Nursery admissions: Parents await Delhi govt guidelines today

Parents are anxiously waiting for the Delhi government to announce guidelines for nursery admissions that is expected today. The scarcity of seats has made admission season a nightmare for parents. Admissions based on the point-system will continue this year with no fresh directive from the High Court on a petition that has challenged the process as being a violation of the Right to Education Act. As per the point system, admissions are based on the number of points the child earns points under criteria chosen by the school such as residence within 5 km the school (neighbourhood criteria), having a sibling studying in the same school, being a girl child and so on. Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Director of Education, Amit Singla said, “We were ready with the guidelines but wanted to wait for the court’s guidelines. Since we cannot wait till the end of January to kick-start the process, we will release the guidelines on Thursday. The basic guidelines will remain the same and only a few changes have been made in the schedule.” [caption id=“attachment_555906” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  When will the guidelines come? AFP[/caption] A short window period to complete the admission process, especially in a highly competitive scenario, is a big cause of worry for parents. “While the point-system has now more-or-less fallen in place, parents are just anxious about when the criteria will be announced and how much lead time they will have. Due to last minute developments with regard to PILs in the court, parents sometimes get only 15 days to fill the form. “When the common admission guidelines were first introduced in 2009, there was 30 days time - from December 15 to January 15 – for the admission process. But with just 15 days, it becomes a mad rush, especially now with parents applying to 20-25 schools. Many schools don’t even have on-line forms. Just to get forms, parents have to take a day off from work,” Rajan Arora, founder of schooladmissions.in told Firstpost. On whether the point system was suitable for nursery admissions, Arora said, “The point system has proven to be a good system and it gives parents an indication whether their child will make it or not. It incentivises parents to apply in neighbourhood schools. The process, however, should be transparent and not biased.” Some criteria – such as the alumni or sibling criteria (where children with siblings in the same school get additional points) – have been criticized by parents as being discriminatory.  (Read full report here ) “Some of the categories are discriminatory. If you see it from the parents’ perspective, those who are non-alumni find themselves at a disadvantage. Schools should be encouraged to come up with a neighbourhood-based point-system where neighborhood (applicable to children residing within 5 km distance from the school), is the main criteria,” Arora said. Well-known right to education activist and senior advocate Ashok Agarwal has maintained that the point system is against a child’s right to education. “I had told the Delhi Education Minister during the meeting on 5 December that any nursery admission criteria other than distance (neighbourhood criteria) plus draw of lots for admission in 75 per cent seats (paid) in unaided private schools would not only be arbitrary, discriminatory anti-child but also contrary to the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. “I also told her that any management quota is unacceptable as the same is tantamount to commercialization of education which is impermissible in law… Let us wait and watch as to how the Delhi Government will up with the Nursery Admission Criteria Guidelines,” Agarwal said in a press statement.