Rights of Admission Reserved ...

It is that time of the year again! The parents of two and three somethings are tense- nursery school admissions are a hot topic.

There are those that have a son, a first born. They thanked the God above for a healthy child when he was born.He hears well, enjoys music, is entire in limb and sight- no disability. Or may be their elder child is a daughter who is in a girls' only convent school. They score ZERO for being a HEALTHY... ABLE... BOY... whose sibling is not in the same school. They are out of the race even before it started! They lose 40+ marks based on these 'transparent' criteria. And there would be quite a few like these. Where can these parents and these children go?

Many good schools are displaying notices- No seats available for nursery admissions. "House Full!" When you go for a rave movie and find this sign, you are disappointed but end up buying a ticket for the next available show. Or... you give in to that agent who is selling the tickets at a premium ( Black is a great movie but a politically incorrect word!). The current scenario of school admissions leaves the parents with little choice. They make the politically incorrect decision. Or would they much rather wait for the next show? Next year?

Has the number of children grown so dramatically that with the seats full in most good and medium grade schools, there still are a lot of children left high and dry without a seat to sit on? Where are the children who are filling the 'filled' seats?

There has to be an explanation. It has to be logical.

I am fortunate. I decided that my children MUST go to a school that is close to my house. It should be a reasonable school. Notice here that I am not saying reasonably good. Only reasonable. It should prepare my children for their life. I chose to send them to a school that is 5 minutes drive from our home. The children take about 15 minutes in the bus. I did not choose my own alma mater only because it was farther than this institution.

There are parents who want the school to be an announcement of their status. Agreed there would be schools that justify the snob value attached to their names. Is it this snob value or our own commitment as parents that is going to prepare our children for their future?

While the Ganguly Committee tried to put some sense into the system, it only ended up making the whole process more chaotic than ever before. The siblings should study together when possible. It makes sense to allocate additional marks for that. Where do, however, the first borns go? The differentiation between a girl and boy child is not an issue in a city like Delhi. It may still be important in villages. Allocating additional marks for a girl child seems very inappropriate. Where do boys go?

Special needs children have traditionally been educated by Special Educators in a few very good schools, including my own alma mater- Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan. What is more the department worked extra hard to include these special children in the mainstream. Unless a school has specially trained special educators allocating marks for special needs children will only set them back further. It will not promote inclusive education... only further alienation. Where do 'ordinary' children go?

Are there any solutions that can be just set out for babus to follow? Can we not lay down criteria which are fair and inclusive? Rather tahn exclusive and questionable?

We need to strengthen our system to INCLUDE more and more children to be educated... not EXCLUDE deserving children from the system. This might even promote a 'parallel' 'economy' and will seep into our system blackening the very water we spray the tiny saplings with.