Delhi Nursery Schools Still Tougher to Crack Than Harvard?
The first list of nursery admissions in Delhi’s schools came out Tuesday. Most parents have been unhappy with the criteria of the private schools.
February is a cruel month for parents of tots in India’s competitive capital—it’s when parents brace themselves as nursery schools release their lists of admissions.
The first list of names came out Tuesday, which is why, if you were looking, nine of the top 10 Google Trends searches in India were Delhi nursery schools. Remaining lists for general admissions will continue to come out through the month.
Kate Darnton, an American parent of nursery school-aged children who moved to Delhi not long ago, said in January last year that the odds of getting into the Ivy League Harvard University were better than getting into the city’s most popular primary school. No source of help on heaven or earth is overlooked—from contacts to moving house to prayer ceremonies to fasting.
Part of the problem is that while Delhi has about 2,500 public and private primary schools, elite parents target just the “top 20? private schools, said Usha Albuquerque, director of Careers Smart, an education consultancy firm.
“The numbers are larger in India than anywhere else in the world,” said Ms. Albuquerque. Individual schools may have somewhere between 70-100 nursery seats, meaning there’s about 250,000 places going. If you’re looking at just the top schools, the number is far lower of course. And private schools are supposed to reserve a portion of their seats for the very poor (although they don’t always).
Looks like an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs in the Education Field! How adorable are those school children?
Those children in the photo are soooo cute! How can anyone not want to go over there and start up a nursery school.
There are clearly amazing entrepreneurial opportunities abroad! India, China, Singapore, etc. seem to offer much greater potential than this Country. That is a real shame because America used to be known as “The Land of Opportunity” for anyone with a great idea and a great work ethic.
I wonder if they’ll start Stanley Kaplan and Princeton Review for Nursery School? Perhaps they already have it.
I was a nanny for one summer in Manhattan and the little boy had to prepare and rehearse for his Pre-kindergarten interviews at the Ethical Culture School and Hunter School. His mother made him act like he was a 21 year old going on a job interview decked out in a 3 piece Ralph Lauren suit and he was weaning out of diapers. I remember how his mother taught him to casually name drop and let it be known that geniuses run in the family. It was quite something to see. The boy had a lisp and babytalk to boot!