SurferSpeak: Welcome relief for tiny tots

Surfers insist "3" is no age to test a child's intelligence for a school seat.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday passed a judgement refraining schools from interviewing children seeking admission into nursery classes.

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The judgement has been received rather well by an overwhelming majority of our surfers. Most felt it was a step in the right direction.

Here's how it went.

S Choudhury writing from New Delhi, India said, "I agree with the court verdict. Interviewing of children for nursery admission is not proper as it may develop psychological fear in the minds of small kids of 3 to 4 age group."

Rahul Arora from New Delhi too thought it was inappropriate.

"A right step. How can you expect a kid who is just about three odd years old to go through an interview, that too in front of strangers? Not all kids are outspoken even though they are intelligent."

Ahmed from Delhi added his bit, "The verdict is justice in favour of the parents and children."

Delhi's Lalit too felt it was a "very good decision". He further added, "Children are born equal so why are schools differentiating them on the basis of family or economical background? Children of the illiterate and the poor have an equal right to jobs. On the one side government is trying to implement quota and on the other you are creating differences while admitting in school."

Our surfer from Kolkata Subrata Sarkar too welcomed the verdict.

"What a wonderful order! This should have happened earlier. The practice that the private schools adopt for interviewing parents and the child is nothing but to show off and harass the parents. What can you expect from a child seeking admission in nursery school?"

However, there were those who weren't very convinced about it.

Like Arun Katiyar from New Delhi argued it wasn't a very "complete decision".

This is how he explained it.

"The decision should be to avoid poor quality interviews and unnecessary harassment of parents by majority of the schools. There should be some approved methodology to take interviews. The procedure and methodology should be developed by the high ranked doctors and psychologists of the country.

Interview of parents and child is a good practice to evaluate the present mental status and psychology of the child. And an interview of the parents is necessary to study the possibility of change in behaviour and attitude of the child towards studies in future."

Sonika from New Delhi too, is not very appreciative of the court's verdict.

"High Court's decision of banning the interviews of kids and their parents at the time of school admissions would make the system more corrupt and disorganised," she says.

"It is agreed that subjecting children to interviews and tests builds up pressure among parents and kids both but this way at least the schools had an option to take children. The child is required to have at least basic manners and knowledge before he goes to school and this is what the schools used to test before admission. Parents are interviewed to increase familiarity with school culture and their role as parents as expected by the school."

Sonika wonders what criteria the schools might adopt in the absence of such a process... Maybe a first come, first served basis, or take children whose parents' shell out more money.

Guess it's best to stick to the middle ground — judge a child but let's not crucify him/her. What say you?

Disclaimer
All views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the surfers and do not necessarily represent those of HindustanTimes.com.