Ranjeet Gupta, 32, thinks the Delhi government’s recent decision to scrap management quota in private unaided schools will allow his school-ready son Shivam to get his foot in the door.
For his three-and-a-half year old son, Ranjeet has “indefinitely suspended” his plans of launching a business in his hometown in Bihar.
“I came to Delhi in 2005, just a year after I finished my graduation. Both my elder brothers had by then found a job in the garment industry. So it was easy for me to get in,” he says.
Ranjeet adds that his decision to stay back in Delhi will benefit Shivam, as he will have better education and employment opportunities here.
He had taken a day off from work this week to do a recce of schools in the east Delhi area. “I have already submitted forms at two local schools, but we are not sure whether we will make the cut. There are too many applicants these days. I am taking another two days off next week to fill up forms,” he says.
The resident of Shashi Garden, one of the unauthorised colonies in Mayur Vihar area, rues that those living in “plush Mayur Vihar apartments” walk away with seats in top schools in the neighborhood.
Ranjeet says he always dreaded that his child may be judged on the basis of his parents’ qualifications.
“I am just a graduate and my wife is enrolled in an undergraduate correspondence course. The child will be deprived of a level-playing field if the government’s nursery guidelines are quashed by the court,” he says.
On Wednesday, the Arvind Kejriwal government had announced scrapping of 62 assessment criteria, including parents’ educational qualification, used by private schools in nursery admission.
Shivam is first in the family to have attended a play school, Ranjeet says, indicating that he is prepared to sit through classes on “English nursery rhymes”.
“He knows a few English poems already. I try to make him rehearse the poems, but I find it hard to pronounce a few English words,” says Geeta Gupta, the child’s mother.
Geeta, who is a homemaker, says she has been adequately warned by her sisters-in-law and neighbours about how expensive it is to send kids to schools.
“There are hundreds of expense heads besides the tuition fee. Just to get your child dressed as Kanhaiya at a fancy dress competition, may cost anything around Rs 500-600,” she says.
She says she has urged her husband to search for a school someplace near so that they can save on the transportation cost.
Ranjeet, however, is ready to compromise on the distance factor if the school is both affordable and good. “It’s not possible to change schools every two or three years and paying admission fee each time is never easy on the pocket,” he says.
When asked why he is fixated on getting an English-medium school education for his child in Delhi, he says, “Before coming to Delhi, I was unaware that people have made careers out of designing clothes. When I see young designers from NIFT working with me at my Kondli office, I realise that all we need to succeed in life is better exposure.”
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