Kids put to gruelling screening for nursery, class 1 admissions

Hour-long tests followed by interviews in which the students are asked a series of questions to determine their readiness for a course. These are not for those seeking admissions to college but for children as young as five and six years old.

In several schools in the city, admission to Class 1 requires children to answer a paper. A child who cannot frame sentences using a given word, write opposite words, add and subtract two-digit numbers, may not have a chance to enter school.

A parent, who is moving to Bengaluru from Gurgaon for the next academic year, was uncomfortable to have her son take such exams for Class 1. “He was taken away to a separate classroom to give the exam. Though the test was elementary, I was uncomfortable because I think it is too intimidating for such a young child.” In Gurgaon, schools interact only with parents leaving the child out of the process, she said.

When Yashaswini Sharathkumar’s son had to proceed from Kindergarten to Class 1 in the same school, he had to undergo an assessment to find out if he was fit for ICSE syllabus. If not, he would have to continue in the state syllabus. “The school wanted to conduct a written test. But when the parents collectively protested saying that the children were too young, they settled for an oral test.” The child had to answer questions on grammar and identify vowels and consonants among other questions.

Such screening processes begin much before Class 1. Yashaswini’s son had an oral test for admission to pre-nursery in the same school. He had to recite the alphabet, name the months of the year and identify animals.  “The school has a reputation of excellent results in Class 10. The students get nothing below first class. They want to maintain this standard so there is pressure on children from the beginning,” Yashaswini said. 

All of two years and 10 months, Trupti Kulkarni’s son was rejected admission by a preschool for the 2017-18 academic year. “The teacher did not address me at all. She asked my son to identify objects and even asked him to draw standing and sleeping lines,” Trupti said.

Schools defend the practice saying that they receive a large number of applications and some form of filtering is required. Referring to the tests in a school where she used to teach, Priya Venkat said, “Schools need a method to filter applicants when there is a vacancy for only 10 in Class 1 but 150 apply. Indian pre-school system is very competitive so they are considered ready enough to do a test.” Selecting by picking lots had been considered but parents preferred to have tests, she added.