Abu Dhabi: Bijoy dropped his numbered coupon into a box hoping luck would smile on him. The coupons will go into a raffle from which the lucky few winners will emerge.
Unlike the usual prizes such as a glitzy car or cash, the prize he looks forward to is nothing more than a school place for his six-year-old son. "The stress is tremendous. I have compromised two working days at my office to ensure my child's application makes it into the draw," said Bijoy, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
There are so many applicants and the seats are extremely limited, what will happen to the students who are not lucky enough, he asks. He was one among the thousands who gathered in the Abu Dhabi Indian School auditorium Sunday. The school which his son currently attends, Sherwood Academy, is closing down.
Helpless situation
"We have 109 seats in all and over 2,500 applications have come in", V.K Mathu, school principal told Gulf News.
Some 66 seats are available in kindergarten, 30 in grade one and 13 in grade two. Although the school said no seats were available for grades three to eight, parents still applied to be on the waiting list, just in case any students left.
With more than 5,100 students, the school is the biggest Indian community school in Abu Dhabi and admissions are much sought after. "We understand parents are frustrated, but there is little we can do. It is a helpless situation since the school's capacity is full", Mathu said.
The number of people who have applied has nearly doubled compared to last year, he said. It is usual practice for schools to give preference to siblings of students already studying at the school; however considering the plight of parents we have opened few seats, added Mathu.
He said the closure of some schools that were running out of villas was straining the system, which is already overwhelmed.
"There are only around nine schools here following the Indian curriculum, which takes roughly about 9,000 plus students. But the demand is much higher."
Chaos and dismay filled the auditorium, when parents who had waited for a few hours, grew distressed. The principal had ask them to remain calm. The mother of a grade one admission seeker, whose daughter also attends Sherwood, said: "It's horrible. We might even consider sending our child to India because schools following other curriculums are way too expensive for us."
The principal of another Indian school, who asked not to be named, told Gulf News: "The problem is very serious. I think several hundred will be left with no seats this year."One solution could be to revert to the old system of separate shifts for boys and girls, he said.
Abu Dhabi Education Council officials were unavailable for comment on Sunday.
Do you think this is a fair technique? Do you have a backup plan in case your child is not accepted?
