Admission shocker! Many schools complete process

BENGALURU: With more than a quarter of a year to go for the admission season to start at schools, many private institutions have already started admission process with some even completing their intake for the next academic year. 

As the quality of education in government schools being a major concern, private and unaided managements have made most of it. 

Though Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait had promised to put out an official notification of the new fee structure formula drafted under the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Regulation of certain Fees and Donation) Rules (2016) by November-end, its absence has given an advantage to private managements, who have advanced the admission process.  25% fee hike surprises parents. Parents who were planning to admit their wards to schools for the academic year 2018-19 were shocked that many institutions have put out notifications this early. 

One such parent, Priyadarshini M., a resident of BTM Layout, said, “First, I thought my friends were playing a prank on me as they knew I was tensed about getting my son admitted in a good school after kindergarten. When we approached this school in Benglauru South, the management told us to fill application forms, saying seats almost got filled by the last week of November.” 

Starting admissions this early is a clear violation of the directions issued by the Department of Public Instruction, which state that admissions should begin only from the first week of April. The experience was not different for Sainath, a father of two who received a notification from a school at R.R. Nagar, saying interested parents should complete the application process by first week of December to reserve seats. “The fee structure given in the prospectus-cum-application form indicates a 25% hike from what we were paying last year. Though it takes some time for us to cope with the immediate hike, parents like us go ahead as ensuring quality education for children is our primary concern,” he said.

A principal of a school in Kalyan Nagar said that the process began early because of the high demand for seats from parents. 

“The process of filing registrations is on at the moment so that we can complete the process on first-come-first-serve basis to avoid confusion,” the principal said.