I was quite busy with the LKG admission for Dhanesh and could not make my presence in blog for long.
Now back to form and starting the post with the LKG admission experience. Have tried to make this post in a way that It will be helpful for some one who will be looking for LKG admission in future. Here we go...
Everybody would have discussed with your parents about their schooling experience. At those age after independence , child education started at the age of five. Starting from First standard (a.k.a First class.)
During our school days , it started with LKG (lower kinder garden ) and UKG (upper kinder garden ). I am sure parents would have gone to nearby nursery school and got in admission in a single visit. Of course again hunt for school for later standard..
In this generation Pre. KG (pre kinder garden) came in before LKG. It is not still a mandatory, but most of schools ask parent and kid, If they are going to play school and asking for play school name as well.
Its CBSE/ICSE fever every where and we are also part of it. We wanted to get admission for our son in best CBSE school in the city. Main reason for CBSE is that , one can easily get admission to any other school in other states of India in case of transfer for parents.
Our initial analysis on schools last year, gave us an idea that most school start from LKG and we placed him in near by play school for Pre KG. So some of the CBSE schools were removed from list as their admission happens only in Pre KG.
Fine.. all about LKG admission now..
Nothing is constant with regard to the following in the schools.
1. Eligibility age criteria for the ward to admit into LKG
2. Date of Issue of Application
3. Admission procedure
4. Number of seats - for LKG
5. Fee structure - Ofcouse , this come in to picture after you get a seat, but this is necessary to confirm if things are going to be in your limits financially.
Here i mean to say that , It is not only different for each of the schools, but also different almost every year for the same school. Hence do not have a blind conclusion based on the parents review on admission procedure happened couple of years back in the forums.
If your kid has to go LKG in the coming year , you have to start working on it nearly six months before school joining date. Yes that's where admission starts for some of the CBSE schools.
There are people who apply in half-dozen schools but does not get admission in any of them. Still, short list the schools before getting application form. This is very important as board of study being CBSE alone does not guarantee quality education or healthy environment for your kid.
Following are the check list to note before shortlisting the schools. Be it in LKG or any other higher standard.
1. Is the school registered and affiliated
2. No of student in each class. (This is important as there are school, which has 650 seats for LKG having 45 students in a class)
3. School facilities - Playground and park (For kindergarden)
4. Atmosphere around school. - In case if the school happens to be near factories / sewage lorries etc..
5 Fee structure - this is more important as you have to check if you get full benefit for what you pay them...
Action points for knowing the date of issue of application.
1. School website. Most of school has this. Watch them for the admission call.
2. Refer to the news paper
3. Enquire neighbors
4. Check it up with your playschool staff , play school kid's parent.
For our case , it was by luck that we checked with school websites on November 31st and found that Application is issued online from December 1 for three days
Remember , there are schools which issue forms only online on specific day(s) and some school issue form only one day, that too from morning 9 to 12 at the school campus.
Documents collection :
1. Candidate Recent Passport size photo(s)
2. Candidate original Birth certificate & attested xerox copies
3. Candiddate original Community certificate (if not general category) & attested xerox copies
4. Address proof for parents & attested xerox copies (Accepted address proof will be: ration card/ cosumer gas connection pass book, bank passbook/ landline phone bill )
It is good to keep these documents in advance, so that we do not have to run for it in last minute..
Some of the school makes the admission process simple by just applying online. providing the scanned images for the documents. The system generates the date and time for appointment with school. (Both parents and candidate should be present at the school at the time along with hard copy of the application form , documents , application form fee etc)
However some of the school will ask you to fill form online, submit in school in person along with application form fee one day (First visit). Asking you to come again to collect the appointment/meeting card next day(Second visit), Attending the meeting at the fixed time mentioned in the card (Third visit). Finally to checkout the shortlisted candidates list (Fourth visit). Well if the school issues waiting list - once again to school (Fifth visit). This will make you tiresome if both parent are working professional as all these time happens in the school timing of 9 AM to 5 PM which is your work time..
Couple of years back , the schools issued limited application forms based on availability of seats (ie. 300 application for 200 seat availability). Hence the chances of getting seat were easy. But now , most schools issue as many applications within the time frame. On an average a school with 200 seats, nearly 1600 applications are sold out. An additional income for the school from the application form itself.
The admission procedures are not very transparent. Following are some of the information posted / conveyed to parents with regard to selection criteria.
1. Distance between school and home (For kindergarden level they say 5kms to 7kms)
2. Annual income of parents.
3. Candidate performance (Yes. interaction happens between a staff and the kid)
Some of the schools reserve 50% of seats for Alumni parent / Siblings quota. Hence the open category option is just 50% of seats. people say that most of seats are filled in by back doors.. may be 20% get admission by luck as the candidates are choosen from a lot from the eligible group based on the selection criteria.
If your kid name is not present in the shortlisted list, you will have to wait for second list or look for another school. There is no way to check, on what criteria your application was rejected.
A brief note on action points for selection criteria 3. Your child should be able to
1. Tell his/her name, Father name and Mother name and play school name.
2. Tell a rhyme
3. Identify basic shapes (circle , sqare etc) and colors
4. Identify animals , flowers, fruits
5. Some school ask to hold a crayon and do coloring and to draw a circle
Though the kids learn these things from play school , preparing them for this interview mode is quite a challenge.
Please note: These interaction session not only happens in CBSE/ICSE schools but also the state board schools.
Important Note: If your child name is present in the list, then you have to pay the fees and the fund (Yes. It could be for the trust or school building fund.) on the specified date which will confirm the admission. This fund amount stated by the school is fixed and no concession on it. If you cannot afford the donation, go for some other school. Some school ask it in form of refundable deposit. No idea whether the school really returns the entire deposit when the student leaves the school after 14 Years of study. These amount for trust or building fund exists be it a CBSE or matric school.
We applied in some of the CBSE schools and could not get a seat in the open category. We did not want to try back door as the name did not appear in list...
We also came to know that school starts in the month of April for the many CBSE schools, They run for a month and give vacation for six weeks and then re open and mid of june. I don't understand why this overload for a 3 year old kid.
Still Admissions are happening in some of the CBSE schools in city. But we did not want to opt for it now. We'll hunt next year for UKG or a year after that for Standard First.
Now people will be noting that something is still missing in this article.. Yes. Information on fee structure. Though the govt. has said that fees has been regulated, there is no guarantee on it. we have to pay what ever is being asked in school to confirm your ward's admission.
In one of the state board school they told your child is selected and you have to pay 13,000 rupees for the LKG. This is for the entire year and we have to pay next fee only when the kid is going to UKG. The fees has to be paid in a week's time which will confirm the admission. They added that this fees does not cover school uniform cost and fees stated by them is, as per govt. decision.
In CBSE school also the fee structure varies. The minimal annual fees range starts from 25,000 and maximum might be some where around 40,000. This is apart from the donation and back door cost.
Ten years back, people would not have spent this much annual amount for doing the under graduation /post graduation course in Arts and science colleges. Need to check what's the current fee structure there.
This CBSE school fee structure is not only high in chennai alone. Its almost same in other CBSE school in inner districts of tamilnadu.
In one movie Actor Vijay would have stated, "Naan corporation school-la padichu collector anavan da". Even now there are people who have shined in many profession studying in the so-called corporation government schools. The board of study does not really matters. It is the person's ability to utilize the opportunities to come up and shine in life.
--Dhanesh Amma
