Admission in Nursery Schools: Criteria
and Procedure
1.0
Introduction
The question of admissions to nursery schools, especially
in the bigger cities of the country, has been a matter of intense debate in the
educational circles during the past few decades. The issue is so contagious
that it has now become an integral part of public discourse on education. The
issue has engaged the attention of teachers, educationists, parents on the one
hand and of the media and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working for
children’s welfare and rights on the other.
The matter relating to Nursery admissions has engaged the attention of
Delhi High Court since 2003. Initially, the parents had approached the Court
against the admission policy of a particular school, which involved conduct of
the Children’s and parents’ interview. The Court decided the case in favour of
the school and observed that the school was within its rights to admit children
on the basis of their performance in the interview. Subsequently, an NGO, Social
Jurist challenged the practice of holding tests and interviews through a Public
Interest Litigation (PIL) on the plea that subjecting a four years’ child to
the rigours of an oral test turns out to be a traumatic experience for him/her
and therefore, should be discontinued and admissions should be made by the draw
of lots. However, the schools opposed
the petition on the plea that interaction with children and their parents was
essential to make selections as they cannot accommodate all the applicants
whose number far exceeds the number of available seats.
Finally, in May 2006, a division bench of the Court comprising Judges,
Virendra Jain and S. N. Agarwal, in their brief order said: ‘No public school
shall call children and their parents for interview for admission to nursery
and primary classes without prior permission from the Court’. The bench also
observed that the procedure of interviewing small children for admission to
these classes was arbitrary. The Court has in several orders earlier directed
the schools to chalk out alternative methods for admission to these classes. The
Court said the “private schools in
2.0
Analysis of the Problem
Due to rising aspirations about their children’s success in life, middle
class parents in urban areas have developed the perception that early start in
schooling shall equip the children to negotiate the public and competitive
examinations later in their life with confidence. It is felt that the advantage
of early schooling is further enhanced if the child is enrolled in the Nursery
class in a school which provides quality care and education to children.
Moreover, a
The quality of education imparted in a school depends on several factors
such as availability of adequate and appropriate infrastructure and equipments
on the one hand and availability of motivated, suitably qualified and competent
teachers on the other. In addition, the academic environment generated by the
imaginative leadership in the school is the most important determining factor
for the quality of education imparted in an institution. Some schools have established their
reputation over the years as ‘quality institutions’ and, therefore, are most
favoured and sought after institutions for admissions to different stages
including Nursery stage. The reputation
of a school as a quality institution leads to a mismatch between the number of
available places and the number of aspirants for admission. This
mismatch is the root cause of the problem concerning admissions to Nursery
classes. Needless to say that there is a
linear relationship between the magnitude of the problem and the size of the
gap between the number of available seats and the number of admission seekers. This is a singular reason which contributes
to the complexity of the problem
However, the other schools, which are not so well reputed, or the newly
established schools, which have yet to establish their credibility do not face
this problem. In fact, some of them have
to compete with other institutions of similar standing to attract children for
admissions. Hence the problem of Nursery
admissions is primarily of the ‘well-established and reputed’
institutions. Such institutions, over
the years, have devised several criteria to select children for admission as
they do not have facilities to accommodate all the admission seekers.
The most common criteria include ‘interviews with children’ to assess
their mental caliber and potential for learning and ‘interviews with parents’,
to assess their ‘financial standing’ and to ascertain their educational
background and potential to provide academic guidance to children at home. However, these criteria have been criticized
by the parents, educationists, psychologists and others interested in the
education and welfare of young children.
