Mission admission
L. MADHU NAG
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Some of the toughnut institutions have a written test to measure the IQ levels of the parents
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COME SEPTEMBER, I longingly hunt for the newspaper advertisements for schools offering nursery admissions for the next academic session. This act of mine is more out of sympathy for the thousands of parents and tiny tots who go through torturous period of anxiety, suspense, depression and triumph for the lucky few. It also brings back memories of a not too distant past, the harrowing time it gave me, my wife and my poor little kid in our quest for admission to a decent public school.
The recent decision of the Delhi High Court to constitute a panel to suggest ways of doing away with the nursery admission interviews and bring in transparency to the whole process is a welcome step.
The mission admission in the national capital requires committed passion and full time devotion for more than two months. The preparations should begin in right earnest the day the toddler begins to walk and talk.
You may see them in various sizes, shapes and promises across the streets with crazy names straight from the nursery rhymes, fairy tales and animal kingdom. They boast of their past success rate and the schools that have put them in their preferential list. In fact these pre-nursery schools run a bigger organised racket than the ones for the engineering and medical entrance exams.
If you are in the wrong finishing school and apply to the right (school of your choice), then be sure you may not get past the application stage. The finishing school for your kid may last anything from one to two years, depending on your anxiety levels and how deep you can dig into your pockets. But remember the longer the exposure in these schools the better trained they are for nursery admission.
Read between the lines
This is the trickiest part of the whole process, one un-thoughtful entry you are out of the race. Leaving aside your Swiss bank balance, be ready to part with every other information as these complicated and comprehensive forms can be more taxing than the Saral form. You may end up filling up the colour and make of your car, a credit card user or not, any foreign trips in the last two years.
The ivy league would seek some more additional information as to how well connected you are in terms of your acquaintance with prominent/VIP personalities. All this may look silly but be careful what you write in the application form, that will decide your kid's admission.
Who makes it to the Interview stage? The answer is simply stupid.
It is those who can match up to the status and standard of the school. Some of the toughnut institutions have a written test to test the IQ levels and psychographic profiles of the parents. These tests are to be taken seriously as both papas and mamas are made to sit separately and write essays on values and ethics basically for benchmarking the quotient of harmony in the family.
If you have got through all these phases then you are in the lucky 5 per cent who have the privilege to walk into the interview room.
Here comes the most crucial part of the Mission Admission. Most schools prefer interviewing both kids and the parents, and if you are not prepared for the big day then you will meet your waterloo. Be prepared to get some parenting tips and listen to things that you may not like to hear. Don't be surprised if the interview panel suggests to you the name of a speech therapist or a child psychologist for improving the personality of your four-year-old kid. The kid may be put through a cycle of absurd tests in a strange environment with strangers all round.
In the 15 minutes of glory or disaster the chances of your tiny tot clinging to his mother and not opening his mouth are 50 per cent.
Do not get disheartened if you don't make it at one interview; keep trying but don't let the kid know about it. Probably it might be you as parents who have failed in the interview.
It's time we stopped all this stupidity in the name of nursery admissions. I sincerely hope that the High Court appointed panel would come up with a solution that eliminates the interview process for nursery admissions.
madhunagin@yahoo.co.in
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