Lottery scheme for admission is fine but it needs fine tuning
Sunday, 14 November 2010
FABIHA Fairuz, with a blue-colored sweater, white headband and nice pink shoes, was going to the wash-room for the second time within one hour provoking her mother's temper warning the child that she would not let her drink in coaching time. The reason for her mother's hot-temper was the two-hour-written-mock-test going on in the coaching centre for the most prestigious private schools in Dhaka City for the academic year 2010.
The little girl was failing to bear the extreme pressure of the admission test.
This type of mishap was common to such tender-aged-children, going for admission-fight over the years.
This scenario has totally changed with the advent of a new lottery scheme, random allocation of seats, in popular oversubscribed private schools like Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC).
VNSC announced that the allocation of places for class 1 will be given by the overt lottery scheme to be held in December for the next academic year 2011. It is known that around 22,119 applicants will compete for only 1,568 places, excluding 128 reserved seats, sources said.
Over the last few years, this scheme for admission in class 1 has successfully been followed in some prominent private schools like Holy Cross School and College, Mohammadpur Preparatory High School, Herman Mainer College, and YWCA School and College.
Education officials said, "This new scheme will provide all students equal opportunity to educate, so all oversubscribed schools should replace written admission test with lottery system for admission in class 1".
Considering it as tranquilizer for children, the government has also taken up the lottery scheme for admission into class 1 at the 24 state-owned capital city high schools for the next academic year.
Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Professor Noman-Ur-Rashid said, "This lottery system admission is meant not only to put an end to the extreme stressful torture to the kids but also to eliminate the donation and irregularities occurring in the admission to reputed schools."
Curbing the admission test is the temporary solution to a long debate on the question. "How reasonable is it to take a test for a 6 year-old kid, starting the first year of student life?" A principal of a prominent school said it was a hardship for young children when they encountered such a huge pressure from the parents. Thus, the entrance exam became a lump in their throats.
Some psychologists suggested that as children were yet to learn that winning and losing are two sides of same coin, this kind of stress could change the natural course of their behavioral development.
Many parents showed dissatisfaction with the earlier nerve-racking admission testing system for their beginner-level kids. But they couldn't help but continue pressuring their children to get them admitted into their chosen school. This crucial battle became the burning issue of the family as it was for the sake of their child's good future.
Now they exhale a sigh of great relief with the introduction of new admission procedure for admission in most of the famous private and public schools in the capital city.
Education experts say only random allocation for places to complete admission process can make this lottery scheme unfair. This process should be made much authentic with certain corrective measures.
Firstly, authority should check the birth certificate carefully with the date of certification. The sources from Ward Commissioners' offices under Dhaka City Corporation said that after the recent announcement of lottery scheme a good number of people came to the commissioner offices to get a new birth certificate to maintain the age-limit mentioned by their chosen school authorities so that they could try their children's luck another time .
Secondly, we all know that Dhaka is the city of the traffic jam. So the system would be fairer if they choose those children prior to the lottery sorting out children's living places which are nearer to school.
Finally, arrangement of a written test only to judge their basic level can make this new scheme much popular. The exam should be very simple and easy, just to qualify for the lottery system.
Only ensuring all these proposals to be effective can make this lottery scheme a successful way for admission.
The lottery scheme is not the only solution to admission process to ensure standard education with no children left behind. It is our bad luck that we don't have enough standard schools with qualified teachers. If the government is serious about this situation, they should bring about a change by increasing infrastructure and quality education in schools in general.
The writer can be reached at jamdani85@yahoo.com
The little girl was failing to bear the extreme pressure of the admission test.
This type of mishap was common to such tender-aged-children, going for admission-fight over the years.
This scenario has totally changed with the advent of a new lottery scheme, random allocation of seats, in popular oversubscribed private schools like Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC).
VNSC announced that the allocation of places for class 1 will be given by the overt lottery scheme to be held in December for the next academic year 2011. It is known that around 22,119 applicants will compete for only 1,568 places, excluding 128 reserved seats, sources said.
Over the last few years, this scheme for admission in class 1 has successfully been followed in some prominent private schools like Holy Cross School and College, Mohammadpur Preparatory High School, Herman Mainer College, and YWCA School and College.
Education officials said, "This new scheme will provide all students equal opportunity to educate, so all oversubscribed schools should replace written admission test with lottery system for admission in class 1".
Considering it as tranquilizer for children, the government has also taken up the lottery scheme for admission into class 1 at the 24 state-owned capital city high schools for the next academic year.
Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Professor Noman-Ur-Rashid said, "This lottery system admission is meant not only to put an end to the extreme stressful torture to the kids but also to eliminate the donation and irregularities occurring in the admission to reputed schools."
Curbing the admission test is the temporary solution to a long debate on the question. "How reasonable is it to take a test for a 6 year-old kid, starting the first year of student life?" A principal of a prominent school said it was a hardship for young children when they encountered such a huge pressure from the parents. Thus, the entrance exam became a lump in their throats.
Some psychologists suggested that as children were yet to learn that winning and losing are two sides of same coin, this kind of stress could change the natural course of their behavioral development.
Many parents showed dissatisfaction with the earlier nerve-racking admission testing system for their beginner-level kids. But they couldn't help but continue pressuring their children to get them admitted into their chosen school. This crucial battle became the burning issue of the family as it was for the sake of their child's good future.
Now they exhale a sigh of great relief with the introduction of new admission procedure for admission in most of the famous private and public schools in the capital city.
Education experts say only random allocation for places to complete admission process can make this lottery scheme unfair. This process should be made much authentic with certain corrective measures.
Firstly, authority should check the birth certificate carefully with the date of certification. The sources from Ward Commissioners' offices under Dhaka City Corporation said that after the recent announcement of lottery scheme a good number of people came to the commissioner offices to get a new birth certificate to maintain the age-limit mentioned by their chosen school authorities so that they could try their children's luck another time .
Secondly, we all know that Dhaka is the city of the traffic jam. So the system would be fairer if they choose those children prior to the lottery sorting out children's living places which are nearer to school.
Finally, arrangement of a written test only to judge their basic level can make this new scheme much popular. The exam should be very simple and easy, just to qualify for the lottery system.
Only ensuring all these proposals to be effective can make this lottery scheme a successful way for admission.
The lottery scheme is not the only solution to admission process to ensure standard education with no children left behind. It is our bad luck that we don't have enough standard schools with qualified teachers. If the government is serious about this situation, they should bring about a change by increasing infrastructure and quality education in schools in general.
The writer can be reached at jamdani85@yahoo.com