Few takers for entry-level classes in city govt schools

Charu Chhibber

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 9

While the admission process for entry-level classes is in full swing in city’s private schools, there seem to be few takers for government schools.

According to information received from the office of the District Education Officer, less than 500 applications have been received so far for 5,000 seats of entry-level classes in 115 schools.

“While many schools have not received even a single application, there are others where about 5 per cent applications have been received against the available seats,” said an official of the UT Education Department.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Sukhneer Sekhon, DEO-III, said, “There are not many takers for government schools at the entry-level classes due to which we have to carry on the admission process till April. Even then we are not able to fill up all seats.”

She added that through the common admission schedule (CAS), seats in only about 8-10 schools were filled by March.

“The reason is lack of awareness among parents about the CAS. Moreover, parents do not look to government schools for admission of their wards at the entry level,” added Sekhon.

A government school principal, requesting anonymity, said the government schools offered poor facilities. “The kindergarten years of a student’s life lay the foundation of his future. And since most government schools do not have proper swings, adequate toys and infrastructure, parents, even from the lower income group, do not apply for admission of their children in these schools,” he said.

UT Cadre Employees’ Union president Swaran Singh Kamboj agrees.

Condemning the Education Department, he said, “The Education Department is a major letdown. It has neither been able to resolve the long-pending demands of the teachers, nor done anything worthwhile for the students.”

He further added, “What will a department, which deprives 80,000 students studying in its 115 schools of their right to free textbooks and uniforms for months and years, do to improve the facilities in these schools? Expecting anything from the UT Education Department is like believing that fairies exist.”

He said the current situation was unfortunate. “The department has always meted out a stepmotherly treatment towards government schools even as its officials go out of their way to aid private school managements in ripping-off parents by turning a blind eye to all complaints against them,” he said, talking about the departmental failure in reining in profiteering by private schools even after months of planning, meetings and pressure from parents and the media.

Kamboj said the Education Department must set its house in order and work towards ensuring better facilities in government schools to encourage parents to send their wards to these schools.