Delhi playschools judgement: Experts welcome ruling but seek better guidelines

Major playschools across the Capital have applauded the High Court's decision of directing playschools that came up on DDA land to abide by the rule to allot 25 per cent of seats to children from the economically weaker sections (EWS).

Talking about the HC decision, Chairman and Managing Director of Shemrock School Amol Arora said: “Schools that are being run on DDA lands are already giving 25 per cent of their seats to the underprivileged children. The rule has now been extended to playschools as well and I see it as a great move because children who are from the economically weaker sections will also be able to receive quality education at the elementary level.”

“Playschools are the foundation of any child's development and receiving quality education at that stage is extremely important,” he added.

Principal of Little Pearls Playschool Ekta Sharma said: “Our playschool is already working with an NGO and in association with them we have admitted around 150 underprivileged children in our schools. We are totally in favour of reserving seats for children from the economically weaker sections.”

While the High Court has given decision for reservation of seats, many experts feel that the government should first set guidelines on functioning of these schools.

“There are no proper guidelines on how a playschool should work. The government should set a guideline for these schools first. Playschools are a child's first exposure to the world of learning and it should be taken more seriously,” Professor at Department of Elementary Education, Delhi University, Anita Rampal said.

“There are well understood principles of teaching children between the age of 3 to 6. These principles should be followed by the education institutions. They should not be taught in a formal manner, learning should be made fun,” she added.

“Unlike formal schools there are no rules to govern playschools. As a result, majority of neighbourhood playschools are being opened and run by anyone. Untrained teachers are employed in such schools, posing risk to the child's future,” said Sumit Vohra, who works for nursery admissions.

“According to the report of the Ganguly Committee on pre-school education in Delhi, playschools should provide a healthy and safe environment, should be free of hazards, have adequate space for a child to move around and play. But unless a parent is able to pay the exorbitant fees all this is not possible,” he added.