School admissions: A tough task for newly-arrived expat parents

Despite the presence of many schools run by different expat communities, getting seats for children whose parents have recently arrived in the Kingdom after securing new jobs, is a tough task, say sources.

The sources add that it could be a really daunting experience in the middle of an academic year. Speaking to Tribune, a parent, who doesn’t want to be identified, said, “We recently moved to the kingdom along with our three children. We tried to enrol our kids at various schools in the Kingdom. Some schools blatantly told us they don’t take in transferred students while others denied us admission forms.

“We have approached a number of schools but did not receive a positive response from any of them. “This seems to be extremely unfortunate as we have no clue as to what to do as our kids future is at stake. Even though some schools have vacant seats available they deny accepting transferred students.” When asked, an official from Ibn Al Hytham Islamic School said, “We do get in a lot of admission calls. Depending on the seats available we admit the students.

“But what parents need to understand is that we have to follow the laws of the land when it comes to admitting transferred students. We will definitely offer a seat to students if they meet the criteria listed by the Ministry of Education.”

Anand R Nair, the Vice-Principal of The Indian School Bahrain said, “The Indian School Bahrain takes transfer students based on the Ministry of Education norms and vacancies in the respective sections. The documents are as per the rules of the Ministry of Education. The admission process starts by March end and continues till vacancies exist.