in PSBBLLA?

Here is my Review on PSBB.... I put my kid to PSBB-LLA (Bangalore) and I like many other parents are confident that we made the worst decision. My kid is in pre-kg. 1. There are 6 Sections (A to F). Each section has 35 to 38 kids. 2. School is run by a a few house wives who have no clue of what they r doing. Complete chaos in everything... 3. Pre-School? Do they know what that is? They lock up 38 kids in the class room with no toys for 4 hrs. That's all. There is no place for the kids to move or forget play. 4. There is nothing called administration. They do not have any idea who is in which class , your kid came or not. Or what is going to happen to transport. 5. Buses are completely overcrowded, more than ANY BMTC peak traffic bus. See yourself to believe. 6. They advertise that they have TV in class "Sloka and Technology" all 1000% crap. 7. Go there to see their pre-school in Hulimavu and u will see the chaos. Parents losing temper , kids running out of the class rooms. 8. Transport arrangement what they have (15K per a) is award wining. They have no idea who is coming in which bus , the drivers of the buses are supposed to be contacted for details. They drop the kids on the main road. I bet if you see how they r handling the children u will be scared. They take 40K one time and 35K pa fees for even pre-kg and do not have ANY thing in return. GOVT must stop this money minting business they are doing in the good name of PSBB Chennai. This school is not even 1% in comparison to the Chennai school. The new campus which is quite far away can no way be compared to any schools in Bangalore. Thanks, Siva

One of the worst and Unplanned school never seen in my life. They wanted only money don't want quality or disipline. 13th june school started and 8.30am is the reporting time for students. 80% of the parents and students reported at 8.15am till 10am no staffs in the school. Principle reached at 10.30am. Sweepers started clearing the dust and lot of wast and desk organising rooms opening every thing at 9.30am. the worst part is every room was filled with construction material and they started removing the construction related galss at 9.30 and the kids are playing on the waking place. The safety was the big issue. Principle know they are going to open on 13th June, and they would have been called all teachers before one day and they would have been cleaned the classroom and put the student names on the class room boards. Nothing was done. Princepls was Irr responsible. The school bus started reaching 10 am and the drivers blowing the horn and full speed like govt. / private Bus. One parent asked why are you coming in this speed and blowing horn ? he started abusing on gentle man inside the campus. I never seen this kind. how they will teach and guide the kids. No planning at all. the same day i thought, i need to take TC from the school. The mangaement know the parents are going to come on first day, no planning, the hole road jamed and the school kids walking for half akms to reach school. the best part is lot of teachers dosen't know the class room location and students list and bus details. As on today the management dosen't know the bus transport cost and who all are travaling in the bus? The bus cost is 100% more than the other peoples and the disctance alos more for some X distance. Example from new school to old school is actual 7kms. For PSBB 9 kms. I have take all photo graphs on 13th june. I would like to put on the website. So pls. think you would like to join in this grate organisation ???????? 1. No planning. How they will teach the kids for planning and organising the thinks ? 2. No clenliness and time sense. The Principle dosent know the time sense. how they will teach ? 3. staffs and drives dosen't have respect and maness. The kids will learn the same. 4. Staffs dosen't know about there school properly. so the kids will learn what ? The school is only show off. calling president and others and puting photo graphs. First management properly presnt the school to there students and there parents then others. I think the school is not safe, No desiplain, No planning, No respect to the kids and parents. As on date NO BOOKS and NO UNIFOM available in the school. Hople you can understand about the school

Computers in class rooms?? stupid idea.. It is shortcut for teachers to run pre programmed ppt & run away easily.. For smart kids You need smart teacher & smart administration.. website is pathetic.. school infrastructure isbad & school communication is hopeless.

COOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MAN INDIA IS JUS STARTING ITS PATH TO A TECH BASED WORLD. MY PRINCIPAL WAS PLANNING SOMETHING TOO U KNOW IM IN LADY ANDAL IN CHENNAI IN CHETPUT. WELL SHE'S GONNA HASTEN THINGS UP AFTER HEARING THIS !!!!!!

I would definitely like to be a part of such an organization since i am a mother as well as a teacher by profession.

grate

It's not good idea friends.. We are just trying to copy things from western world. I agree digital content is very much eassential.. but not in class rooms. Showing ppt presentation (poor smart class presentation) is shortcut of teaching, which is a failed concept in western schools. Teachers find this as a shortcut n try to make their work easy.. and regarding PSBB Bangalore, I rate it low .. Seeing it's reputation in chennai I applied for my son into the school.. and No response after applying(Rs. 300/- application) school didnot bother to communicate to parents, I don't know how they can reject when both parents are graduates and well qualified.. I guess they prefer particular community or caste. If school administration is so poor and don't answer.. I'm not sure how they handle future of aispiring students.. I guess that's the reason brigade school broke with PSBB. You are GOOD Brigade school and nice website, presentation, communication & administration. They pay good respect to parents too. http://www.brigadeschools.org/

Hello..any further updates on this from any parent

Thank you JAsmeet Khosla, I appreciate your efforts to share real experience. This would be great help to the "money loaded" parents who are more than eager to spend money to make their kids SMART.

My school "DPS RKP" has this SMART CLASS program since 2-3 years. about 8-9 classes hav one computer for the teacher, n 4 monitors for student viewing. Believe me, the concept is good but the content is pathetic. The content offered by them is of very low standard and of no help. It's actually a money making scheme as nobody knows how often will the students use it. We were only taken for maximum 10 days in a year. Sometimes we were just shown PPt's of NCERT book content,but of the Smart Class's version. There were no indegenious models to show how maths or physics work. All bull****

Would it ensure SMART kids? Looks like perfect trap to get more fees.

Its a great initiative and now I suppose the Indian schools will produce more tech savy and confident kids who can face the world with a better picture of what technology can do for them. This should be adopted in all schools and it is the responsibility of LLF to make this effordable so that even Gov schools can provide their students with the same classroom atmosphere. I feel the schools should take such initiatives for the benefit of students.

Interesting piece! its great to know that schools in India are getting digitally-enabled, wired classrooms. Now kids can also leverage technology and make full use of it from an early age. We hope many more schools come up with similar initiatives in future.

Good piece Nycil.. Iam sure Smart Class will prove to be an asset for the students.

Good piece Nycil.. I am sure this will be of great help to the students.

Sounds great! I know, being a teacher, it is still hard to find enough and good enough material for everyday class room presentation.