Year One admissions - some points to ponder

Andrew SCOTT

SCHOOL ADMISSIONS: With the recent guidelines put forward by the government to streamline the admission of students to year 1 of State schools, school admissions and connected issues have become the talk of the country and even though there are very noteworthy suggestions put forward by the Ministry of Education, a large number of school organisations such as old boys unions and parents associations that have vested interests, particularly in certain well-known schools throughout the country, have organised themselves to vehemently protest against the implementation of these guidelines even without analysing them carefully.

In the light of the current situation it would be quite helpful if we could address our minds as to why we should follow such a national system in the admission of students to year 1 of our schools as throughout the years year 1 admissions has created a serious problem annually to the parents, principals, teachers and particularly to the young students themselves as well as the State at large.

It is no secret that the bane of the entire issue is the handsome donations in cash or kind some parents, particularly the more ambitious ones, have to make to some of the popular schools or to their controlling bodies to get a child admitted to a school in a country which speaks so eloquently about free education for all and equality for all.

The gravest problem that most parents in Sri Lanka face today is to find a good school for their off-springs and in fact admission to grade 1 of the popular schools in this country has become a national problem that has gone out of hand to such an extent that admission of students to certain well-known schools for which the demand for admission is the highest, has woefully turned out to be a very lucrative exercise where both the administrators and their cronies fleece the unfortunate parents of innocent children clamouring to see the light of their first day in school about which they have happy and not so happy dreams.

As far as school admissions are concerned the irregularities that sometimes take place throughout the country particularly in many of the very popular schools in the towns are countless.

Long before a child is to be admitted to a particular school of his parents’ choice fraudulent documents including deeds and tenancy agreements are cleverly prepared, important contacts with that particular school are sought after and influential teachers serving in such schools are well cared for and these small children themselves are constantly coached by their parents as well as their other elders well experienced in this rather tricky business of school admissions to answer certain stipulated questions these hapless children would be asked at admission interviews which have turned out to be a great hurdle for these children to clear.

A majority of our schools are State schools which are totally geared to give free education and the demand for admission to the so called good schools or schools with better facilities, some of which have been named as national schools, is the highest.

In addition Sri Lanka has fee levying private schools and a large number of international schools, some of which have sprung up like mushrooms.

It seems that for a long time there is something definitely wrong with the entire educational set up of this country.

For instance, while there is a mad clamour for admission to the country’s better known schools in the main towns the classes in some of the rural schools are depleted and some of them in the very remote areas have been closed down from time to time.

One of the biggest problems faced by the Ministry of Education and the school heads year in and year out is the problem of finding accommodation for new students and though the recurring problem of student accommodation to some popular schools has aggravated very much over the years still there doesn’t seem to be a satisfactory solution to it, particularly due to the poor financial resources at our disposal.

Only haphazard crash programmes to house the teeming population of little children in our schools are initiated from time to time, but no permanent solution has been sought.

The primary sections of our schools keep on swelling annually and the present structure of primary education with several super-imposed systems seems unable to stand the strain of the current load of students and several education reform committees have remarked that the school system in Sri Lanka is a patchwork affair and is bursting at its seams and this is particularly so with regard to year I classes.

Certain private fee levying schools make capital use of this situation and exploit even the very poor parents to part with large sums of money for their little one’s education.

A majority of parents prefer the town schools as a result of which the number of children seeking admission to these schools has increased alarmingly.

This has resulted with a stiff competition for admission which has gone so far that in certain well-known schools even year 1 kids are compelled to go through a strict selection test for admission.

This is a great crime indeed because from the very beginning of their school career little children are put through an atmosphere charged with an aura of unhealthy competition.

This annually recurring problem of school admissions should be treated as an urgent national problem and common sensed based practical solutions should be sought to solve it permanently.

It is true that this problem is aggravated primarily due to the mad scramble for admissions to the better schools in the country but the root cause for this is the wide disparity in the facilities in the rural schools and those in the towns.

If glaring inequalities in the content of the education imparted and the facilities available including the services of efficient teachers do not exist, any sensible parent would like to send his child to the nearest school because of the convenience, the safety of the children and the much lesser economic burden specially during these days when transport is so expensive and time consuming.

Today parents who naturally wish to give the best possible education to their children are motivated to send them to the schools in the towns, particularly the national schools, which usually have much better facilities such as highly qualified and gifted teachers, imposing buildings, a better environment and above all a coveted prestige.

One of the best ways to solve this problem of school admissions is to provide equal facilities in all schools without discriminating between the rural schools and the schools in the towns.

Even though we are told that there are equal facilities in all schools throughout the island, in reality this is not so. Better facilities and better education in all schools will appreciably minimise the rush to the so called better schools.

Another very sensible thing would be to begin a few well equipped independent primary schools throughout the country. These can function as feeder schools for the secondary schools both in the towns in the rural areas.

Another very important aspect to consider seriously is to have two sessions in schools where there is a great demand for year 1 admissions so that such schools would be able to admit the maximum number of students where a part of the student population can attend one session and the other part could attend the other session.

The details of such a plan can be worked out with the co-ordination of the heads of schools, teachers and parents.

It is timely that school admissions are streamlined as today finding a suitable school for one’s child is a splitting headache for parents, particularly those without the necessary influence or the financial resources to give handsome donations in cash or kind.

All of us - the State, parents and teachers and all others directly or indirectly concerned with education - should address their minds to bring about a permanent solution to solve the various issues connected to school admissions so that all of us, including the young children clamouring to enter a good school, could breathe a sigh of relief.

In the light of all these issues the recent guidelines proposed by the government on the admission of students to year I should be studied carefully and implemented judiciously as some of them are eminently suitable to streamline the rules and regulations for the admission of students to year 1.