Parents, better brush up on your grammar and arithmetic skills as your child’s school admission may hinge on how well you perform at the interview.

Besides answering questions on the basics on these subjects, you should also be prepared to face uncomfortable questions like the annual income of your family.

When this reporter went to Baldwin Boys High School posing as a parent enquiring about nursery admission, a school official said interviews are a must for parents as well as children as part of the admission procedure.

“Interviews are a must for both parents and children, before admissions in our school. We conduct interviews for admission in all classes, right from pre-nursery to class X,” said Betsy Rajiva, an official of the school which is affiliated to Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).

However, the Right to Education (RTE) Act strictly bans schools from conducting any sort of interview or screening parents and children, as part of admission procedure. However, the act is yet to be implemented in Karnataka.

The school, located on Hosur Road, is currently selling admission forms for all classes starting from pre-nursery to Class X.Admission forms at the school cost `500. The notice board at the school states that admission to pre-nursery, nursery and preparatory sections will cost `63,800 of which the school fee is `33,800 and development fee is `30,000. Similarly, for Class X admission, the school charges a total of `66,950 of which `30,000 is charged as development fee.

“We are distributing the admission forms now. Admission dates are yet to be fixed. Accordingly, we will call the parents and their wards for interviews,” said Rajiva. However, many city schools say they do not hold interviews but only informal interactions with parents. Officials at Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, another school affiliated to ICSE board, said that the school does not conduct interviews as part of the admission procedure.

However, an orientation programme is held. “Admissions are on for the nursery section.We don’t conduct interviews, but we have orientation programmes,”said Manya Latha, an official of Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, St Mark’s Road.

At National Public School, Indiranagar, affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), admission for nursery section is over. The school said admission was based on first-come-first-served basis.“But for higher classes, as part of admission procedure, we conduct entrance tests for students,” said an official of NPS, Indiranagar.

Vasudev Sharma, a senior member of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), said that during every admission season, the commission receives several complaints regarding schools conducting interviews of parents.

“It is shocking to see the blatant manner in which schools are screening parents. I received numerous complaints from parents last year about such incidents,” Sharma said.maitreyee@dnaindia.net