It has been pointed out that a formal interview of 3-4 years old child
turns out to be a traumatic experience for some of them. It is unfair to subject a child of four years
to an oral or written or skill test in a formal situation. Has the child come to learn or
should he/she have learnt and come? Is a serious question to ponder
about, particularly when he/she is taking the first step towards his/her
education. School admission for children below 6 years by any kind of test
should be stopped because measures used to assess a child are not valid
The practice of holding interviews has led to the mushroom growth of
‘Preparatory’ or ‘Play’ schools, where even two year’ olds are coached and
prepared to face interviews for admissions at the Nursery stage. The existence of preparatory schools proves
dis-advantageous for those children, who are unable to join such schools due to
various reasons. The practice of holding
interviews with parents puts those children at a disadvantage whose parents are
neither well-educated nor financially very sound. In fact, first generation learners and
children with poor social-economic background should have a higher claim for
admission to nursery education, which being a school readiness programme,
prepares ground for their continuation at the elementary stage of education.
THE
ADMISSION TEST: The Problem and Possible Solutions in a Nut Shell Ø What is an Admission Test meant to do? · Admission test is, meant to
select children on the basis of ‘merit’? Ø What does an Admission Test actually do? · It can make little children go
through the drill and practice of tasks like reading, writing, number work
for which they are still not ready. · It can destroy Childs’ self
confidence and self esteem through the experience of ‘rejection’. · It can convert happy, useful
play schools/Nursery schools into coaching classes. · It can deprive little children
of a happy, care free childhood Ø What can Admission not do? · It cannot serve as a valid
measure to test childrens’ ‘merit’
at this young age Ø What must be done? ·
By Policy Makers o
Ensure implementation of Yash
Pal Committee recommendations which states.... “holding tests and interviews for admission to Nursery class be
abolished” o
Support/plan establishment of more quality schools to reduce gaps
between supply and demand for such schools o
Promote concept of “ neighbourhood school” as recommended by the Education Commission 1964-66 o
Improve quality of education in existing government schools. ·
By School Management Adopt Child-friendly admission procedures like o
Computerized random selection o
Quota-based random selection o
Comprehensive programme based selection o
First come first serve basis o
Draw of lots etc o
Neighbourhood school concept ·
By Parents o
Look for a good school rather than only a ‘known’ school o
Support school management in trying out alternative admission
procedures o
Influence schools not to adopt ‘Child-unfriendly method’ for
admission in the interest of the child o
Do not pass on their anxiety to the little child Ø What School Management must not do · Donations in cash or kind for
admitting the child · Oral or written test or skill
test in a formal situation · Formal Interviewing the child or
its parents · Admitting a child based on the
income of his/her parents · Discrimination on the basis of
caste, creed, category or religion · Ask objectionable and irrelevant
questions in the form which embarrass and hurt the sentiments of the
parents §
a
Box- I
3.0 Principles Underlying Admission
Procedures
To evolve alternative procedures for nursery admissions, it is
imperative to define the parameters or the principles which should form the
basis for the admission procedures other than the much maligned interviews of children
and their parents. Some of the principles are briefly mentioned below:
(a) Every Child seeking admission to the nursery class
should be accommodated preferably in the school of his/her choice. Elementary
education for the children of 6-14 age group is now recognized as a fundamental
right of every Indian child as per the provisions of the Constitution of India.
Though Early Childhood Education (ECE) of the children of below 6 years is not
a fundamental right, yet its contribution towards achieving the goal of Universalisation
of Elementary Education (UEE) can hardly be exaggerated, as it ensures their
retention in the school. Therefore, children coming forward to avail themselves
for Nursery education on their own and that too at their own cost, must be accommodated
in nursery school and no child should be denied admission.
(b) The number of children admitted to a school should be
in tune with the availability of resources, both human and physical, such as
teachers, classrooms, play materials, playground, etc. The teacher pupil ratio
in nursery classes should be around 25 pupils for one teacher.
(c) The universal declaration of human rights (1948) and
the UN Convention on Rights of the child (1989) give the parents right to
choose the type of education best
suited for their wards. The parents’ right to select a suitable school for
their children’s education ought to be respected.
(d) A child of 3-4 years of age should not be detained in
the school for 5-6 hours in a day like the children of higher classes, that is,
primary, upper primary or secondary classes. This implies that the timing for
the Nursery classes should be delinked from the timing of other classes.
