Mumbai, India Report of what it's like to live there - 05/23/19
Personal Experiences from Mumbai, India
School Name:
American School Of Bombay
Background Information:
1. Are you the parent of a child(ren) attending this school? A teacher at the school? Or both?
Parent
2. What grade or grades do/did your children attend at the school? During what year(s) did they attend the school?
High School
3. What was your reason for living in the city where the school is located (e.g., government, military, corporate, NGO, retired)?
Diplomat
Admissions & Welcome:
1. Are the admissions and placement procedures clearly stated to prospective families, either on the school website or through other means of communication?
In our experience, it seems that the school functions more as a business catering to the high society in Bombay. We found there to be very little focus on academics.
2. How would you rate the school's support and welcome/integration of new students and their families, and why?
As an American you feel very much out of place here.
Administration & School Procedures:
1. Aside from school fees, are there required expenses such as uniforms, laptops/tablets, musical instruments, or field trips that parents are expected to cover? What are the approximate costs?
Multiple mandatory and costly trips
Academics & Resources:
1. What personal or academic counseling resources are available at this school? Is there a dedicated college counselor at the school? Is he/she familiar with universities worldwide?
Below average
2. Are Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses available in upper grades? If this is an IB school, is the full diploma required of all students?
IB is available, depending on the subjects you can get a great teacher or not.
Overall Impressions:
1. Please describe some of your child's/children's highlights and challenges during their time at this school.
Our children reported that most high school social outings involved drinking and drugs - either kids participated or were outcast.
2. What letter grade (ranging from A, excellent, to F, fail) would you assign to this school based on your overall experience? Would you choose it again?
I would not have chosen to come here had I known how the school is run. The local families are elite with access to a lot of money and in our experience, with different priorities when it comes to schooling. The school expects parents to donate on a regular basis (yearly galas; expensive coffees and brunches) and pay for costly mandatory trips for which we received no accountability for how the money was actually spent.
