HINDU

Nursery admission: Delhi govt steps in but has no plan in place

Even as the Delhi government has started the process to take away powers from private schools in deciding nursery admission criteria, it is still not sure if it would be able to come up with a concrete plan to streamline nursery admissions for the next academic year.

The government in a Cabinet meeting on Monday approved the Delhi School Education (amendment) Bill to give the State an active role in the nursery admission process. The draft law will no longer allow schools to dominate the process on their own terms. However, with just a month left for the nursery admissions in the Capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted that the government might not be ready with a foolproof plan to ensure fair admission process.

“We are right now trying to take over the power to frame the guidelines by amending the Act. What should be the criteria of admission in schools require a lot of thinking and will take some time,” Mr. Kejriwal said at an informal discussion with media.

Schools in the Capital have so far been framing their own guidelines for mursery admission. The idea has however not been working in favour of parents as some schools add bizarre categories in order to limit the intake of students, which is why the Delhi government decided to take away all powers from the schools.

Indian Express

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, met the press on Tuesday to explain the education bills—new and amendments —to be tabled in the winter session of the assembly.

There is a proposal to drop Section 10(1) of the Delhi School Education Act and Rules (1973) that requires private schools to pay teachers the same salaries as their government counterparts. DSEAR is being amended to give power to the government to decide nursery admission guidelines centrally, to "stop screening" -- defined, mainly, as interviews -- and making collection of capitation fees punishable with fines. However, the admission-related amendment will not do away with the nursery admission criteria and will likely be implemented only the next year. A bill will be tabled to re-instate detention in schools and the state's fee regulation apparatus will resemble, in structure and function, the high court-appointed Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee.

"We are now defining capitation fees and penalties have been prescribed," said Kejriwal. The fine is Rs 5 lakh or 10 times the donation charged, whichever is higher. For screening (interviews), the fine will be Rs 5 lakh for the first contravention and Rs 10 lakh for each subsequent one. Admission criteria haven't been decided yet, but they're likely to be fixed centrally. There may not be any change for the generally category in 2016-17, but EWS admissions will be moved online.

A bill reinstating detention in primary school will be tabled; the class from which it'll be allowed hasn't been decided, though. "Without teacher training and changing syllabus, the comprehensive continuous evaluation that was to replace detention hasn't be implemented properly. With the annual exam, at least we'll know if kids are learning," said Sisodia. The responsibility for implementing the CCE in its schools was the government's. By pushing for NDP, activists like Khagesh Jha argue, the government is relieving itself of that responsibility.

Section 10 (1) of the DSEAR is being dropped too because "it can't be implemented without shutting over 700 schools". Safeguards protecting salaries isn't part of the bill. Arguing this doesn't make them anti-teachers, Kejriwal said: "Teachers will be paid minimum wages for skilled labour -- so those being paid Rs 3,000-4,000 will now get Rs 12,000-13,000 -- and we'll introduce provisions through rules or notifications that'll require schools to pay a percentage (45-60%) of their income as salaries. They won't have to sign against amounts they are not being paid," he said. "As per the Supreme Court, the teacher is not a worker and not covered by minimum wage laws," said Jha.

The Delhi Schools Verification of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee Bill proposes a committee headed by a retired judge and supported by chartered accountants that will study the books of schools to ensure there's no "farzi" (fake) spending.

This committee may have better chances of success than the Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee -- schools it indicted didn't pay -- but for an important amendment to the DSEAR. A proposal for a "graded" system of penalties for schools managements found violating provisions of the DSEAR has been worked out; the highest penalty is imprisonment of three years and a fine of Rs 2 lakh, extendable to Rs 5 lakh. The director can even suspend admissions. Till now, the DoE could only de-recognise schools. "But that's an extreme measure that affects kids and teachers too," said Kejriwal.