One of the talking points at work on Monday was Bad of luck, parents - an article written by Kate Darnton.
"It is just a rant from a woman unable to get her kids into Shri Ram School," someone said. "What exactly is she trying to say? That the guards at Shri Ram School didn't let her past the gate and that her emails to the school were ignored," someone else remarked.
Some were aghast that the article had found a place of prominence on the Op-Ed page of The Hindustan Times - one of the biggest newspapers in Delhi. This is not even proper journalism. Some Googled to find out who this woman was. Looks like she works for the Boston Globe.
The reason for all this excitement was the release of shortlist for admission to Delhi schools. Actually, that should be admission to Delhi's private schools.
The process that kicked off nearly six weeks - and involved filling up forms, writing essays, arranging legal documents and engaging in informal interactions about parenting and education - had come to fruition.
Kate Darnton's point was straight-forward. If you live in South Delhi, you constantly hear of just two schools - Vasant Valley and Shri Ram School. Both of these adhere to modern teaching methods, focus on all-round development of children and aren't shy (i.e., dismissive) of taking in special needs children.
There's Sanskriti too, but it is a school run by spouses of top government officials, for the kids of top government officials or those high enough in the echelons of power. And then there are long-standing successes like Delhi Public School and Modern School - whose primary focus is academic success.
Kate's argument was that you had a better chance of getting into Harvard than in Shri Ram School - "Over the past few weeks, the school’s website has listed 1,575 three-year-old candidates competing for 112 spots, including 40 spots reserved for the EWS (‘Economically Weaker Section’), staff, and management. With only 72 remaining seats, that leaves each regular candidate a 4.7 per cent chance of getting in. Last year’s acceptance rate at Harvard College was 7.1 per cent".
It is a day of elation and self-congratulation for a select few. A day of disappointment and self-doubt for many."
I am not sure about the critics of Kate's piece, but I was travelling in the same boat as her.
Soon after getting into work, I started checking the websites of the various schools we had applied to. Vasant Valley? Yippee, I can see a matching name. Hang on, the surname doesn't match. And the mother's name is different too. DPS Vasant Kunj? No matching name there. Banyan Tree School? No matching name there either.
Then the phone rang. It was my better half. I am just outside Modern School. The little one's name isn't there. And Springdales School won't release their list until 6 February.
Suddenly, a glimmer of hope. I can see the right child/mother name combination on the shortlist for Tagore International School. Not our first choice, but it is an established educational institution.
What about Shri Ram School? I was still on the phone with my wife. They will be releasing the list around 4.00 in the evening - as they want to put it out on web at the same time as school's notice-board.
So that is what our six-week effort had come to. Four failures. One Success. Two suspended animations.
It most certainly wasn't a good beginning to the week. Like Kate, we had eavesdropped into numerous conversations on strategies and connections that may be brought to use to secure admission into Vasant Valley or Shri Ram School. Like her, we didn't get past the guards in many places. Like her, we spent considerable effort in making the right impression on the schools we applied to.
Thankfully, the evening brought some cheer to us. When Shri Ram School made its list of successful candidates online, it had our little one's name in it. The list didn't have the parents' name, so we can't be 100% sure - but then one has to be really unlucky to have another child by the same name, applying to the same school and being successful.
A letter from the school should be in the post soon, settling this doubt. After that, the school needs to verify the documents - including an affidavit that the little one is our first and a girl child - and the fee to be paid.
Fingers crossed and hope there are no nasty surprises lurking around the corner!!
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