‘I am not sure if it is fair’: No riot squad required as thousands take selective school test

As commuter traffic and trucks flew past on the Pacific Highway on Friday morning, year 6 children said goodbye to their parents and disappeared inside North Sydney Girls High School to sit the first big test of their young lives.

Over two days, 17,000 students across the state will take the selective school entrance exam. For some, it would be a nervous culmination of years spent in tutoring and practice in the hope of getting into one of the state’s prestigious selective schools. For others, a few practice tests would suffice.

It was a sedate affair compared to a year earlier, when the exams were held by private providers in mega-test centres, and riot police had to be called in to control chaotic crowds of angry parents and distraught children amid technical failures with the online test infrastructure.

An inquiry into the incident recommended the tests this year be returned to local schools, and pen and paper.

Among the hopefuls on Friday morning was year 6 student William Yu, who had done a trial test and “a lot” of practice leading up to exam day.

“I slept OK. I am not too nervous,” he said.

Father Bruce Yu said he was aware that a new quota system being rolled out next year to counter the over-representation of boys in co-ed selective schools might make it harder for boys to secure a spot. Last year, 58 per cent of students in the selective system were boys and 42 per cent were girls.

“It is a big thing for him, and also for [our] family,” he said.

“The policymaking is for a certain purpose, I am not sure if it is fair or not.”

Angelina Zuz woke up at 7am and was excited to sit the test. “I just want to get it done,” she said.

Across the city, 11-year-old Selena Mousaviara carried a pencil case filled with chocolate chip biscuits and a mandarin and brought a relaxed attitude ahead of her four-hour test at Castle Hill High School.

“Honestly, I just feel like I want to try and if I can’t, it doesn’t really matter. But I do hope I can,” she said.

Selena’s mother, Shabnam Chitchian, said she was hesitant to put her child through the selective school exam.

“I think it is a bit too much pressure, but Selena asked. She wanted to give it a shot,” she said.

As their children entered the test room, husband and wife Nita and Kuntal Ghoshal, along with their friend Manali Panchal, discussed how selective entry was meant for truly gifted children but had now become an industry where test tutoring dominates rather than genuine ability.

“People are making millions through these tutoring centres,” Kuntal Ghoshal said.

Despite their reservations, they opted for tutoring because they felt their children were not learning enough during school and wanted their sons to experience what it feels like sitting the hours-long exam.

“People coming from Singapore without taking any tutoring, they are sitting selective and getting into James Ruse,” Ghoshal said.

Ghoshal said he did not want to put pressure on his kids.

“It doesn’t matter what the outcome of the test is, we don’t believe in a system where you need to grill kids at a young age to get them into selective and put so much pressure on them. I have seen so many kids who haven’t been able to get in and have been broken.”

Rajesh Valluri reluctantly signed his daughter, Akshaya Valluri, 11, up for tutoring after she asked to take part.

“I’m not actually in favour of what this has turned into. The idea was that this is for gifted kids, which means they are by nature, very smart and intelligent,” she said.

Farzad Mahfuz, 11, said he enjoyed doing the writing section of the test.

“We started the reading test. I felt confident, but at the end, it was kind of harder,” he said.

“Next was the math test, which I did very confidently because math is my strong point.”

It is the longest test he has ever taken, but he said the rest breaks throughout the day made it seem easier.

“After that, we had a 20-minute break, which we went back outside to eat snacks and have a chat with our friends.”

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