All parents want to provide the best education for their children they can afford. However, the education system has been divided into many streams, and thus, there are innumerable curriculum, standards and structures of education procedures. One such big difference is visible when someone has to choose between boarding schools and day schools. Certainly, many parents tend to get confused when searching for the right kind of school for their children. While both of the education systems have their own advantages and disadvantages, we will discuss some of those to help the parents make the right choice.
Before jumping to any conclusions, parents should have a clear idea about the character of both types of schools.
Boarding school:
This is a residential school. In this school system, learners or students are supposed to reside in dormitories or hostels. They can only visit their home during vacations. Parents, however, can visit them with proper permission from the school authority, on special occasions or during an emergency. The hostel wardens take care of the students. The students have to attend their classes timely and have their food in common dining rooms where all the students sit and eat all together. Maintaining discipline is very important in these schools. Students are not just evaluated based on their test results but also on their disciplinary activities. So any student failing to maintain the disciplinary acts may have to face the consequences.
Day schools:
This type of school mainly stresses the completion and proper assessment of the students based on their merit and performance in the school. They are not obliged to stay there. Students are supposed to enter the school premises on time, carry on with their daily curriculum and leave the school at the said time. The students can lead their own private life under the guidance of their parents.
So from this, anyone can assume that day schools are far better than boarding schools. To support this belief, here are some points.
Expenses-
Boarding schools are always more expensive than day schools. Parents have to bear an extra cost for their children's residential and consumption purposes daily. Many are incapable of affording such lavish expenditure. The fee structure of such residential schooling costs a lot more than any day school, so parents belonging to the middle class tend to choose day schools over boarding schools.
Quality education-
According to surveys, most parents tend to select schools, which stresses quality education rather than overall control of their children. However, education is the parents' primary concern, so they want to enrol under such schools, which are known for providing the best education in terms of their understanding.
Family value is essential-
A family can be termed in a true sense when the children receive the love of their parents and, if lucky, even their grandparents. Parents believe their children should also stay in touch with their family to imbibe the family values. The children can learn how to respect their elders and know the way to love their younger siblings only by staying in the family. A boarding school can never help in developing such family values.
Extracurricular activities-
Children who have interests in a particular field need to concentrate and develop their creativity from a very tender age. The boarding schools, although encouraging the students to pursue their love for a specific area they may not be capable enough to provide a customised environment as per the requirement of the children. All the students get the same scope. Thus while some students may require more guidance, they may not get it. However, while studying in a day school, students can receive proper guidance as per their requirements.
So this is all we have to discuss in the debate of day schools vs boarding schools. Although there are few benefits of boarding schools, most parents tend to choose day schools considering all the mentioned points.