Schools grapple with norms-Mumbai

Source :Shreya Bhandary, TNN, May 24, 2010, 01.41am IST

MUMBAI: Schools around the state are slowly gearing up to meet the various clauses as mentioned under the Right To Education (RTE) Act which came into force in April this year. However, some features of the Act, like banning screening tests and selecting ‘neighbourhood' children, have created more confusion than clarity.

Clause 13 of the Act says no school shall subject any child or their parents to any screening procedure before giving them admission, but many principals still feel that screening of a student is necessary to an extent.

"These tests are performance-based, just to gauge the psychology of a student. Children are not expected to be brilliant at these tests. In fact, we don't have any written tests for KG level students. Students who apply for admission to classes above standard I are tested on the three core subjects - languages (English and Hindi) and Maths," said Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral and John Connon School in Fort. Some also felt that these tests are necessary to help the student understand and gel with the culture followed in the schools.

"The tests are held to ensure that the student's aptitude matches the school, so that later on the child doesn't feel insecure while studying there," said Avnita Bir, principal of Ramniranjan Podar High School, Santacruz.

Many added these tests are merely undertaken to understand a student and their parents before giving the child admission to the school. "For instance, parents should also be comfortable with the ICSE syllabus only then will the students find it easy too. We don't want to promote tuition culture so we try to ensure that the student gets all the education in school and their homes itself," said Carl Laurie, principal of Christ Church School, Byculla.

Others don't agree. "The screening procedure should immediately be done away with so that there is no room for bias. Once the student is a part of the school, then he/she can be taught to gel in with the rest of the students and be taught other valuable information. Testing them on all this before they are even in the school is not done," said psychologist Harish Shetty.

Regarding another RTE stipulation of giving preference to students from theneighbourhood only for admission, Laurie said, "What exactly should we consider as our neighbourhood? For almost three kilometres, there isn't any other ICSE school around so students come to us from a lot of places. We can't deny them admission just because they stay a little away from school." Many also mentioned that the lack of good schools in the city was another major problem. "Parents would obviously want to send their students to better schools and not bother about the neighbourhood," added Isaacs.