Grade One admissions:

Is there a solution?

As the National Policy on School Admissions and Management of Schools published in August and the subsequent regulations to replace it continue to spark controversy, the Supreme Court last week approved a new set of policies proposed by the Education Ministry for admitting children to schools.

The policies have come under criticism although they have managed to address the concerns of Past Pupils’ Associations who opposed the guidelines in the previous circular.

Some say the 20 marks given for the ‘suitability of the child’ (evaluated by the child’s ability to identify colours/objects, to respond etc.), bring the ‘IQ test’ in the previous circular under a different name.

There will be no need to send children to schools if they are already skilled and talented, they argue.

The allocation of 10 marks to children of members of the Armed Forces is commendable. But there will be divergent views on the 20 marks for past pupils, to be decided by their period of studies, or extra-curricular activities.

Taking into account the parents’ contributions to the development of the school by no means ensures equality and fair treatment.

It is reported that further amendments are to be introduced to the draft circular.

Write to us on the above issues as we take up the issue of Grade one school admissions in the Daily News Debate. Send in your views (in 750-1,000 words) to ‘Daily News Debate’, Daily News, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, PO Box 1217, Colombo, or via e-mail to [email protected] before September 11, 2007.

School Admissions Policy:

Legalising social injustice?

Siri Hettige

solution: The school admissions policy has emerged as a contentious national issue, following the recent involvement of the judiciary in the matter.

As the opposition leader has pointed out in a recent speech, the new guidelines can nullify the objectives of free education that was introduced even before the country gained independence in 1948. This is another instance where the authorities have failed miserably to come up with a rational and reasonable solution to a long standing problem.

Let us deal with the fundamental issue; our education system has failed to ensure equal opportunities to all children irrespective of their class, ethnicity, and residential, social and political background. The glaring inequities within the system have been clearly evident for many years.

While some schools in urban centres like Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and Kurunagala have the best facilities, remote rural and estate schools have little or nothing by way of qualified and competent teachers, libraries, computer labs, etc. Parents are aware that children who attend disadvantaged schools have no prospect of realising their potential and moving up the educational and social leader.

This is the reason why parents want to admit their children to better equipped urban schools. Yet, it is only those who have the resources and the necessary social and political contacts who usually succeed in their effort.

It is common sense that not all the children in the country can be accommodated in well equipped urban schools, though theoretically, all of them should have access to such schools as they have a right to be treated equally. Yet, we have not treated our children equally ever since modern education was introduced to Sri Lanka. In fact, it has become much worse in recent years.

When education facilities are highly unequally distributed in the country, it is impossible to ensure equality of opportunity. If one argues that this is possible, he or she should be insane.

If only 20% of the schools are well equipped, while the rest fall into the category of under-privileged schools, it is only logical to argue that the education system denies to a majority of school children their right to have a good quality education.

In such a situation, the vast majority of school children cannot be expected to achieve a reasonable standard of education. Even if we go by the highly unreliable indicator of educational achievement; namely GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L) results, the picture is clear. Those who attend disadvantaged rural and estate schools have the poorest results.

When one looks at student performance in the English language, it is even clearer. Those who attend rural and estate schools acquire no knowledge of the English language, though they all realize the need to have a working knowledge of English and do everything to achieve their goal.

Given the resource limitations, it would be unrealistic to assume that all schools in the country can be brought up to the level of privileged urban schools in the near future. What is realistically possible is to narrow the gap between the privileged and the under-privileged schools.

This can be done by upgrading ill-equipped schools in a systematic fashion so that they do not fall below a minimum standard. This minimum standard should be determined by educational authorities in consultation with specialists in the field.

Another step that needs to be taken is to stop pumping in any more public resources to privileged urban schools.

What should be noted is that, countries like Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea allocate a much higher percentage of their GDP for education than Sri Lanka. As is well known, a higher level of public investment in education in these countries has been a major factor contributing to economic and social development there.

