The word admission is nightmarish, particularly for children. Nevertheless the process has started for Nursery and LKG classes. Parents prefer to send their wards to the best school. Preparatory schools conduct mock interviews so that children attain a level of confidence. Applicants are many but seats are few. Logically all children can’t get admission. So it becomes a do or die situation for most of the parents. I remember a family friend who lost some 5 kgs due to the tension if her son would not be admitted in Burn Hall.  ‘What would happen then?’, I asked. Perhaps the end of world, her face read. Fortunately her son got admission in the school, therefore,  craziness found refuge in brand satisfaction.  In advertisement we were taught to question and understand the USP of products.
This year Burn Hall announced admissions in the last week of August and kept just one day for the issuance of forms i.e 28th Aug, a day after Sheb-e-Qadar. Eye witnesses say that there had been a virtual stampede outside the school premises where the parents had begun to arrive by midnight, the night which was supposed to be spent in prayers.  A similar kind of situation holds true for other leading schools though their dates were different.  In an era of fast growing internet, it seems not just absurd but stone aged to stand in a queue and collect the form.   Factual situations reinforce that sometimes branding is intensely dangerous.  
Being influential missionary schools whose history spans more than fifty years, one can’t stop asking some genuine questions and making some suggestions, and  school authorities should take it as constructive criticism.
DPS schools in the valley are just some years old. In a comparatively short span of time the school website facilitates the downloading of admission forms and online registration of the wards without causing inconvenience to the parents.  Logically they should have also kept the option of paying the registration fees online and in this connection the banks, particularly J&K Bank must provide payment gateways to all schools unconditionally to save time, energy and ensure convenience. 
Here is another problem. DPS Budgam rescheduled interview dates from 24th Sep to 16th  Sep, for reasons best known to them. The irony is that DPS schools do not leave any choice open to the students and their parents.  No doubt that DPS Budgam conducted child friendly interviews but this is only half the story. The other half says that day-one is interview, day-second is result and the day-next is the day for deposition of fee leaving no space for the parents to opt and think. What about a child who has to appear in the interview in other schools and his preference is some other school? The non-refundable and non transferable fee policy is questionable.
The Chief Minister along with Education Minister must take a strong note of this and issue a circular regarding the time and fee schedule directing these schools to follow the norms. A regulation needs to be framed by the Directorate of School Education where in the timing of fee deposition is the same so that the money of parents is not wasted. Therefore the issuance of forms, admission process and deposition of fee should take place simultaneously which is the only way to convince parents to admit their wards in a particular school without regrets.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST