|
|
The impasse over admissions in various Indian schools continues as desperate parents are running from pillar to post to get their wards admitted for the new academic year which starts from April. Many schools have a long waiting list and school officials feel that they will not be able to meet the community’s demands this time.
Most of the schools are unable to admit new students due to the decision by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) to reduce the class strength to 30 in an effort to facilitate better quality of education. Many of the Indian schools already have a higher number of students per class and therefore they are unable to admit more children.
However, given the size of the Indian population in the country, there is a growing demand from the community to relax the rules and implement the same in a phased manner. They also feel that the existing schools are not enough to handle over 36,000 students of the community.
Several parents who want to get their children admitted to schools are getting desperate and are exploring different possibilities. The major issues that come up are availability and affordability. There are no seats in most of the oldest schools that offer the most affordable fees.
Meanwhile, parents feel that some of the new schools that have come up recently are taking advantage of the situation by charging exorbitant fees which cannot be afforded by most of the middle-class Indian expatriates. Moreover, the new schools only have classes up to the primary or upper primary level.
Some of the desperate parents said that they had not yet taken a decision about future course of action if they do not get admission for their children. There are many who have come here in the middle of the academic session whose children are still studying in India. Some of them feel that if they are unable to get admission for their children, they will have to think of moving over to other places.
Hassan Chougule, president of the Indian Schools Management and Principals Forum, said that the forum had taken up the issue with the higher officials. “We have taken up the issue with the Indian embassy and presented the prevailing situation. We are hopeful that an amicable solution will be reached soon.”
It is also learnt that discussions are going on between the SEC officials and the concerned Indian officials in this regard.
MES Indian School Principal A P Sasidharan said that the school had not admitted a single child from the date the school had received the directive from the SEC. “We have not admitted a single child even to the KG classes from last September. If the school does not admit students for the kindergarten classes, it will affect us in a big way. We are in the process of getting a new building and once it is operational we will admit new students. But still there are a large number of students who will be denied admissions.”
Birla School Principal A K Shrivastava said that admission to higher classes at present is out of question within the present infrastructure. “We have acquired a new premise which might be able to accommodate around 1000 students. However, it will take a few months to get it ready and we will be able to get it operational from next September.”
Ideal Indian School Principal Syed Shoukath Ali also echoed similar sentiments and said that the school offered admissions only to KG classes. “We have 10 sections for KG1 in the school that can admit 300 students and another 20 -30 students in KG 2. We will not be able to admit anymore students this year. If the SEC gives us some more time, we will be able to get other buildings and admit more children.”
Asna Nafees of DPS MIS said that the school had been following the stipulations of the SEC right from the beginning. “We have only 30-32 students in each class. We give admissions only if there is a vacancy in any of the classes. This is the policy we have been following for many years.”
