From Nursery admissions mess to College admissions botch-up: What’s wrong with our education system?

Aishwarya Kumar   |  Jun 24, 2014 | Daily Bhaskar.

New Delhi: The recent UGC v/s DU debate has put a question mark  on admissions for the lakhs of aspiring students this year.

It is astonishing how a political tussle, or a conflict of interests between two premier establishments can be put on a higher pedestal than the careers and future of thousands of students. Or is it not?

Well, the reason for a statement and a question put together, roots from the fact that admissions in the country are not only marred at the level of higher education. Children, barely aged 4 years, had to bear the brunt of a silent stand-off between various schools’ management and the government.

No matter what age an Indian child is in, getting into a school is as difficult as getting into a college. And mind you, it has nothing to do with numbers or the percentage of marks that a child scores.

India has had precedence of ego battles being the tipping point for various affects on the education system of the country. The latest being the deadlock between the UGC and the University of Delhi.

(File Photo: Parents lined up outside a Delhi school for nursery admissions. PTI)

A mess called nursery admissions

The child is 4 years old, and cannot get through a school in the city because of a tiff between the government and the private schools. Reasons like the child’s postal address, parents’ educational qualification are deemed as reasons for a child being rejected in a school.

Daily Bhaskar got in touch with a parent, who narrated her turmoil while she was trying to get her young sons admitted to leading schools in Delhi.

“I was shocked. Everyone wants to go for a branded school, and I’ll accept I did too. But the way they responded to the admission process was astonishing,” said the mother, on condition of anonymity.

She narrates how she had heard from a fellow parent on how a leading school in Dwarka conditioned the admission of their child on the basis of their capacity to buy the school a bus.

“I tried getting my son enrolled in schools like Bal Bharati and DPS, but because of the point system, it did not work out,” she added.

She complains how her accreditations and educational qualifications were checked, and so were her husband’s.

“How does that make a difference? My children are going to start their life. What I have done in my life academically does in no way shape my child’s admission into a school,” she elucidated.

While her elder son got through a school in Dwarka, through management quote (since they were lacking behind in the point system by a mere 10 points), her younger son got admitted to the same school on the sibling clause.

They lost out on the point system because they were 4 kms farther away than the prescribed neighbourhood parameter. The neighbourhood parameter has a weight of around 70% in the entire admission process, which can either make or break a child’s admission.

School authorities have previously slammed the government for bringing in the point system, which completely cuts off the powers of the governing authority of a concerned school.

Principals of leading schools had commented how their management was not consulted on such an important issue.

The question of autonomy of many unaided private schools in the city came to the forefront.

(Image: Protests against the DU-UGC stand-off. PTI)

Mission: College Admissions

The 4 year old child has grown up, completed school, and is now at the cusp of higher education. But well, he has a problem in getting into the University of Delhi because of a stand-off between the UGC and the University of Delhi.

“Thankfully, I did not have a problem in my getting my son into school which was 18 years back. But now, the college admission is getting me worried,” said G.N. Kumar, a worried father.

His son, has secured a 91% in his class 12th boards, and is still finding it tough to get admitted into any college in DU.

“Why can they just not let ego battles go?,” is what he has to ask.

“If it was just about his percentage,” he said, “I would be okay with it.”

“But the fact that my son, like many others, is suffering because the authorities can’t sort out their issues seems too irresponsible on their part,” he added.

The UGC, in its recent move asked the University to roll back the FYUP. DU, in response, asked the UGC to steer clear and let the autonomy of the University prevail. The HRD ministry, in response, has stayed away from the ongoing controversy and said that the UGC is supreme.

The responses by each of these organizations have resulted in the delay of admissions of around 2.7 lakh aspiring students. The responses have lead to ongoing protests by teachers and students alike, with threats of hunger strikes looming in the atmosphere.

“There is a complete stand-off between the DU administration and the UGC.Hopefully, till Friday something should work out. Till then, no admissions,” said a senior professor at DU.

Sarthak Aggarwal, a student of DPS Vasant Kunj, who topped the CBSE exams this year with 99.6% said that he is neither against or for the FYUP.

“But whatever has to happen, needs to happen right now. The authorities should speed it up,” he added.

Yet again, the problem here was that the autonomy of the University was questioned.
For a country, which talks about education being the prime factor of development, the events at different levels of education do not seem to be in sync with what the government proclaims, or has previously proclaimed.

Is a question on the autonomy of an educational institution a good enough reason to put the education of a child at risk? General consensus would show a negative reply.
Such administrative conflicts not only bring about a delay in the admission process, but also bring a drastic change in the quality of education imparted.

If the government thinks education is really an important parameter for education, then it’s time that they allow conflicts on autonomy to be put on the back burner and give the youth a better environment to pursue their career.

Courtesy