Lately I had a new, funny, amusing and sad, as they say all-in-one, experience. I know we all have such experiences, but how does 'lucky draw' as a admission policy sound to you?
Well it happened when I went for admission of my son to the International School & College of Pakistan, Khietan, Kuwait. Apparently the school has a string of funny admission policies, as last year the policy was 'first-come-first basis'. This year some parents lined up as early as 2 am in the morning. Little they knew that policy this year, has changed from stupid to absurd!
Although the whole exercise turned out to be fruitless for me, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy the experience. The whole arrangement was proper, fair and well managed and the credit goes to a sincere effort by the management and the teachers. The exercise didn't leave any doubt in anybody's mind except for one ambiguity. Nobody checked whether some smart guy has put 2-3 chits in the ballot box. Actually one unlucky parent did get caught up in the act, but nobody checked whether the other 'lucky' parents had tried to trick the system or not.
Well the inside story is that this is due to pressure from Kuwaiti ministry for private schools. They want good quality schools to open up for other nationalities as well. This I believe is due to the fact that they are unable to impart quality and cost-beneficial education to the residents of Kuwait. As a result of this they are now pressurizing Pakistani and Indian schools, to accept more and more candidates who are basically of arab origin. Hence accepting the fact that the arab children cannot get inside any school based on merit! A sad fact because its a fact related to one of the most intelligent nations of the world, who have forgotten why they were chosen by Allah for HIS book.
Another sad fact was that our educationists i.e. Pakistani educationists, have agreed to such an absurdity. We can accept 'selling of principals' from our fickle politicians, with whom no one has any expectation anyways, but its hard to digest from people who would be training our children! Probably it was better that my child is not taught by such teachers, who are going to teach him that principles and integrity are something which can be adjusted!
I am sure die-hard teachers and the management body of the school are going to differ with me that there was no other solution, but I think, that there is no other option than merit. If we want to benefit a particular community because of their backwardness, then I think we should help them in different ways and not offer them charity. A good way would have been training classes for parents as to how to train their children. etc
In the end, best of luck to the children who got the admission in the school. Please base your life and principles on pure merit and not luck. Work hard and don't leave things to luck and stupidity.
