Playschools these days offer the quickest route to getting rich. Add some frills and parents will pay Rs 1 lakh for admission alone. Who is to blame? Schools without scruples or parents with aspirations?

We investigate

THOUGH A hyperactive human resources development minister Kapil Sibal is at the helm of educational affairs in the country, the focus seems to be entirely on higher education. In the much-neglected primary education sector, guided and controlled by state governments and not the Centre, the situation is alarming.

India's preschool industry -- nurseries, playschools, kindergartens etc which cater to children in the three-plus age bracket -unofficially estimated to be worth nearly Rs 4,000 crores is neither recognised or regulated. There isn't even a list of dos/dont's, forget a common approved curriculum. With almost three-quarters of the country's population under the age of 35, this sector is likely to be worth Rs 13,000 crores by 2012 as demand for quality kindergartens I intensifies.

"In Delhi, for example, e there are about 1,900 - playschools catering to s around two-three lakh stul dents." Delhi state public e school management associy ation president, R.C. Jain, e pointed out.

 In an effort to check mald practices arising out of this - huge shortfall, a 100-point system estab lished by the Ashok Ganguly Committee was ented in Delhi on the order of the high court in 2007. The system aims to provide weightage to issues like short distance between the school and residence of a student, a sibling in the same school, girl child and so on.

Though this reform is unique to Delhi, yet all is not well with the system.  "The rules for nursery admissions are not implemented by schools. Every school is allowed 30 points for fixing its own criteria, by way of which they are able to carry out their shady activities." R. Baladevan, director of School Choice Campaign, an NGO, pointed out.

The government on its part maintains that the schools are following the rules. "We monitor the situation on a periodical basis and ensure that no violation of rules takes place." Delhi educa tion minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said.

Monitoring is easier said than done as there is no reg ulatory mechanism to check the functioning of these schools. That's why l activists have demanded transparency of results, criteria, fee refund and less amount to be charged by schools for reserving a seat.

"Schools must display the exact break-up points for each child when they release the admissions list. The break-up of points must be based on `definitive' criteria avoiding vagueness like `group discussions', `national level achievements of parents' etc," Mr Baladevan said.

The situation in states is worse. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, there are no guidelines on nursery admissions. Elite schools exploit this to their advantage and collect huge money in the form of donations, capitation fee, transport fee etc.
Most schools even don't follow a common admission schedule, forcing parents to run after schools for months.

Parents complain that the Hyderabad's elite schools, such as Hyderabad Public School, have been collecting Rs 85,000 as capitation fee apart from Rs 35,000 as tuition fee and Rs 12,000 as transport fee for a nursery kid. They say that other prominent schools, such as Oakridge International School, collects Rs 1,25,000, Srinidhi International School Rs 1 lakh, and Delhi Public School and Niraj Public School in the range of Rs 85,000 to Rs 1,00,000.

While the state directorate of school education remains a mute spectator, most schools began issuing admission forms from the first week of October and started conducting "interviews" for parents.

"Though various courts in the past have categorically stated that schools should not conduct `internot conduct `interviews' of parents for nursery admissions, none of the schools bother to follow this.

The directorate of school education, which has the responsibility to implement the norms, is a mute spectator." said A. Anand Kumar, a parent.

K. Mrudula, another parent, said, "Schools call us for interviews only to verify our financial status. They ask for quotations on how much we can spend on the education. They collect all the quotations and shortlist children based on this, in descending order. I submitted applications in about 10 schools but could not secure a single seat as my quotation was below the `fee bracket' fixed by the schools."

As if this was not enough, the random admission schedule followed by various schools further compounds the problem. "We are forced to run after schools for months for securing admission.
Moreover, we need to deposit money in multiple schools as we are not sure where our child might get admission. This imposes an enormous financial burden on parents. If the government makes it mandatory for schools to follow a co mmon admission schedule, lot of time and money will be saved. We will also be spared taking sporadic leave from work to collect and submit lect and submit application forms and attend interviews." said S.S.Muslehuddin, a parent.

Some parents complain that certain school managements insist on fulfillment of certain "impractical conditions" before giving admissions. "Some schools insist that the mother should not be employed and should be a homemaker so that she can teach the child at home.  They also insist on a minimum education qualification of graduation for a mother." said Rohit Rao, another parent. Inputs by Preeti Karmyogi.