NEW DELHI, January 3: Filling up a kindergarden (KG) admission form in a city school for their child leaves many wondering about the criteria for eligibility. For admission forms of several of these schools seem to suggest that the sound financial worth of an applicant's parents scores as the prime criterion for favourable consideration. Take for instance entry numbers five and 10 of the bio-data proforma for admission to the 1999 KG session of St Columba's School: Father's and mother's occupation/profession respectively. Among the details that need to be specified: Type of business/designation, annual turnover/salary, two major clients, number of years in business and so on.Run down to entries seven and 12, which asks the father and mother to indicate details of their club memberships and credit card, and of the social organisation they are associated with, if any. Entry number 18 for indicating languages spoken/written. Upto five languages can be filled in, with English, Hindi and Bengali mentioned specifically while the other two are left blank. When contacted office of St. Columba's Principal Brother Simon Coelho, he was unavailable for comment.
Entry number 21 of the school form: Tick against the assets/equipment owned by the family, it says : car, scooter, house, television, washing machine, dish-washer, cellular phone, PC...
Other school forms which demand information in the same vein, if not in such depth, include Gyan Bharati School, Saket, St. Joan's Convent, Radhakrishan Public School, Defence Colony, and Rai School, Lodhi Road. The form did, however, cost precisely Rs 25, the maximum allowed to be charged by a school for pre-admission formalities as per the High Court's order.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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