The bane of school admissions

Andrew SCOTT

With reopening of the schools, the issue of school admissions throughout the country, particularly to the more popular schools in the towns, has become an ever recurring problem to the Ministry of Education, old boys unions, parents, teachers, principals and even to the tiny tots who have been pushed into the rat-race of seeking admission to so called popular schools in the island.

In the light of this situation it would be quite helpful if we address our minds to the problems connected with school admissions particularly to Year 1, as Year 1 admissions have created a serious problem annually to parents, principals, teachers and to the very young students themselves.

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 and to their controlling bodies to get a child admitted to a so called good school in a country which speaks so eloquently about free education for all.

GOOD SCHOOL

One of the gravest problems that most parents in Sri Lanka face today is to find a good school for their off-spring and in fact admission to Grade 1 of popular schools in this country has turned out to be a national problem that has gone out of hand to such an extent that the 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 interested parties fleece the unfortunate parents of innocent children clamouring to see the light of their first day in a good school about which they as well as their anxious parents 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 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 servicing in such schools are well cared for and these little 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 helpless children would be asked at admission interviews which have turned out to be a great hurdle for these children to clear.

We know that a majority of our schools are State or Government 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 we have fee levying private schools and a large number of international schools some of which have sprung up overnight.

NEW STUDENTS

It is seen that for a long time there is something definitely amiss 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 very remote areas have been closed down time to time or are on the verge of being closed down.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest problems faced by the Ministry of Education and the heads of schools 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 the disposal of the Government.

As a result, only haphazard crash programs to house the teeming population of little children in our schools are initiated from time to time. However, what is urgently required is a permanent solution to this problem.

The primary sections of our schools are keeping on swelling annually and the present structure of primary education with several super imposed systems seems unable to stand the strain of the current lead of students and several education reforms 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 1 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 ones education.

A majority of parents prefer the town schools as a result of which the number of children seeking admission to those 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 children have to go through a strick 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.

NATIONAL PROBLEM

This annually recurring problem of school admissions should be treated as an urgent national problem and common sense 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 admission to the better schools in the island 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.

RURAL SCHOOLS

One of the best ways to solve the 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 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 admits 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.

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 to those without the necessary influence or the financial resources to give handsome donations.

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.