First no school, now too many

~ Grade 1 admissions hit new snag

By Isuri Kaviratne

The Grade 1 admissions, for which interviews are still being held, has come up with another problem as a large number of students are getting similar marks and the same child is being selected to several schools. This has made it difficult for the selection committees to finalise the name lists.

Western Province Education Director J.A.D.L. Hemachandra said to overcome this problem, the interview board chairmen would have a round table discussion and decide which student should get selected to which school and fill the vacancies so created with the names of students next in the list.

Southern Province Education Director N.G. Karunadasa told The Sunday Times that the parents’ opinion would be taken into consideration after releasing the temporary name lists as to which school a child would like to attend if that child was selected to more than one school.

The final list would be released after consulting the parents.“The first round of interviews would be finalised in the first weeks of December and after that, the temporary name lists would be released,” Mr. Karunadasa said adding that if a child chooses to go to a different school, the next child in the list would fill the vacancy so created.

Central Province Education Director Wijesiri Herath said there were two options available after finishing the first round of interviews, which would be in first week of December.“We will call the parents and ask them to chose a school and give an opportunity for the children next in the lists of the other schools to which the child was selected but would not be attending,” he said.

He said the other option was to let the process take place automatically, as when the school calls for registration, the children who would not turn up on the given dates, would be considered as having chosen another school to which they had been selected for admission.