K's admission- FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

Well...WE ARE IN...THANK YOU GOD...out of the nine schools we had applied for, we made it to one and a half. One- Junior Modern, half- wait listed with Vasant Valley.

The lists were due to be out on the first of Feb and Vasant Valley duly released its list midnight, throwing me into a paroxysm of grief and fear. Grief, as we were wait listed, and fear, that we wouldn't make it anywhere else like last year. And it would've been the case, had we not made it to Junior Modern. I sympathise and empathise from the bottom of my heart with parents who still have to think about admissions next year as it could very easily have been us. We have been saved, but many haven't.

And we all have this completely idiotic system of school entry to blame. With every thing that happens in this country, we collectively prove that we are a nation of morons. The current system of school admissions was introduced to spare the poor toddlers the trauma of going through 'interviews'. So far, so very good. Now the moronic bit- how do u decide that this lot of parents make it and the other set does not? You introduce the point system and give the schools a free hand in deciding their own criteria for awarding points. So one school will give points for multi-cultural marriages of parents (we proudly fill in our details- still not even a call for interaction :-( ), the other school will be asking for your religious beliefs. And of course, as nothing in Delhi happens without contacts, you have to know the right people to make it anywhere- we are the freaks who along with some other freaks made it without knowing the 'right' ones!!

After having put a neighbourhood policy for schools, all it lacks for the government is to enforce it. And if the good schools all happen to be in one locality, we have parents giving in forged certificates for residence, forged certificates proving they belong to the economically weaker section (so what if the women are all Gucci toting dyed auburn haired Toyota driving babes), their children will make it to the right schools. And you can't blame the poor fathers for suddenly making it big from the supposed 60000 a year income that they have sworn to!

The Sriram school had a huge group discussion for parents- we flunked it- we must have! This school which promotes a no pressure policy and has a great feel about it, has the biggest quota for management that I've seen so far. So 5 parents I know made it to the school through this quota- two know someone in the management, the other two are expat couples who I seriously doubt know anyone anywhere. And they are on a short stay here. So on what basis have they been awarded seats for two years which could have gone to deserving Indian children, for whom it's a matter of the next twelve years.


So let me also talk a bit about the school we wanted Kabir to get into- Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. Anuj and I love the philosophy promoted by the school- of making well rounded individuals rather than machines. So when we weren't even called for an interview, even though we stay 1.8 kms precisely from the school, we went and met the principal. A very jovial lady, who I now firmly believe got totally pissed off that her school also has a price tag (me and my big mouth- mentioned that I had just the previous day seen a rate card for schools and her school also was on it and that we weren't the kind of parents who would pay up even if we had the money or know how to...long story short- I do believe now she thought I was bribing her !!!!!! I wouldn't even know how to..) everyone who knows me thinks I am too direct, and now I think I have the proof. Please forgive me Kabir if you weren't offered a fair chance for this school.

So we wanted her to know how sincere we were- we are not running scared of the first five years of hindi medium education, and we loved what they seem to be promoting with their method. But in our effort to prove our sincerity- my husband and I tried to meet her many times, we called- many times, we sent mails and couriers- all detailing the ways in which we as parents could contribute to the school, how much we loved it etc etc etc. All of it , contrary to popular belief, came to naught. The haughty lady, I do think believes those in 'rich' residential areas are just not worth the effort! Talk about inverse snobbery.

Well, I have been going on and on, still crossing my fingers that my son makes it to Vasant Valley.

p.s..a big well done to the website www.nurseryadmissions.com ..check it out