A for Admission!!

I see many of my friends are so worried more than they worried over their X, XII board, Engineering entrance exams and university exams! All this for joining their kid in PRE KG or LKG! I too thought the whole thing is exaggerated when I saw such scenes in the movies where parents will be interviewed for KG admissions! But, the reality is worse!

The joy of spending time with the child as a first time parent (after, all the struggle to get pregnant, the hospital visits, etc) ends as soon as the kid reaches 2 years of age! Everyone around you start telling you to teach your kid, Alphabets, numbers, colors, birds, animals, etc!

“Arre Yar, come on, don’t take risk! My Puja tho says all numbers from 1 to 10, alphabets, colors and she can even sing some rhymes! We started to teach her as soon as she was 1.5! B-block Arav is even better! He can say his parent’s names, phone numbers, etc...That girl Ananya can even say capitals of states, countries, etc! Schools do interview! Don’t waste time!”

The best part is even kids are interviewed, err..’Interacted with’!

First, you have to get the admission forms, fill them and drop them in school. Then you have to visit the school, enquiring about the process, meet some teachers, parents, etc, do the analysis, and get the model question papers!!(@#$$%$%$%), teach your kid at home. If you get the reject card, that’s all baba! If you don’t get the card, you can be hopeful that they will call you for the interview! At 3.5 years of age, your kid should be in LKG, which means by 2.5, he/she should be in PRE KG. And you know what, only some schools admit kids for PRE KG, others do it only for LKG, but the earlier the better!

After, all the analysis about the best schools in the locality or ‘these days distance is not a concern as far as my child gets the best education mentality’, talking to other mothers, your friend’s relative’s friend who works as a teacher, you start teaching your kid at home! After enjoying all the days at home, now the kid looks at you like a monster! ‘Mom is coming, not again! What today? Colors? How many times should I tell them?!’ finally he or she is ready with the numbers, colors, etc...

Finally, the day of the interview!

You wake up your kid telling today is your interview. “Miss will come and ask you, you should answer, sweetheart, okay”? While going in the car, both of you revise 10 times and the child answers everything! Nearing school, you say joyfully ‘haa darling! See, we have come to your school!’ Your child hasn’t seen such a crowd! He/she is half afraid of that environment.

A teacher comes near the kid and asks him/her the regular questions, just to check if the kid responds. Some kids cry, some answer boldly, some keep quiet how much ever moms nudge, finally some kids are taken aside to see if they answer the questions that mom asks! They tell you that the interview is over and you will get the correspondence from the school soon.

You bite your nails, eat your hubby’s head waiting for those 10-15 days and you finally become relieved when you see that admission letter. If you are not lucky, the whole process continues for the next school’s interview, with more revisions, more questions, more chocolates, etc...

My understanding of this subject is very poor. I see so many pre-schools and schools advertising for the admissions. If they have a word called “International” then be sure, that you have to shell more money! “Unique learning methodology, make your kids learn early, music, dance, swimming, yoga, etc”(at the age of 3!)

1) Kids being interviewed at the age of 2.5, 3 and 3.5. What can we make out about their so-called ‘sociability’ and interaction?

Some kids are friendly towards women and other kids with men. Some wouldn't go near strangers at all, leave alone answering their questions!

2) Teaching kids at home for the interview

If I teach my kid all the alphabets, numbers, colors, animals, birds, etc, what will she/he learn in school? And we are paying 20-30K for the academic year! Wouldn’t they get bored if the teacher start saying A for Apple? Moreover, there are so many ways to teach kids these days and anyways they would learn!

3) Starting early

How early? 3 years, 2 years, 1 year? Or as soon as mothers conceive?! So that the baby in the garbha can learn everything in those 9 months itself!

What is the hurry?! Are we preparing them for some race or for learning?

4) The edge over others

Some schools even conduct a memory test for the kids! They keep some things on the table like a red balloon, blue kite, balls, etc. The kid has to observe them for 10 minutes and taken to another room and asked to recollect what all were there in the other room!

This is to make out how “Observant” the kid is! Another tension throughout those 15 years of schooling is coming out in flying colors! Competition!

     Shouldn’t the system change? We have so many educational experts who say so many things about learning in school. Can’t they speak up about the interviews too? How can we determine the admission based on the interview is all that I ask!

It doesn’t mean that the child is not social just because he/she has not interacted well on the day of the interview or hasn’t answered any questions. Only after going to school, kids learn by being with other kids, sharing and playing with them, giving respect for teachers and other elders and many other things.

            Interviews should not be the deciding criteria for admitting a kid. There should be other aspects too, like the distance between the school and the house. Learning should be an enjoyable experience and not a compulsive exercise!

If only, we take 10% of these efforts while choosing our leaders!