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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Several Indian schools have either been denied or are still awaiting approval from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to admit new kindergarten students for the 2017-18 academic year.
While MES Indian School and Ideal Indian School have been barred by the authority concerned to open admissions for kindergarten classes for the next academic session, officials of DPS-Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS) said they are still awaiting approval to start admissions for the next session.
Officials of MES Indian School and Ideal Indian School told Qatar Tribune that they would not be admitting any fresh students for the next academic session as the schools were already surpassing capacity.
Sources revealed that the MES Indian School has about 8,000 students, which is much higher than its capacity of 5,000 students.
The number of students at Ideal Indian School is also more than double the permitted capacity of around 3,000.
Azim Abbas, one of the directors at DPS-MIS, said the school was still waiting for an approval from the ministry to open admissions for kindergarten classes.
"Overcrowding of the school is a major issue this time. As per our information, the ministry feels that the number of students at our school is higher than its capacity. We are not sure as to what will happen this academic year. This is the reason why we have turned down a number of parents seeking admissions for their children," Abbas said.
The DPS-MIS, however, said that the school was in touch with the ministry officials to convince them about the need for new admissions as 200 Class 12 students would be leaving the school for good.
"We need to take new admission to make up for 200 students leaving the school. If new admissions are not allowed, it will have an impact on our financial health. We hope that the authority will allow us to admit at least some students," he said.
Doha Modern Indian School (DMIS) Principal Rakesh Singh Tomar said the school was yet to get permission from the ministry to admit students for the next academic session."Our request for admission to the next academic session is still pending with the ministry. The ministry has neither rejected nor approved our request," Tomar said.
The principal, however, said there were all possibilities that the ministry would give approval as DMIS always maintained capacity of students in all classes.
"If the capacity of a class is 30, then we always maintain that level. Given our track record in maintaining directives of the ministry, I am quite sure that we will be allowed to admit new students for the coming academic session," he said.
When contacted, Birla Public School (BPS) Principal AK Shrivastava said the school has completed the admission process of kindergarten classes for the next session after getting approval from the ministry.
The BPS is still not overcrowded as per the ministry norms as the school has two more buildings other than its main building to accommodate new students.
Other Indian schools such as Shantiniketan Indian School and Olive International School have also completed their admission process for kindergarten classes.
Moreover, denial and delay from the ministry to admit new students in certain Indian schools have left many parents running from pillar to post for securing admission for their kids."I have been trying to secure admission for my son in kindergarten since the beginning of November last year. At that time most of the schools asked me to wait as registration for the next academic session would start in December. When I approached them in December, many schools said they were yet to get approval from the ministry to enroll new students. I kept in touch with them but could not succeed as the admission process in some of the schools which got the ministry's approval was over in a few minutes. My son is already four years old. I am in a fix now," an Indian expatriate said.
