Parents complain that applying for admission means kids have to face horror of rejection at pre-admission tests, interviews

Rejected.u00a0That was the stamp that Aundh resident Sheetal Makhija saw on her child's application form to two of the top schools in the city. Makhija's child was barely six years old and was seeking admission to Std I. And the reason for rejection was incompetence! "I was shocked out of my wits. They said my child had gone to an average pre-school and had not picked up the basics well. Their reason for rejection was that he wasn't as sharp as the other kids and might feel inferior, which would harm his psyche," said Makhija, who works in the HR department of a multinational.


Subject to scrutiny: Pre-admission tests and interviews for primary
session is common in private schools

In the fourth part of its campaign on irregularities in schools, MiD DAY is taking a look at private schools that violate the RTE Act by conducting pre-admission tests and interviews of prospective students under various pretexts.

MiD DAY sting
Most complaints were received from parents who had either managed to secure admission in other schools after rejections or those who were yet to hear from schools after being made to undergo the torture. Our reporters posed as parents and approached the schools to enquire about the admission process. We found the complaints were not only genuine, but in some cases the situation was even worse than reported.
The most problematic was St Vincent's School in Camp, one of the oldest and most reputable schools of the city.

When approached by a reporter posing as a parent, clerks at the school office said that the school did conduct entrance examination and interviews for prospective students from Std I to Std X. They then asked us to download the admission form and other details from the school website. The school's website described how the school conducted both written and oral tests foru00a0 Std I children, gauging their English and maths skills.
A total of 12 tests were mentioned for students seeking admission to the first standard.

At DAV school in Aundh too a similar practice was seen. For admission to the primary section, clearing the admission test is not enough. An interview also lies in store for the students, claimed a parent. "They claim to have an informal meeting but if this is for our benefit and not the school's, they can do so after giving admission," said the parent, requesting anonymity.

At ICSE-board affiliated Vidya Valley School, the levels of assessment are many, as learned by MiD DAY reporters. The first step is the admission form, where parents get screened through a questionnaire. A written test based on the previous year's syllabus is next; for Std II students the test is based on first standard syllabus for English and maths.

No crackdown
The civic body as well as the deputy director of education seem to have turned a blind eye to this blatant violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, which is applicable in the state since April 2010. "We have filed a petition in the HC to scrap all pre-school and primary admissions as they were given after interviews, tests and screening of children, which is in direct contravention of the RTE Act. The law mentions that up to Std VII, the only criteria for admission is age. Even if a student never went to school, but his age says he should be in Std III, the school should admit him to that class," said Jayant Jain, president of the NGO Forum for Fairness in Education.

The Other Side
JAYA Venkatraman, principal of Aundh DAV school, accepted the school conductedu00a0 admission tests, but said it was for the child's benefit. "We issue the same number of forms as seats available. So no child is denied admission. We conduct tests to know where the child stands and to advise parents to brush up on skills before the academic year. This is to ensure the child's psyche doesn't get affected," she said. Nalini Sengupta, principal of Vidya Valley School, initially denied the written tests and said it was only an informal interaction. But when told MiD DAY had posed as parents and made enquiries and its website too gave the same information, she said it was outdated. She then passed the phone to another man. His reply was: "The RTE law applies to admissions only up to Std I. We do conduct tests but they are from Std I." At St Vincent's School, access to the principal was denied. Mrs Wadia, administrator of the school, accepted tests were conducted to gauge proficiency.

What the law says
SECTION 13(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 provides that while admitting a child no school or person shall subject the child or his/her parents to any "screening procedure". Section 2(o) of the RTE Act defines screening procedure as the "method of selection for admission of a child, in preference over another, other than a random method". It states that there shall be no profiling of the child based on parental educational qualifications. The policy should be placed by the school in the public domain, given wide publicity and explicitly stated in the school prospectus. There shall be no testing and interviews for any child or parent, falling within or outside the categories, and selection would be on a random basis.