What I have attempted to demonstrate above is that, as long as the current disparities in the public education system persist, it is virtually impossible to provide opportunities to all prospective new entrants to schools, no matter what kind of admission policy we adopt. On the other hand, parents do everything to find a good school for their children.

As mentioned earlier, parents who have economic resources and social or political capital usually manage to find good schools for their children. We are well aware of the methods used by privileged and well-connected parents to find places for their children in good schools.

Many of them collect fake documents to prove the eligibility of their children. They collect all kinds of documents to show that the child lives in the vicinity of the school. This becomes obvious when the same parents, in collaboration with their political contacts, arrange private transport for their children to travel 15 to 20 kilometers daily between home and school.

Authorities responsible for enforcing the rules have no problem with such blatant violations. Old boys and girls associations and parent-teacher associations also do everything to ensure that their family members have privileged access to their “own schools”. They want to reserve these schools to their children as a birth right.

Given the intense competition for admission to such schools, corruption has also become a widespread phenomenon that involves public officials, school principals and others. Some of them have become rich as a result.

Given the above state of affairs, it is not possible to argue that the prevailing practices pertaining to school admissions are just and reasonable. On the other hand, one cannot imagine how a reasonable admission policy can be devised and administered given the highly unequal distribution of educational resources in the country.

Among the criteria currently used to allocate places in more desirable schools, the only one that appears to be reasonable is the residential requirement.

Even this criterion deprives a majority of children who happen to live in the vicinity of disadvantaged schools, as they are forced to attend such schools when the admissions are done on the basis of the residential criteria.

All the other criteria used such as parents’ or siblings’ school background, parents’ ability to make financial contributions to schools, social and political background of parents etc... violate the equity principle as under-privileged children are automatically eliminated from the competition.

In the case of a pre-school child who has had no formal schooling or any kind of prior coaching, what is there to be tested? A few middle class children who have been prematurely coached by their parents or pre-school teachers might appear to be better prepared for school education but such children can be few and far between. It would be ridiculous to subject an average pre -school child to an admission test.

Up to now the year five scholarship examination is conducted in the country to select school children to Grade six. Private tuition is given to children preparing for this examination and those who have access to best coaching naturally do better. These are children from better off families, though there can be a few exceptions.

If a new test is introduced to select children to Grade one, parents will be forced to give private tuition to pre-school children as well to prepare them for the test.

This would not only put enormous economic, social and psychological pressure on families but would also amount to virtual abuse of small children. There is no need to mention that children from poor families will invariably be marginalized.

In this country we are quite pleased to deal with symptoms of deep rooted problems rather than their causes. The issue of school admissions has gone from bad to worse over the years due to growing disparities within the education system.

The influential and powerful groups have virtually monopolized privileged urban schools, relegating children from poor and powerless families to disadvantaged schools. Now we are ready to legalize this unjust system by giving legitimacy to socially unjust practices.

Instead of perpetuating an unequal and unjust system that marginalizes the poor and the powerless, what we should have done was to compel the authorities to set minimum standards below which no school in the country should fall. Indian Supreme Court did something similar for private universities some time back.

A time frame would have been set to narrow the gap between the privileged and under-privileged public schools and create a more equitable system of education. This is the only way to make sure that children attending government schools have equal opportunities irrespective of their class, ethnic, caste and residential backgrounds. This of course is too much to ask for, from our myopic leaders as servile public officials.

The writer is Professor of Sociology, University of Colombo

Suggestion to put an easy end to the issue

M.R.A. Hardy

EDUCATION: The issue of student admission to grade one is a simple one, made complicated by the so-called learned, bureaucratic elite, and politicians who are not practical in their approach to day to day problems of ordinary poor masses.It is they who created this mess in the sphere of education in the country.

The system of education today is in utter mess from grade 1 to university. Education, instead of making “good citizen” today is making the worst and waste. Higher Educational institutions was become the breeding and training grounds of thuggery, bloodletting feuds, merciless murders-reducing the student population to the mean level of beasts.

