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* Meet Aprana Singh. She has been running from one school to another in a desperate effort to ensure that her daughter gets a place in an “upmarket” school. All waking hours of the mother-daughter duo are spent in countless recitations of nursery rhymes, alphabets and numbers.
The months of December to March seem to be the most trying period of the year for parents who want their children to secure a seat in the most coveted schools. As each school follows its own criterion for admissions, the losers turn out to be parents. From shelling out thousands of rupees to buy prospectuses of different schools to appearing for several entrance tests, the ticket to a good school is not a cakewalk. Schools like Shivalik Public School, Delhi Public School, Manav Mangal Smart School, DAV School, Sector 15, Vivek High School and Carmel Convent prefer to judge the child’s acumen through an entrance test. While some schools take the test from Class III onwards, some start in Class I. This is followed by an interview of the student and the parents.
“The chief aim behind this exercise is to establish the child’s intelligence quotient and ability to study in the next class. These tests also help to identify a child’s weak areas which can be worked upon gradually,” says D S Bedi, director of Shivalik Public School. “Terming it as an interview is wrong. It is more of an interaction, a one-to-one session with the parents to know about the child’s background. It is essential to develop a rapport with the parents at an early stage,” feels Punita Singh, a counsellor.
The St Anne’s School follows a system of draw of lots followed by an interaction with the parents. Others like St Xavier’s hold only an interface with the student and his parents for all classes.
The schools, however, are gracious enough to spare the stress of an entrance test for beginners. The aptitude of the child is tested nevertheless. “During the interactive session, we give a free hand to the child. He can recite a poem or alphabets at his own will. This is done to make sure that the child’s IQ is in correlation to his age,” says Sanjay Sardana, director of Manav Mangal Smart School.
Apart from being an ordeal, admission in schools is also an expensive affair. In the absence of a centralised system of admission, parents spend thousands of rupees to buy brochures of different schools, the cost of which varies between Rs 150 to 500. “I wanted to get my child admitted in one of the well-known schools in the city and the prospectus cost me Rs 450. I was asked to pay another Rs 600 as registration fee. Even if one applies to only three schools, it burns a big hole in the pocket,” says Dheeraj Chawla, a parent.
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