Beyond marks - What should parents look for in a school preparing children for 2035

This article is authored by Pritika Parwani, founder, Redbricks Academy and a counselling psychologist.

For years, choosing a school in India has often meant looking at academic results, board examination scores, discipline and the reputation of an institution. These factors still matter, but the changing nature of work is making parents look at education through a wider lens.

Studying student (StockPic)

India has one of the world's largest school education systems, with around 24.8 crore students across 14.72 lakh schools, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25. For millions of families, choosing a school is therefore not just about finding a good campus. It is about deciding what kind of learning environment can help a child deal with the world ahead.

That world is changing quickly.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and digital technologies are already changing how people work. Some jobs are likely to change significantly, while new roles will emerge. This makes it difficult to say exactly which skills today's schoolchildren will need when they enter the workforce in the 2030s.

What is becoming clearer, however, is that academic knowledge alone may not be enough. The changing meaning of being educated

The State of Working India 2026 report by Azim Premji University points to an important challenge. Graduate unemployment among people aged 15 to 25 remains close to 40%, while it is around 20% for those aged 25 to 29. At the same time, graduates continue to earn more than people without degrees over their working lives. The message is not that education has become less useful. Rather, the connection between education and employment is becoming more complicated.

A degree remains important. Strong knowledge in subjects such as mathematics, science, languages and social sciences remains important too. But young people also need to know how to apply that knowledge, communicate their ideas, work with others and adapt when circumstances change.

The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 reflects this shift. It identifies analytical thinking as one of the most important core skills while also pointing to creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, leadership, collaboration, problem-solving and technological literacy.

For schools, this raises a larger question: should education focus only on helping children find the right answer, or should it also teach them how to approach a problem when there is no obvious answer?

The classroom may matter more than the label. This does not necessarily mean that traditional education is outdated. A strong academic foundation remains essential. Children need knowledge before they can use it meaningfully. The bigger change may be in the way that knowledge is taught.

Two schools following the same curriculum can offer very different experiences. In one classroom, students may mainly learn through textbooks, notes and examinations. In another, the same concepts may be explored through discussions, projects, experiments and real-world examples.

This is why the choice between different school boards or curricula does not always provide a complete answer.

The OECD Learning Compass 2030 places considerable emphasis on student agency, competencies and the ability to navigate unfamiliar situations. The idea is relevant to a generation that may enter a working world where careers and technologies continue to change throughout their lives.

For parents, this means looking beyond the name of the curriculum and asking what actually happens inside the classroom.

Are children encouraged to ask questions? Do they get opportunities to solve problems independently? Are they expected to explain their thinking? Do they work with other students? Can they make mistakes without being discouraged from trying again?

These questions can reveal more about a school's approach than a brochure or a list of facilities.

Technology is not the same as future readiness. The arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has added another layer to the discussion. Simply putting more devices into classrooms does not automatically make education future-ready. Technology is useful when it helps children research, create, test ideas, understand difficult concepts or work with information.

Children will also need to understand the responsible use of technology. As AI tools become easier to access, schools will increasingly have to teach students how to question information, check sources, protect personal data and understand the difference between using technology as a learning aid and depending on it for every answer.

The aim should not be to make every child a technology expert. It should be to help children become comfortable learning with technology while retaining the ability to think independently. The growing importance of emotional and social skills. There is another part of future readiness that can easily be overlooked. A changing workplace will not only require technical skills. Young people will also need to communicate, manage disagreements, accept feedback and deal with failure. This makes emotional development an important part of education.

Children who are allowed to participate in sports, creative activities, group projects, leadership exercises and other forms of collaborative learning get opportunities to develop skills that may not appear in examination scores.

This does not mean that schools should turn away from academic discipline. Instead, academic learning and personal development can work alongside each other. What is happening in Pune? Pune offers an interesting example of this wider change because the city has schools with very different histories and educational philosophies.

Some institutions have long-established traditions built around discipline, academic work, sport and community. Others place greater emphasis on inquiry, international curricula and independent learning. Newer schools and education groups are also experimenting with experiential learning, STEM, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and leadership activities.

There is no single model that will work for every child.

The important issue is whether the environment gives students opportunities to develop both knowledge and the ability to use it.

Some schools, for example, have introduced multiple-intelligence and experiential approaches alongside conventional academic learning. Others have retained traditional structures while expanding opportunities in sports, creative activities and student leadership. International schools have brought greater attention to inquiry, research and global exposure.

These differences are useful for parents to consider, but they should not become a simple competition between one type of school and another.

A school following an international curriculum is not automatically better. A school following a national curriculum is not necessarily less progressive.

The quality of learning depends heavily on how the curriculum is brought into the classroom. What parents can look for? When visiting a school, parents can ask questions that go beyond examination results. They can ask how much time students spend on projects and practical work. They can ask how teachers respond when a child gets an answer wrong. They can ask whether students are encouraged to speak, present ideas and work in groups. They can also ask how technology and artificial intelligence are being introduced and whether students are being taught about responsible digital behaviour.

The way a school approaches failure can be particularly revealing.

A child who is never allowed to make mistakes may perform well in a controlled academic environment but may find unfamiliar situations difficult later in life. Schools can help by creating spaces where students can experiment, receive feedback and try again.

Parents should also look at the work students actually produce rather than relying only on what is written in school brochures.

A classroom visit can sometimes answer questions that a prospectus cannot. The role of parents is changing too. Preparing children for the future is not only a responsibility of schools. Parents also play a role in deciding what they value. The pressure to find the highest-ranked school can sometimes make education look like a race. But children have different personalities, interests and ways of learning.

A highly structured environment may suit one child, while another may respond better to inquiry and independence. Some children may benefit from strong sporting opportunities, while others may need more space for creative or technology-based interests.

For years, I have worked around questions of learning, development and emotional well-being. From that perspective, the discussion around future-ready education also needs to include the child's emotional and social development, rather than treating academic performance as the only measure of progress. That broader approach may become increasingly important as children grow up in an environment where change is constant.

Preparing children for an uncertain future. Nobody can say with certainty what the workplace will look like in 2035. Some current jobs may change. New professions may emerge. Artificial intelligence may become part of everyday work in ways that are difficult to predict today. Schools therefore do not need to guess the exact jobs their students will eventually take. They need to give children the ability to keep learning. That means building strong subject knowledge while also developing curiosity, critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaboration, resilience and adaptability.

The idea of future-ready education is therefore less about predicting the future and more about preparing children to deal with uncertainty. For parents in Pune and elsewhere, this may require a change in the question they ask when choosing a school. Instead of asking only which school produces the highest marks, they may also need to ask whether the school is helping children become confident learners who can think for themselves, work with others and adapt when the answers are not obvious.

Marks will continue to matter. But as the world of work changes, they may no longer be the only measure of whether a child is ready for what comes next.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Pritika Parwani, founder, Redbricks Academy and a counselling psychologist.