Monday morning saw hundreds of anxious parents queuing up outside the DAV Girls Senior Secondary School in Gopalapuram, Chennai, to purchase LKG admission forms for their children.
Such is the rush that some had been standing in line from as early as the previous evening. The form is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
"I have been standing outside the school from 6pm on Sunday for my child's admission. The gates were opened at 9:30 am in the morning today," Sreedharan, a parent in the queue, said.
While DAV Gopalapuram, has a total of 400 LKG seats, a whopping 2,000 admission forms are being given out.
Several of the parents said that the admission procedure should be made online. "We have been standing here for the past four hours. Most of the schools in the city are carrying out the admission procedure online, which is easier and we do not have to wait for 5-6 hours to just buy a form," Dipti, a parent, said. Some even claimed that the DAV school authorities had asked them not to form such long queues outside the school.
Echoing her opinion, Sushmita, another parent, said, "One has to come and stand here for hours to get an admission form and has to do the same again on the following day to submit the application form. Most of the parents are working professionals which means that they have to either take a full or at least half-day off from work.”
Having to stand in serpentine queues at a stretch is not the only issue that parents face when it comes to their children’s admission in schools. Deepti further said, "We do not know on what basis schools select students. Earlier, we thought it was based on the distance from the pupil’s residence to the school. But even though we stay near to the school, my other child was not selected during the admission process.”
Parents are however willing to go that extra mile to give their children the best possible shot at getting an admission in the choice of their schools. "This is one of the best CBSE schools in the city and provides good education," said Roopa, whose daughter is studying in Class II and wants her son to also join the same school. She added that this school does not ask for donations as a few other schools in the city.
Like Sushmita said, "I got a call from a school in the city which said ‘your child has got admission in our school, you just need to pay this much amount without any receipts and the admission will be confirmed’.”
For others, it is the “nominal fee”, that the school charges, that has made them select this school. "We have to pay around Rs 22,000-24,000 annually, which is pretty decent as compared to other schools in the city,” said Fathima, a parent.
The school gate finally opens and parents breathe a sigh of collective relief. A group of 100 parents are allowed to enter at a time. The ones standing at the entrance get in first, while the others wait for their turn, perhaps thinking about another such day later this week to submit the forms.