Hyderabad: For a growing number of parents in Hyderabad, the anxiety around education is no longer just about getting their children into the right school. It’s about whether the schools they’ve gotten into are actually doing it right.
What keeps coming up in conversations isn’t worry about marks or results. It’s about a feeling that the way learning is being delivered just isn’t working. There’s far too much focus on conventional learning and too little on honing a child’s creativity. It is a system, they say, that seems built for performance rather than the actual child sitting inside it.
Some families have stepped away from mainstream schooling entirely and taken to homeschooling. But most are still searching, looking for something that exists between the rigidity of high-fee, prestigious schools and learning based on values, environment and sustainability.
And the search, many told Siasat.com, has been exhausting.
One parent who returned to Hyderabad after their children had spent years in an Islamic Montessori environment described trying to find something comparable locally as “as big a task as any parent could’ve imagined.”
Looking a little differently
A handful of parents have started finding their way to what are being called micro-schools – smaller, more intimate setups that don’t follow the conventional playbook.
One of them is iLm-X in Masab Tank and now in its second year. It currently runs from Nursery through Class 4, growing each year. The school draws from homeschooling philosophies such as project-based learning, close collaboration with parents and a pace that’s shaped around children rather than calendars.
For parents who’ve made the switch, the difference has been hard to miss. One mother, whose children had previously been in a mainstream school, described the change. “There’s zero screen time now. My child is expressing through art and is always looking forward to guest sessions,” she said.
Another said their child had grown “more independent and confident” and, perhaps most tellingly, seems to actually enjoy going to school.
Letting go of old expectations
Several parents admitted that the idea of micro-schooling felt unfamiliar, even unsettling at first. But over time, watching their children get excited about presentations, look forward to field trips and approaching learning with curiosity rather than fear made it easier to trust the process.
Small things helped too. For instance, a parent pointed to the transition process, such as allowing parents to stay with children until they feel comfortable, was something that made the shift easier.
Something new is taking shape
iLm-X describes itself as sitting at the crossroads of homeschooling and formal education; that is, flexible, personal and unhurried. It’s currently open for admissions for the next academic year.
It’s part of a growing number of such schools. But it’s also a reflection of parents’ concerns, such as memorisation versus understanding and about what it actually means to prepare a child for the world they’re going to inherit. And they’re no longer willing to wait for the mainstream to catch up.
Admissions open
Admissions for the 2026–2027 academic year are currently open. For further details, parents can contact the school via WhatsApp: Click here
