A Brooklyn mother and father got the shock of their lives when school officials informed them their brilliant 11-year-old girl was denied admission to an elite public school - solely because she’s of Indian descent.

“I feel bad because I would have gotten in if I was white,” Nikita Rau lamented over her failed bid to attend the Mark Twain School, IS 239, in Coney Island, a magnet school for gifted students.

It turns out Mark Twain - unlike all but one other city public school - admits students according to racial quotas established in 1974 by a federal judge who ordered the school’s desegregation.

Under those quotas - which originally were intended to boost minority enrollment - 60 percent of Mark Twain’s student body is set aside for white students, while 40 percent is set aside for minorities.

“This country believes in racial equality, and we should not face this in America,” said Nikita’s dad, Dr. Anjan Rau, a Bay Ridge resident who emigrated from India in 1982. “I think it’s morally wrong! [ more ]