High fees, criteria top concerns

As the admission process gets underway in Chandigarh and parents line up at private schools to enroll their young ones for entry-level classes, three things are causing the most worries in their minds: the high admission fees, the different criterion for selection, and varying time of admission for different schools.

Deep Kamal, a resident of Sector 18, who was visiting Saint Kabir School in Sector 26 for her son's admission said: "Each school has a different selection criterion. I am visiting Sector 26 thrice a day as timing of submission of forms and dates of admissions are different in each school."

Most schools have admissions open for pre-nursery and some for class I.

Vishal Bhardwaj, a resident of Mohali said, "My son is too old for nursery but too young for class I. As all the schools have different dates for admissions, we miss out on one or the other. Also, if we get our son enrolled in one school, we lose the chance to try and get him admitted in a better school,"

For the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, parents are being turned back as their children do not qualify the age criterion as most were unaware of the minimum age limit.

Vijay Kumar, a resident of Bapu Dham Colony, who was trying to get admission form for his child in the EWS category. "I tired to get a form from Strawberry Fields, they say my child is too young. Now I will try to find out in the other schools," he said.

Admission fees

THERE is also a problem with the fee structures of different schools. The admission fee for Strawberry Fields is Rs 80,000 and for Saint Kabir Rs 53,000, which are non-refundable. In other convents like Sacred Heart, the admission fees are lesser. Parents state that if they pay the admission fee in one school and decide to send their child to an other they will have to bear losses.

Anup, an IT professional who was visiting Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, sector 26 said, "The fee structures of most private schools are quite high. I want my daughter to go to a good school, but for a person like me who has fixed salary, it is difficult to manage. One time payment of admission fee can be afforded but the running expenses of uniforms and stationery become difficult."

He added that he had taken three days off from work to get his daughter enrolled in a good school.

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