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Admission trouble in a KG1 school

These days it’s easier to win a mega raffle than get your kid admission in KG1 in an Indian school in the UAE.

From November 2013 onwards I applied to schools to get my daughter admitted. At first my wife and I kept a watch on the schools of our choice to know when the application form would be available online.

We applied to most the first day the form was available online and received the acknowledgement that the forms had been submitted successfully. We came to know that the admission process would start mostly by February or March. However, when admission started, we were shocked to see that many of the schools had only eight to 10 seats available for the general public after keeping seats aside for siblings of students already enrolled.

Most of the schools were admitting students in those seats by lottery and it was amazing to see 4,000-5,000 parents assembled in the school auditoriums for the draw. When we spoke to the school administration we were told their seats had been reduced. We were asked why we didn’t try the British or American schools. I might send my family back to India after five years and it would be difficult for my daughter, in that case, to adjust to a new curriculum. Also, the fees in these schools are much higher.

With the academic year going to start from April, thousands of other parents like me are also in the lurch.