With nursery admissions 2017-18 round the corner, as many as 65 per cent of parents in the Capital want 'first child' to be the major criteria to secure admission, a recent survey has revealed.
The online survey was conducted by the website admissionsnuresery.com, with a sample size of nearly 2,200 parents. The 'first child' criteria emerged to be the most desired one for nursery admissions in Delhi.
Generally, schools take other criteria into consideration, including distance, if the child has a sibling in the school, or if anyone in the family has been an alumnus. Parents seeking admission for their first child have expressed concern of missing out on seats in good schools.
"Most of the old, established schools go by the 'dynasty rule', and allot points to alumni and siblings. It is very important that alumni points be replaced by the 'first child' points in order to give others an opportunity to secure the seats," said admissionsnuresery.com Founder Sumit Vohra.
Of the 2,178 votes exercised, 65 per cent (594) parents wanted 'first child' as the major criteria, 60 per cent (550) demanded 'distance' criterion to carry at least 50 points, while 37.5 per cent wanted 'girl child' to remain a major criteria.
"I am seeking admission for my first child and I really want him to get into a good school. Neither have I studied from any school here, nor do I have a good school near my place. Only the 'first child' criterion can help my son get admission to a good school," said Jahagirpuri resident Sneha Tiwari.
As many as 30 per cent (286) of the parents did not want 'distance' to carry more than 50 marks, and 20 and 17 per cent voted for 'sibling' and 'alumni' as criteria, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has drafted a set of guidelines for this year's nursery admissions and sent it to Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung for approval. "The government has been pushing to make 'distance' aa the major criteria and trying to scrap unnecessary points that create hurdle for parents at the time of admissions," a Delhi government official said.
