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Price of an education?
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Why must it be so hard to get one’s child admitted into a good school? asks Monika Kaushik
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Come October and the palpitations begin for parents. After all, this is the season of admissions in schools. My son is now four and a half, and I am looking for a good school with a good pedigree. Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I will be decid
ing the school. Instead it will be the school that decides whether it wants my son in it or not. Availing the forms of such schools is in itself a Herculean task because one is never sure when the forms of these schools are out and when they will run out. If you do come to know of it, wake up early, reach on time and stand in the queue for two to three hours, then there is a possibility that you may get the form. But after that, you must wait for your child to be shortlisted. If not, there is no alternative but to wait until next year to try again. As for what the criteria are for short listing, I wonder if even the schools know them, as different and contradictory reasons are often given to parents.
If the regular good schools reject one, one has to try other options such as the international schools which one knows are quite expensive. They were the second option for me because I would rather go for a reasonably affordable school with a balanced curriculum than one with an extravagant fee structure and the same balanced curriculum. It makes me laugh to see the fees of such schools for even the tiny tots.
Besides the fees, the other disappointing factor is the distance. Most of these schools are located on the outskirts of the city.
It becomes very difficult and painful to see your child boarding the bus an hour and a half before the school actually begins and coming an hour and a half after the classes get over. So you just decide to drop the idea like a hot brick as you don’t want to torture him/her. The idea of new schools that have not yet been recognised and may take another year or two to get recognition, doesn’t sit well with us either. Then, where do I send my child? Do I have to bend the rules, pay middlemen and others in the management and then secure an admission in a school?
But all of these issues pale in the light of the realisation that I should have planned my issue to give birth before May or June so that he would be of the right age for admission. Failing which, I have to get him admitted into a grade lower than his actual grade. Now I see what those learned writers meant when they wrote about planning for your child’s career and future when in the womb itself. However, I am happy that I didn’t take the whole issue too seriously, despite facing problems for my son’s admissions. I know I didn’t burden him at a very tender age. As for what I should do next, I am unsure. Should I continue with the existing school for another year hoping that he will get admission into a good school next year or do I compromise with my principles and secure a seat for my child by bending the rules a little? For now all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and pray that all other anxious parents may get through these difficult times smoothly.
Do you have anything to say? About the state of the world, the city, your angst?
Pen it stylishly and you might get it published. Don’t forget to attach your photograph. And dash off your piece with your photograph. Email it to bangaloremetro@thehindu.co.in or post it to MetroPlus, The Hindu, 19 & 21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road (Infantry Road), Bangalore 1.
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