ISLAMABAD, April 3: Although admissions of students in the nursery school and Class-I have started, parents who try to admit their children in class-II or above are facing severe predicaments.

Sohail Ahmed, father of eight-year-old Nimra Sohail, has been visiting different model schools for the past five days for his daughter’s admission in Class IV, but the management was not willing to admit her.

“It is not that my daughter lacks talent. The managements of these schools are not ready to give me a registration form for the test because they don’t have any space in classrooms for new students,” he said.

“My daughter used to study in a private school but because of financial problems I can no longer afford the expenses. So I decided to admit her in a model school where the quality of education is better compared to that of federal government schools,” he added.

Sohail Ahmed said he was not the only person who had been visiting different schools. Many parents had to leave disappointed because the management had refused to provide admission to their children.

“I tried to admit my daughter in the schools of G-10, I-8 and I-10, but the schools refused to provide registration forms,” he said.

On the other hand Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) seems to be helpless since most of the classrooms, especially in model setups, remain jam-packed. This makes admission of new students very difficult, Dawn has learnt.

Focal person for FDE Prof Waqar Ashraf said it was not the first time parents had tried to admit their children in class II and above but failed.

“FDE provides admissions in Class-I every year, from where the majority of students complete their studies till Matric. Less than three percent students fail in the classes, because of which one or two seats remain vacant in every class, but we cannot admit new students on those seats because students of the next class who had failed have to be admitted in the same class again,” he said.

“We have a policy for ‘hardship’ which means that those government servants who have come from other cities after a transfer should get preference at the time of admission. Therefore, students of private schools have less chance for an admission in Class II and above. The condition in evening classes is worse,” he said.

Director Model Colleges Tariq Masood said there were only 20 model colleges in the federal capital, and most parents wanted to admit their children in a model setup.

“We want to admit all students but cannot do so because of lack of seats in the class rooms. There are around 400 other institutions which were once federal government schools but have now been upgraded to model schools. Parents should admit their students in those schools,” he said.