Shemrock Blog

Nursery admissions are taking their toll on parents’ patience with their diverse criterion and complex registration/submission methods. Anxious parents have been busy arranging the required documents and visiting notary offices.

The following are some of the commonly-faced problems by the parents:

1. Admission Criteria
Schools have been given the freedom to establish their own admission criteria adding to the confusion faced by parents. Suggestions of the Ashok Ganguly Committee have been smoothly swept aside.

• Some schools have started awarding points for areas where ‘safe transport’ facilities that can be provided although the admission is being solicited by parents from far-away distances. This is in contrast to last year’s trend where ‘neighbourhood’ was considered a major scoring opportunity.

• Parents have been left wondering if their own high school certificates having mentioned extra-curricular activities will help them in being considered as ‘achievers’.

• Some schools haven’t even cared for establishing and communicating about an admission criteria, leaving the parents guessing about admission parameters.

2. Interaction
The legal directive had made it clear that only ‘informal’ interactions with the parents should be conducted for verification of documents and evaluation and children weren’t supposed to be observed or interviewed. Some schools have still gone on to conduct extended interactions with the parents and have called upon the child to be a part of the interaction.

3. Parent’s Profession
Many schools are giving points with regards to parental educational qualifications and profession. Some schools have gone on to categorically deny admissions to children of businessmen. This has left parents that involve a homemaker when seeking admissions.

4. Age
The general notion is that the minimum age for nursery admission is three but schools don’t prefer such young children. In order to prevent including too many young children, some schools have developed a points system where extra points are awarded to children who are more than four-years old.

(Source: expressindia.com)

Security concerns post the Mumbai terror strikes have eaten into the festive mood across most schools in the Capital this December. Most school trips involving long journeys have been temporarily suspended. Parents are being informed by the school authorities regarding the cancellations or postponements of the scheduled excursions/events.

• Delhi Public School, Dwarka, has issued a circular asking for parent consent to stall the annual school picnic.
• Ryan International School, Chanakyapuri, has decided to reduce the magnitude of its December carnival.
• Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, will install more stringent security checks for guests invited at their annual fete.

(Source: HT, Online)