A for admission

DNA Edit: A for admission

Every year at around this time, people in Mumbai — and in other parts of the country — apply for long leave, look for counselling and tear their hair out. This is when schools throw open their doors to kindergarten students. It is not a simple act of getting your child into school, but a military style campaign where your five-year-old has to be prepped and prompted, where you pray that your appearance, accent and bank balance do not let you down.
School admissions are a nightmare at any time, but entry-stage admission is the most traumatic. At higher levels merit and results play a role — at least tenuously. But what merit and what evaluation when the applicant is a toddler? Parents are grilled by school authorities and made to feel insecure and inadequate. And this is before the child has even been seen.
The matter reached flashpoint last year in Delhi when unaided private schools and parents were at loggerheads about deciding on admission criteria. Schools wanted to retain some control while parents wanted a uniform and transparent system. Last year the Delhi High Court ordered that children could not be interviewed. Schools therefore started interviewing parents. But the parents accuse schools of being high-handed, intransigent and pandering mainly to the rich and not the meritorious.
Taking the matter seriously, the Delhi Educational Directorate appointed the Ganguly Committee but its 100-point criteria for nursery admissions submitted last year were not accepted officially. The Court has now asked schools to prepare their own guidelines for admission as long as they are validated by the Delhi Educational Directorate. They have to prepare frameworks that are non-discriminatory and well defined. Neighbourhood restrictions, for instance, and interviewing children or their parents is ruled out.
It is unfortunate that the courts had to step in, but clearly it was necessary. Mumbai can gain from the Delhi experience and both the concerned government departments as well as parents’ associations should work to ensure that the process for admissions here is streamlined as well.
The problem, of course, is that no city in the country — including the commercial capital — has enough schools to cater to the demand. Parents want the best and that is hard to find. The mad scramble is almost inevitable in this new India which cannot keep pace with itself.
But for beleaguered parents, their child’s welfare is all that matters. A more transparent admissions system will at least help make this time of the year easier for all concerned.