In India, playtime ends early for preschool hopefuls

"It's incredibly stressful," says Suneeta, who requested anonymity because she didn't want her comments to hurt her daughter's chance of admission in April. "My husband and I are both educated, but even then it's very difficult to get a slot at one of the better schools. Basically for the past six months, we haven't been able to just sit and play with our daughter. Whenever we're with her, we start preparing for the exam again. We ask her what is the name of that animal, what is the color of that bush? And in the end, there's not even a guarantee that she'll get into school."

Children who do not enter private schools early face an extremely difficult time cutting in at a later age. Those without private nursery school training will most likely not get into the better public schools either. These English-medium schools, starting at kindergarten, have their own entrance exams. Public schools that teach in vernacular languages receive little funding, and very few students go on to higher studies or sought-after jobs. High school graduates must pass a battery of exams to obtain one of the seats at India's elite colleges, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, which statistically speaking are more difficult to get into than MIT, Yale, or Harvard.

Ashok Agarwal, the attorney who filed a lawsuit for Gupta and two other families, says that in a country where demand for quality schooling is much higher than the supply, the only solution is a lottery.

"This is having an adverse psychological effect on children," says Mr. Agarwal. "Even affluent parents are not sure their child is going to get into school. There's no transparency to the system, which makes it corrupt and susceptible to bribery. The only way around this is by drawing lots, because a child is a child; there's not much difference at the age of 3."

Not all schools have examinations for preschoolers, however. Some, like the Shri Ram School, an elite preschool in New Delhi, examine only the parents about their attitudes toward education and their willingness to support their child in a rigorous academic program. Others, like the Pinnacle School, give examinations to children entering kindergarten, but not to those entering nursery school.

"When they are in prenursery, they often don't know their alphabet, but by prekindergarten, they usually do know it, so we try to match up the child who is going to do well in that environment," says Jyoti Sodhi, head of admissions for the Pinnacle School. "Some children are quiet in the first exam, so we often give them a second chance. But if a child doesn't respond, he isn't going to be comfortable."

Fortunately for Gupta, the stress of those preschool exams is long gone. His daughter, now aged 6 and attending first grade at a local private school that didn't require an exam, is performing well and enjoying her work. But he continues with his case nonetheless, so that other families won't have to face what he faced.

"I know a lot of people who have put their children through this grueling process," says Gupta. "I feel a child should not be burdened by all this. This is their childhood."

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