(e) The school timings of short duration for nursery
classes get unnecessary increased if the children are required to spend
long-time in commuting from residence to school and back. The commuting time in
the case of nursery classes should be minimum possible. I other wards, the
distance between the child’s residence and the school should not require
commuting time of more than 15 minutes
(f)
Excessive
homogeneity in respect of the socio-economic background of children should not
be insisted upon. Inclusive setting encompassing children from diverse
backgrounds lead to their effective and better socialization.
(g)
Box-II
It is
necessary that the criteria for admission to any school to be clear, fair,
transparent and objective.
4.0 Suggested Criteria for admission
Several criteria for admission have been suggested in
Proximity of childs’ home to school
(a) The Education Commission (1964-66) had recommended implementation of the
concept of ‘neighbourhood school’, which meant that a child must be
enrolled in the schools located to his/her immediate neighbourhood. There is a
view that the problem of Nursery admissions would not have arisen if the
recommendation relating to ‘neighbourhood school’ had been implemented with
sincerity. Above all, it would have promoted inclusion of children from diverse
background under one roof which is a pre-requisite for the preparation of
children for the real life. But in a city like
(b) The schools functioning in an admission zone are not
likely to be of comparable standard. Some of the schools may be well reputed
quality schools while others may be just good or ‘not so good’ schools. The
schools generally fix the fees and other dues charged by a school are known to
the parents. Thus, only those parents will apply for admission in more reputed
schools who can afford to pay the fees of the school concerned.
(c) The schools within an admission zone should have the
freedom to prepare their own merit list in accordance with the pre-determined
and pre-announced criteria, which should not have any provision for oral test
through interviews or interaction with parents to ascertain their educational
or socio-economic status. The distance
between the child’s residence and the school should be the main admission criterion.
(d) The admission forms should be designed to elicit
pertinent answers from parents. They should not raise any issue relating to
income, caste, or any other divisive
or irrelevant factors. It is the inclusion of some objectionable
questions in the forms by some schools that have embarrassed and hurt the
sentiments of parents. Directions can be issued to those schools to amend their
forms appropriately.
(e) Distinction must be made between interviewing and
interacting. Interviewing presupposes an element of inequality when the
interviewer is subjecting the interviewee to questioning on the basis of which
his/her child is selected or rejected. Interaction, on the other hand, is more
of a verification and socialisation process where the principal and the teachers
interact with the parents on a basis of mutual understanding and equality.
(f)
It has already
been stated that the distance between the child’s residence and the school
should be the major criterion for selection of children. However, some extra weightage
may be allowed in respect of certain categories of children’s. The school may
prepare the merit list as under
(i) Distance Marks
Upto 3 km 10
Between 3-5 km 8
(ii) Extra Weightage
- Sibling studying in the
same school 1 for each sibling
- Wards of school employee 2 for each parent
- Wards of school alumni 1 for each parents
- Siblings
of the school alumni 1 for each school alumnus
- Health condition of the child necessitating
Admission in the school 2
- Over age
children 1 marks if the child is six month older
than the minimum presc-ribed age
g) In case the number of eligible children age exceeds
the number of seats available, the school may consider introducing two shifts.
In case of nursery classes, three hours’ duration is considered sufficient as
the purpose of ECE is socialization of the child and in no case formal teaching
of different school subjects. The schools can easily start two shifts of 3
hours each and double their intake without creating any additional
infrastructure.
h)
In case the
schools do not favours reduction in the duration of the school, then they may
admit a batch of students on part time basis in addition to the regular full
time batch. The school may function after regular school hours or on alternate
days for part time students. Needless to say that the fees for the part time
batch should be reduced in proportion to their instructional time. The children
having lower rank on the merit list may be offered admission in the part time
programme, if they so desire. In short, efforts should be made to accommodate
all eligible children at school.