‘Age bar’ problem for KG admission
Dear Sir,
This is to highlight the problem I am facing over my child’s admission into kindergarten (KG) class.
After my child’s interview at Doha Modern Indian School (DMIS) for starting KG1 a few weeks ago, I paid all the admission fees on February 19. On March 13, we received a call from DMIS, saying that as the child’s age would be 4+ years in September this year, it wanted to admit her in KG2 instead of KG1.
I went to meet the school’s administration co-ordinator on March 15 to express my reservations on the decision but I failed to sway him. He gave me a Supreme Education Council circular which said schools starting their academic year from September should enrol a child with minimum age 3. The column stating the maximum age was left blank on the circular but he wrote there by himself, “maximum age is 4 for KG1” .
I told him that DMIS’s academic year started from April so the age of a child who was being admitted should be calculated as of April and not September.
I then met the principal and reminded him also that DMIS was following the Indian CBSE syllabus and its academic year started from April and not from September. The principal told me that in the first two months, my child could follow the KG1 syllabus and after that she would be moved to KG2. He also admitted that he was not involved in any communication with the Supreme Education Council on this issue but he assured me that he would bring this issue to the school management’s attention.
Again, I received a call from school on March 17, saying we need to come to the school on March 22, a Saturday. But when we went to school on that day, not a single staff was present there and the security didn’t allow us to go inside the school. Also, no one was picking the phone at the school.
The only explanation received from the security was that all staff members had gone for a meeting and he didn’t know when they would return. Many other parents had also been called to report to the school at the same time and we were frustrated by the school administration’s attitude.
I am worried about my child’s early schooling now as she is three years and eight months and I feel this is the right age to enrol in any Indian school. She doesn’t know how to write alphabets yet and I don’t know how within two months she could cope with the KG2 syllabus. I don’t want to pressurise my child at this age.
All other Indian schools which are following the CBSE syllabus are enrolling children of similar age in KG1 and only DMIS seems to be calculating the child’s age as of September and not April.
Since the SEC has restricted 30 students per class, all other Indian schools have already closed their KG1 admission and parents are left with no other option. I hope DMIS will follow the KG 1 age guideline as other Indian schools.
KR, (Full name and e-mail address supplied)
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