Admit it, no child’s play

Jupinderjit Singh

ASKED what is tougher — scaling the Everest or their child’s admission in an institute of choice — parents would surely choose the latter, without blinking an eye.

Each parent has some experience — an ordeal through fire — to share on this subject. Hapless parents often go for sifarish to anyone, who they think has the right contacts in the right places: politicians, bureaucrats, cops, journalists, to name a few. 

A daunting task, but one that offers unique lessons of life. Not very long ago, I faced such a challenge. A friend’s son could not get through a certain school, despite rich parents and powerful connections. My ego hit the ground with a thud when my name too was added to the ‘high and mighty’ who had failed to deliver! 

A Punjab SP suffered similar humiliation over his daughter’s admission. Trying again, he got ‘recommendation’ from the DC and the DIG and went in person to request the principal. He waited for over an hour outside her office. All the power and aura of his uniform melted away. He was asked to come the next day. He waited again, in civvies, when, to his astonishment, he saw an SHO simply walk into the principal’s office. The SHO noticed him when he came out of the office. Bingo, the SP’s daughter got admission. That day, he said, he understood the real meaning of the police term ‘mauke da afsar’. 

The son of a senior journalist was not good in spoken English, but was proficient in his mother tongue, Punjabi. He was not selected. The exasperated father somehow managed to see the principal. After all arguments and influence failed, he begged her to listen to a story. He recounted how a Punjabi couple worked hard to educate their son and send him abroad for higher studies. The son did well and got a job there. He returned after over a decade but conversed in English. The parents cried, saying for them he was dead as they could not talk to him. “I will not discourage my son from speaking in his mother tongue as that is the language his parents and grandparents understand,” he said firmly. The son got admission.

I was never at home with the idea of using influence for admissions. Once, a colleague was tense over the admission of his daughter and believed that only a recommendation from the CM’s office will work. He got it, but was unhappy about using it for this purpose. He went to meet the principal with the letter in his pocket. “Madam, I have a letter of recommendation from the CM’s office for the admission of my child. I can get more also. But I am not comfortable with it. I don’t want to start my child’s education using influence.”

The principal smiled, admitting she was taken aback. “I have never come across such a parent. People approach us boasting of money or position. I can handle that. How do I respond to you?” she said, pausing, and adding, “Your child is admitted. With parents like you, she surely has the values to deserve it.”