Concept of education has become meaningless, useless and a gruelling burden to our nation. Even the grade 5 toddlers have been instigated to climb to roof tops of schools to agitate against teachers and principals under various pretexts. Ragging- the cancer- prevalent in the universities have extended it’s vicious tentacles to schools in Colombo , outskirts and some rural schools.

School Competions, in the field of sports and other such activities, fuelled uncompromised rivalry among schools and students to the extent of rampaging , ransacking, causing grievous injuries to teachers, students and buildings of other competitive and competing schools.

Students of leading schools are engaged in gang warfare with fellow students of the same schools. Intimidation, extortion , drugs and vandalism, sex, pornography, unruly behaviour have become the norms of leading schools.

Do we need to pay profusely to a decaying system of education to produce some clerks, salesmen, doctors and engineers devoid of noble human qualities?

To put an easy end to the issue of student admission to grade 1 to 5, my simple and humble suggestion is that:

All student admissions, to grade 1 to 5 , shall be allowed or approved to schools within five mile radius from the place of residence of the student. I am sure most of us would complain about the quality of education in the nearest schools.

This proposal will save many schools facing the bleak prospect of closure due to mass exodus of students from less privileged schools to famous schools. It will also save the children, parents, transport authorities and government from unnecessary troubles.

Our parents are prepared to wait for many months to see the Principals of famous colleges and pocket out any amount but not ready to see the School Principal a few metres away and pocket out a few rupees. What is required of is - a bit of extra dedication by the teachers, students, parents and officials of education department.

Let us give a dedicated and concerted effort to make this proposal implemented.

Grade 1 Admissions: A contentious issue

Jayashantha Jayawardhana

ISSUE: Sandun Randunu, a five-year-old, is called to be present at an admission interview where it will be decided whether he should be admitted into the school which his parents have applied for on his behalf and where they want him to study in.

His father and his mother are both equally anxious to see him succeed in the interview and secure admission for that school. So they train him hard to learn by rote all the prodigious lies they want him to repeat before the panel of interviewers so that he may be able to enter the school in question.

So begins the 13 years long school career of a five year old. And the crux of the matter is that his success at the interview depends largely on whether he can outlie the rival applicants though, in reality, he does not merit it at all!

Is this not a typical story about a child and his over-ambitious parents who want him admitted into the best school in the city despite all the facts and circumstances militating against their ambition?

I certainly believe there are a great number of children undergoing more or less the same experience at the tender age of five or maybe six to enter the rat race. Their parents do not want to see them fail in the admission interview, so they are as anxious to please their parents as they are to face the interview, a wholly new experience for a typical five year old.

And at such a tender age, they are taught the secret formula for success-deceit, duplicity and falsehood. If these children grow up into ingenious liars, let me ask you, who are to blame? Children themselves? Or their parents? Or both? Or some third party?

Popular city schools and rural ones

As I write this article I happen to remember a wonderful Sinhala song sung by the famous vocalist Karunarathna Divulgane, “Mahamevunawata silwehi wahinawa hema masayakama poya dine-Game vihareta vehi binduwak ne wenasak ei budu piyaneni...” Just as the Mahamevuna is flooded with devotees on the full moon poya day every month, so those popular city schools are flooded with applications for Grade 01 admissions; just as the village temple sees few devotees on the full moon poya day, so the unpopular, under-privileged, rural schools receive barely enough application for Grade 01 admissions.

The number of applications received is scarcely a problem in itself as long as a school can admit all the applicants. But the number of applicants is far greater than the number of students admissible given a particular school’s physical resources i.e. class-rooms, desks, chairs and human resources, teachers.

And the current trend is the more famous a school is, the steeper the competition for Grade 01 admissions. Some disappointed parents seek redress even at the court when they have failed to secure admissions for their children into the schools where they want them to study in.

