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My little girl is graduating kindergarten




ta ta kindergarten
Like every other mom, I am paranoia when it comes to making life-changing decisions that concerns my little girl. She is a big girl now she says; I guess she is. She will be graduating kindergarten in a couple of months and my palms are already sweating. I think I am going to cry. I have embraced a wining baton when it comes to uncontrollable emotions. 

Okay, I lied. It isn’t so much that her graduation is making me paranoid as much as it is the admissions for grade 1. My husband and I have actually worked it out. We want to admit her in a school that does not force us to go through the general application process. I have seen one of my friends almost go crazy last year – thankfully all turned out well. Am I in for a similar ride? I am already in that vicious cycle; I have not just realized it yet. I snapped out of it today when my colleague asked me why an international school? The first thing I thought was have you seen the lines in front of the schools during the testing time? It sure is sometimes longer than a line of people waiting to buy an IPO share. Then I thought, I am refusing to follow the dreadful traditional admission procedure that most parents go through once in their lifetime – admitting children in grade 1 is one hell of a tiring and depressing process in Kathmandu. 

Why are schools bent on testing the little children who can hardly sit still in a chair for five minutes? I worry because my daughter will not sit through hours of testing. She may know her ABCs but she does not understand there are repercussions for not answering all questions – she will be refused admission left and right. I worry because the pressure our schools demand from a five to six year old is ridiculous. They are expected to read and understand the questions and answer them neatly. Hell they cannot wipe their bums or wipe their noses, forget answering all questions and passing the test.
It is unhealthy for a child when parents are adamant on admitting their children to the schools of their choice. Little children as young as five attend coaching classes because certain schools have the so called ‘standards’ and hence have difficult test questions. Parents admit their children to certain kindergartens for the sole purpose of admitting them to a particular school. Does it make sense? No, it does not. I know parents follow these ridiculous practices because they have no choice and because they want to ensure their children receive the best education they can afford.   

A kindergarten principal mentioned that one of the student’s mother’s only objective for her child was to admit her child into a particular school. Imagine the pressure on the child. I do not even want to go into the details of the faulty admission regulations our schools flaunt. Or the equally ridiculous education system in our country that remains a mere spectator to this fiasco refraining from taking actions even when schools are charging exorbitant admission fees. Some schools interview and even hold Focus Group Discussions amongst the aspiring parents of the aspiring children for admissions. I am yet to comprehend how my intelligence or answers should affect my child’s prospect of getting into the school. And of course if you cannot speak English, you might as well not have your child apply! These are external and beyond our control. What we can control is ensuring they learn to write three line answers without properly understanding what they have written.

The pressure and the trauma our children face when they sit through two or even three tests are unimaginable. Children are smart they resonate what we think and they in turn make sure we, as parents aren’t let down. We may follow a disappointing suit of this dreadful admissions process come April but we must understand there are many things that we can take charge of. We can make sure our children are not subjected to a second round of disappointment – from us. We forget what we were as a child. We forget as a child how we cherished our parent’s approval and how we drained ourselves emotionally when we did not meet our parent’s expectations. 

I and my husband may or may not follow the admission process blindly that is a different story. But what we are sure is that we don’t want to push our daughter to sit for tests in different schools. We want to make sure that our daughter isn’t subjected to the first official rejection at this tender age of five. We want to get her educated in a school that will admit her despite the fact that she may not spell and write her name correctly. 


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