With most of the private unaided recognised schools in the national capital giving heavy weightage to the 'neighbourhood' criteria — children residing within the 0-3 km radius — arbitrary regulations issued by several schools are giving nightmares to parents seeking nursery admission for their children.

In blatant violation of the Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) guidelines, while some schools are granting extra points to "vegetarian", "non-smoker" and "teetotaller" parents, some are preferring children/grandchildren of former school promoters or office bearers.

According to the criteria released by Mahavir Senior Model School on GT-Karnal Road, extra five points will be given to non-smoker, teetotaller and vegetarian parents, in a bid to shun "social evils".

"We have included the point just to make people realise how healthy and happy their lives would be if they won't smoke and drink. We, however, are not asking them to give a certificate as a proof," said SL Jain, principal of the school.

Similarly, in another violation, Apeejay school in Sheikh Sarai is giving 15 points to the "Children/Grandchildren of promoters/office bearers/members of board of governors of the school" in its criteria, the move experts term a "disregard" of the government's directions. "This is a blatant violation and disregard of the DoE's regulations. The school is also giving a backdoor entry to the candidates coming from its own play school by giving extra 10 points to the child coming from a lower class at any other Apeejay School," said Sumit Vohra, founder of www.admissionsnursery.com.

"Some schools have issued absurd admission criteria which are nowhere mentioned in the DoE's circular issued on December 19. Parents like us are really confused. The DoE Should immediately issue notices to such schools," said Ritika Singh, a parent seeking admission for her 3-year-old daughter.

Several schools, including Abhinav Public School in Pitampura and Sachdeva Public School in Rohini have asked parents' to give details of their monthly income, educational and professional qualification in their forms. "How can our educational and professional qualifications can be the parameters of screening the forms of our children? This is absolutely unfair," said Sikha Sharma, another parent.

Officials at the DoE, however, said that they are receiving the complaints and strict action will be taken against all these schools. "We have received numerous complaints through our grievance portal on the first day. Strict action will be taken against all such schools," a senior official said.

The admission process in the entry level classes in 1,700 private unaided recognised schools in the national capital kicked off on Wednesday. The last date to submit application forms in schools is January 17 and the first list will be released on February 1. The admission process will wrap up by March 31, 2018.