Unfair distribution of resources

Generally all the parents want to give their children education in the best way they can. So they are not to blame for the perfectly fair reason that they seek to get their children admitted into the best schools in the area by any means that fall within the boundaries of the law.

But, today, the competition is so sharp that it has become literally a mind-boggling issue for all the parties involved i.e. children, parents, principals of the schools and in some instances the Education minister himself.

The problem stems from the fact that both the policy-makers and the educational authorities have miserably failed to effect equal distribution of resources among the country’s schools.

Once the equitable distribution of resources has been done, I believe, the yawning gap between the popular city schools and the under-privileged rural schools can be narrowed almost to the point of non-existence.

I am not unaware of the utopian elements contained in that simple statement as it is easier said than done; still I believe some initial efforts should be made towards this end, which can then be carried on.

There have been quite a few instances of subornation: we have been hearing scandalous reports about some principals charged with bribe-taking; also about some principals who have refused to grant admissions for some children over their parents’ refusals to suborn them.

Frankly, I am barely aware of the salary scales pertaining to the principals of government schools; but it is possible that the salaries these poor fellows get are so low, so exiguous that they simply cannot do without a certain amount of bribes!

If this is in fact the case, I earnestly request that the authorities concerned take prompt action to remedy their salary problem, since none of us wants to see the principals of government schools reduced to the state of some traffic cops who are constantly in the habit of demanding bribes from every driver who happens to pass by them!.

The most dangerous aspect of this problem, as far as I can see, is that if the head of a certain school is corrupt, he or she cannot expect for those under him or her to be clean and honest.

What moral right does a corrupt principal have to insist the staff under him on their probity and integrity?

Even if he demands that they never engage in corrupt practices, will it make any sense? Who will listen to moral advice offered by an immoral fellow? If the head of a school or of any institute for that matter, is corrupt, it will not take long for the whole school/ institute to become corrupt. In the end, the sleazy attitudes of the principal and the teachers will naturally rub off on their students!

Yet another facet of this problem is that children having parents able to afford to suborn the principal or outsuborn other parents, as the case stands, will be given the opportunity to study at those prestigious schools while those whose parents cannot or do not want to give bribe will be more or less robbed of their fundamental right for education even though they merit admission. So that will be a great injustice to them.

Over-crowded class-rooms

When a large number of children have been admitted for the Grade 01, so many children will be packed into a single class-room to be taught by a single teacher that there will be little effective learning while the class-room begins to burst at the seams as the hackneyed phrase says. Practically speaking, a teacher may not be able to pay adequate attention to any more than 30 students at a time.

I personally believe that this upper limit should be dragged back to 25 or so though, admittedly, I am somewhat skeptical about the practicability of it myself.

Obviously, if a single class-room accommodates over 40 students, it is perfectly ridiculous and there will be little or no learning. In fact the greater the number of students, the less will be the attention the teacher can give to each student; consequently both the teaching process and the learning process will be less effective.

First graders, in reality, know little about staying attentive unless their teacher can persuade them to remain attentive. But how can a mortal teacher manage to coax their attention when she has too many students to attend to? She has to teach them, correct their exercises, resolve their squabbles, and above all, to maintain silence in the class-room-all this she should do at the same time.

Just imagine a class-room with 40 students and a single teacher; will you disagree with me if I say her endeavor is a mission impossible?

Parents have always managed to circumvent the one-mile rule introduced as the fairest criterion for Grade 01 admissions by moving into temporary residences in close proximity to the school or by giving false residence addresses, hoodwinking the school authorities.

So I believe there should be a more effective, more comprehensive program in lieu of the one mile rule.

But a new education policy designed to ensure equal distribution of resources among the country’s schools and equal opportunity for education for all the children in the country be they rich or poor, from the metropolis or from the remotest countryside, I believe, will solve this problem as well as a host of other problems stemming from the not so efficient current education system.