Separate nursery rules for schools on public land, others

In another first, the DoE has allowed a three-day window -from February 16 to 18 -for "resolution of queries of parents...regarding allotment of points to their ward in the first list." All details -full list of criteria and points allotted to each parameter -will be available on the DoE's website. The second list should be out by February 28 and the process, if all goes to plan, should be over by March 31, 2017.

But things may not be as simple. Monday's "guidelines and schedule [are] not applicable for the schools running on the land allotted by DDA on the condition that "the school shall not refuse admission to the resident of the locality" or "the society shall undertake to admit 75% of the students of the neighbourhood or from the locality in which the school is located"." The DoE will issue another set of guidelines and, possibly, a different schedule for this lot of schools -285 as per the attached, "tentative" list. These may constitute a fraction of the total number of private unaided schools - about 1,700 - but some of these invite the fiercest competition. The appended list includes several DAVs, Delhi Public Schools, Bal Bhartis, Heritages and also Vasant Valley and Ahlcon International. The issue of criteria for this lot is in court. As Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery .com puts it, "Parents are already confused." Admissions into the 25% EWSDG (economically weaker section/disadvantaged categories) seats will be handled by the DoE directly. There should be third list of instructions for that.