Parents of differently abled children will get a breather in nursery admissions in private schools this year as the Delhi government is planning to relax the norms for applicants with physical and mental challenges.

This year, the upper age limit for differently abled applicants for entry level classes may get revised. The admission process is likely to be same as last year.

For Class nursery, the upper age limit has been fixed at 4 years. But, for differently abled children with physical challenges, the upper age limit will be 5 years as on March 31 of the admission year. For differently abled children with mental challenges, the upper age limit is 5 years as on March 31 of the admission year, though the school principal can give further relaxation of one year on submission of required documents,” an official from the Directorate of Education (DOE) said.

“The only change this year is the imposition of an upper age limit. Kids of age between 3-4 years will be eligible for Nursery, between 4-5 years for KG, and 5-6 years for Class 1,” the official said.

The official added that same age relaxations will be applicable for differently abled students applying to KG and Class 1.

The DOE is yet to make an official announcement about the relaxation. Nursery admission in over 1,700 private unaided recognised schools is expected to begin from January 1, 2018. The government is likely to bring out the admission notification by December 15.

Admission for Class nursery usually starts in the first week of January and the last date for submission of application forms is by January end.

The DOE had in December 2015 imposed an upper age limit for entry level admissions but it was stayed by the high court after which admissions last year happened without an upper age limit.“But the court in October upheld our decision to implement the age limit,” the official said.

The government is not likely to make any changes to the criteria for nursery admissions, allowing private unaided schools to decide the guidelines on their own.

For admission, the applicant scores out of 100 points, divided in the various criteria. In most schools, the distance criterion carries the maximum points. The radius of the distance differs from school to school. Other criteria include girl child, sibling in the same school, children of alumni and students with a single parent.

Delhi has 1,700 private schools that offer approximately 1.25 lakh seats in nursery.more from delhi