UAE | Education
Parents against betting on childrens' fate
Schools should take a decision on admissions based on merit ascertained after interviewing candidates, they say
- By Anjana Sankar, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 December 25, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied
- I think a lottery is a complete waste of time where the child's capabilities are not counted and parents have no say at all, Kshama Nadeer, mother of two from Dubai says.
Dubai: Most parents are not in favour of the lottery system to decide whether their children get into a school of their choice. Many told Gulf News it is unfair to let a lottery decide the future of their children's education.
"It is a blind choice, both for the schools and parents. How can a raffle decide who should be in and who should be shown the door? I think the schools should take the pain of meeting with every single parent and use their discretion in short-listing the candidates," said Reenu James, a mother of two from Dubai.
According to her, many parents send their children to nurseries and prepare them for kindergarten, but there are children who are not even toilet-trained when they apply for KG. "It will not be fair to treat these two on par and give them equal chances for admission," she added.
Kshama Nadeer, another mother of two from Dubai said she did not even apply to a reputed school that followed the lottery system while seeking admission for her son Adnan three years ago.
Waste of time
"I think a lottery is a complete waste of time where the child's capabilities are not counted and parents have no say at all. I prefer merit examinations or interviews," said Kshama.
Atul Neeraj, a father of a three-year-old is anxious waiting for the result of the lottery draw in Indian High School.
"I am not in favour of a lottery system. But I had no choice but to apply as we are very keen to send our son to that school. We are having sleepless nights over our son's admission," he admitted.
Another parent from Sharjah is also anxious that the Indian school where they are planning to enroll their daughter is following a lottery system.
"I live very close to the school and it will be convenient for my daughter. But I have applied to some other schools also because there is no guarantee that she will get enrolled.
"I understand that there are more applications than the seats available, but I think schools should make a judicious choice by interviewing the candidates," said the father who works as a sales supervisor.
Relief
But many parents are relieved that most of the schools have discarded the old first-come-first choice of students in favour of the lottery system.
"When my son had to be enrolled in the kindergarten some six years ago, I remember parents use to camp outside the school gates the previous night when the school was to distribute a limited number of admission forms.
"There was chaos and cat fights at the school on that day because everyone wanted to secure the forms. I feel the lottery system will spare parents trauma," said Latha J., a housewife whose two children study in St. Joseph"s School in Abu Dhabi.
Shajahan K.K, another parent from Abu Dhabi, who has a two-year-old son, said he is already scared about the thought of vying for a seat for his son next year. "I am hoping that he will get admission through the lottery system. All we can do is just hope."
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