Not prescribed for young tots : Unwanted admission tests
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 24, 2015 -

The best. This is obviously what all educational institutions want.

But when schools insist on selecting the best students for admission in the primary school level then it is time for a rethink.

Selecting the best and this may explain the rational behind the decision of Mission schools to conduct admission test for taking students in Class I.

This however does not answer the question of how the admission test is going to determine the best students.

Given the number of parents and guardians who knock at the doors of these schools to get their children admitted, definitely a screening process is necessary.

Not possible to admit all the students who come to seek admission and this is a given.

However is entrance examination at the primary level a foolproof method to select the best students ?

There may be different takes on this, but the universal understanding is that admission test at such a tender age may not be the prescribed model to select the best students.

That the decision of the Mission schools to conduct admission test has not gone down well with all section of the people may be gauged from the fact that the Joint Students’ Co-ordination Committee has locked up the gates of these schools in protest.

The act of the student body is definitely not desirable but an important point however has been delivered.

Admission test is anathema to very understanding of making education universal.

It is also time for the Government to seriously think why such a beeline has been made for the few Mission schools in the State, while all Government run schools find no takers.

In as much as there is a demand for private or Mission schools, it is a significant indication that people no longer have faith in the educational institutions run and managed by the Government.

And this is a big shame.

The draw of lots may not pick the best students, but this is the method that seems more practical in the present age.

Why should children be subjected to such things as tests and more tests ?

That too for getting admission at the primary level.

Time for all concerned to give some serious thoughts on what exactly it is that they want for their children.

Time also for the Government to come to the point that the institutions they run have no takers amongst the people.

To be sure Mission schools have for long been the beacon of light and hope for numerous people in the State.

The schools they run and manage have unfailing produced the best students, a point which is reflected every time the results of the Class X are announced.

Moreover Mission schools are known to have produced students who can think and act responsibly once they become adults.

Something which cannot be said about the other schools.

In as much as Mission schools have the right to admit the best students, they also have to realise that they also have a certain degree of social responsibility.

Subjecting young, tender minds to such things as entrance examination or test may not exactly be the best method to mould the young minds. Let better sense prevail.