Delhi nursery admission system creates new castes
Remedy Worse Than Disease, Say Parents
New Delhi : So, which school do you plan to send your child to? This question
has become redundant with the Ganguly committee’s 100-point formula
effectively making a child’s right to education a function of the family
he/she has been born into and the education the parents have received.
The system, many feel, far from making the nursery admission process
smoother and transparent, will only make the existing inequalities more
pronounced. The coveted seat in a private school will become the
”birthright” of those born in elite families.
CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly defended his system saying it could be
”fine-tuned” and asserted it had not failed. In an interview with TOI, he
said the panel was focusing on the needs of urban educated families who can
afford to send their kids to private schools. The neighbourhood factor will
ensure that schools in other areas than, say south Delhi, get the right
incentive to excel. But parents, spending sleepless nights with their
children having missed the bus this year, disagree.
Arun Jethi, an executive working with an MNC, had applied to 15 schools
for his son, but his name did not figure on any of the lists. A frustrated
Jethi said, ”Though the Ganguly committee says the system is on a trial
basis and its flaws will be rectified next year, thousands of parents like
us, who have a son and don’t have a good school in the neighbourhood, have
become victims of this trial. Does the committee have any back-up plan for
the aggrieved parents?”
The extra points for a girl child have drawn flak for being
”discriminatory”. Asked Monika Keswani, an executive with a private firm,
”Why should our son suffer for being a single child or for being a boy?”
Nikunj’s name has not figured in the list of any of the four schools she had
applied to.
School principals agree that if the system is followed for a few more
years, schools would become exclusive clubs, further widening the
inequalities in society.
Springdales (Pusa Road) principal Ameeta Mulla Wattal felt that giving
preference to siblings makes it an ”insular” system. ”Opportunities are
provided only to the same group of people who have always had access to
education. We have to accommodate kids from the same family and there will
be no variety in the class. If the system is followed for a few more years,
it will turn out to be an old boys’ club,” she said.
Principals pointed out some inherent contradictions. On one hand, by
incorporating points for parents’ education it sought to adapt itself to the
needs of the urban enlightened family, while on the other, by giving extra
points for the girl child it glossed over the realities of that very segment
as an educated family is unlikely to deprive a girl child from regular
schooling.
How it’s done in Mumbai
The system is somewhat arbitrary. Most schools conduct an entrance test or
interview; selection in some elite schools is a combination of both. Ten
years ago, Maharashtra had passed a law similar to the Delhi high court
ruling banning interviews for children seeking pre-school (nursery)
admission. That law, however, died a quick death. The Maharashtra Pre-School
Centres (Regulation and Admission) Act, 1996, sought to regulate pre-primary
education in the state. A year after the Act came into force, the then state
government said it won’t be implemented any longer.
BRANDED AT BIRTH
Sibling (20 marks): Without a sibling in the same school or if there is no
sibling, the child gets zero Alumni (10): If the parents did not study in
the same school, forget these 10 points Qualifications (20): If parents aren’t
well educated, the child loses some or all of these points Girl Child (5):
If the kid is a boy, kiss goodbye to these points Special Needs (5): One
gets these only if one has special needs Sub-Total (60): That’s the number
of points determined at birth Neighbourhood (20): Another key factor. If
there are no good schools in a locality, move to a ‘better’ one
So, if a child is born in the wrong family, living in the wrong place, 20
points is max one is left with
Here’s how the new formula for admissions works: