Is giving zakat to a school in India for student expenses considered “ada”?

Every year iam sending the zakat to a society operatesin India. The society operates school in muslim populated rural areas. Most of the students comes from a poor background who do not afford the expenses of education, therefore the society has called many people to come forward & sponsor the child. Every yr i collect the zakat & send to the person responsible for the school operation & in return iam getting a list of students with amount details that has been reimburse directly against their tution fee, books, uniform etc. The reimbursement is purely to the discretion of school and no money is being given to the student in their hand. Iam doing this since many years, however recently one of my friend told me that my zakat is not “ada” as the school is taking money instead of giving money directly to the student as the sole owner of the money who should be free to use it at his will. Please guide me in this regard, also advise on past transactions if iam wrong.