Parents allege bias in school admissions

MUMBAI: A group of parents has complained about communal bias brewing in many city schools. They have contacted a local forum to complain against schools who are denying admissions to their students because of their religion.
"Before I could give any information about my daughter, the school authorities told me to come back after the vacation for admissions.After the vacation, they refused to entertain the admission form and said there were no seats left. They didn't even ask which class I wanted the admission for," said Shamim Khan.
She was looking forward to admitting her daughter in Class VIII of a municipality school in Dharavi.
"I was later told that the fact that I am a Muslim was the reason why my daughter was not granted admission," added Khan.
Another family faced a similar problem at a well-known school in Sion recently. "When my mother went to the school to get admission for my sister, she was ridiculed for wearing her burqa and some also made fun of her as she was illiterate," said Razia Bano, who later went to the school herself to talk to the officials.
"I was made to sit for a couple of hours and later they come and told me that all the seats were taken. While I was still sitting there, so many other parents came with their wards and were granted admission. Why were we sidelined?" asked the furious girl.
Razia also visited an education inspector in this matter. However, the official denied having knowledge of any such information.
Many parents have approached the Forum for Fairness in Education for help. Officials from the forum tried visiting some education officials in order to help the parents, but to no avail. "We are now planning to meet the deputy director of education as well as write to the education minister about this. If these students don't get admission in the respective schools soon, we may file a PIL with the Bombay high court," said Jayant Jain, president of the forum.