Visitors at the India and International Premier Schools Exhibition on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Gone are the days when parents used to queue up at schools for admission-related information.

It’s now the turn of schools to reach out to parents through education fairs, such as the three-day India and International Premier Schools Exhibition that ended at the Ice Skating Rink on Monday.

The fairs save the parents the hassle of school-hunting, providing them an opportunity to cull information about all prominent schools — including the international ones — under one roof.

An added attraction is a chance to interact directly with the principals and teachers.

“Admission for the 2007-08 session is on and many parents, instead of queuing up at our school, collected forms from our stall,” said a representative of BD Memorial School, a participant at the exhibition.

The parents had choices aplenty — from residential schools to play schools. “Through the exhibition, we wanted to create a platform for parents to interact with various kinds of school,” said Vivek Shukla, head (marketing and projects) of Afairs, which had organised the fair.

The exhibition also served as a window to international curricula on offer at various schools in the country and the new courses being introduced.

“Parents in India today desire global benchmarks for their children and international curricula, like the ones offered by Cambridge International Examination (CIE), are gaining popularity because of their international content,” said William Bickerdike, regional manager (South Asia) of University of Cambridge International Examination.

The CIE provides “international qualifications” to students from 14 to 19 years of age, the most popular of which is the Cambridge International-GCSE, equivalent to the 10th standard board exams in the country.

“Parents are still wary of the international curricula, especially regarding their acceptability in India. The exhibition helped them find out more about these curricula,” said a representative of Pailan World School, registered with CIE.

Schools from all over the country — including Dehradun, Mussourie, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Mumbai, Gwalior and Ranchi — set up stalls at the exhibition, which will proceed now to Ranchi, Patna, Ludhiana and Ahmedabad.