NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Education issued yet another order on Friday to announce the change in schedule for nursery admissions. The last date for the first list will now be April 7 instead of March 15. While schools serving as centres for the board exams are pleased, the change poses a problem to parents who have already paid the fees. According to the latest order, admissions close on April 25. A batch of lawsuits is still to be decided. The DoE order came after the high court's direction on Thursday.

Rikhi Khorana is thankful he is self-employed and has flexible timings. "Harassment is an understatement. Every school is calling me for verification before the draw and I have applied at 56. Everyone, even the schools, are fed up." The situation could get trickier—another petition, this one against the alumni category, was admitted in HC on Friday. This will be the fifth nursery petition by parents this year. Ameeta Mulla Wattal, chairwoman of National Progressive Schools Conference and principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road, points to another HC order to schools for keeping 3% seats vacant for disabled candidates. However, there's no notification yet.

 Sumit Vohra  founder of admissionsnursery.com also points to the problem of fees. "Many parents have paid fees. They're entitled to a refund if they apply within a month, but the last date for admissions to close is April 25—well over a month away. Parents need clarification."This is nursery circus," observes Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery.com. "Parents are getting angry with the government and the constant PILs." Those who've lost seats or protested are bickering on his website now.

"Had the practitioners, the advisory board been taken into confidence, this chaos could've been avoided," says Wattal. However, she's happy with the change in schedule. CBSE had written to DOE to reconsider holding draws during the boards.

Most of this year's litigation was initiated by parents: five sets of parents, many of whom have never been to court, took the legal route. The guidelines have been changed thrice since December 19, 2013. The process that was meant to end by February 28 hasn't even begun for some. Parents are taking leave to go to court, make representations to the lieutenant governor and Delhi government.

Khagesh Jha of Social Jurist, a lawyer-activist group, welcomes this. "It's a good sign that parents can organize themselves easily because of social media and are demanding change," says Jha. He is happy that parents' groups are slowly getting closer to what Social Jurists had demanded; admissions based on distance and a draw. "A complete neighbourhood system seems to be the only solution," he says, "All guidelines are based on what will help the parent. If you think of the child, only neighbourhood makes sense."

More and more parents are coming round to this view. First transfer cases was eliminated and now, at least one parents' group, has challenged the points for alumni. A representation to the LG suggests removal of these categories, or at least limiting them to a fixed number of seats. This will not go down well with parents in areas with few known schools.

Indian Express 8 Mar-Spate of orders baffles parents, schools

The government on Friday announced yet another nursery admission schedule in the hope of resolving the current admission fiasco, but the chaos is far from over. The order states that admissions, already delayed by over two months, will now commence on April 25. It has left schools and parents baffled with the “never ending admission cycle”.

“This is like an endless nightmare. A new development comes to the fore every other week, and we get to look at a new set of dates or rules. Clearly, the issue is not getting resolved and it is causing inordinate delay. We have decided to wait for a final decision before starting the admission procedure again,” principal of Bal Bharati School L V Sehgal said.

The admission procedure has been quite turbulent with four groups of parents already approaching the court over various aspects of the guidelines issued on December 18 last year. As a result, the guidelines have been constantly undergoing changes.

“On Thursday, the High Court ordered fresh draw of lots for all applicants with 70 points, including those who had managed to secure seats. Now this group is also contemplating going to the court. The court had directed schools to reserve seats for the disabled, and that case is scheduled for March 12. As far as we are concerned, the litigation is far from over. There’s only one word that comes to my mind and it is ‘chaos’,” S K Bhattacharya, president of Action Committee for Unaided Private Schools, said.

The schools, which will now conduct fresh draw of lots, are required to display the first list of selected candidates by April 7, the second list by April 15 and subsequent lists, if any, between April 16 and 21. The process will commence by April 25.

“This is really unfair. We had got a seat, by sheer luck, but now I will have to let that go. All I have been doing is attending draws and visiting schools for verification,” Pratibha Ojha, who stays in Mayur Vihar, said.

“If the government had bothered to hold consultations with all stakeholders, none of this would have happened. Schools that had taken a fee from parents now have to refund it. We are sceptical of conducting draws. Who knows when the next circular will come out and what changes it might bring?” Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal of Springdales, Pusa Road, said.

“Conducting draws over and over again is not easy. Besides, if the process will commence by April 25, when will the classes begin? Usually, we close our nursery wing by May 5. We are looking at a loss of an entire session,” Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School, Rohini, said.

“Parents who have paid the fee are now asking for refunds. Even after three months, we are where we started,” Sumit Vohra, founder of admissions nursery.com, said.

“This year has been unprecedented in the history of Nursery admission. Aggrieved parents have nowhere to go but the court. The court should do something to put an end to this back and forth litigation,” R C Jain, president of Delhi State Public Schools Management Association, said.

The Pioneer 8 Mar-Nursery session delayed as fresh draw ordered

With nursery admissions in the Capital being entangled in endless changes in mode of conduct and schedules, sessions will not begin before April 25.

In the latest notification issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE), following the High Court’s order, all private schools in the city have been directed to conduct a fresh draw of lots not just for inter-State transfer category but for all categories — sibling, alumni and neighbourhood, which were earlier selected with draw of lots.

As per the new schedule, schools are required to conduct fresh draw of lots and display the list of selected candidates by April 7, 2014 followed by a second list on April 15. Subsequent lists, if any, must be displayed between April 16 and 21. The admission process which was earlier supposed to be over by March 31 will now be completed by April 25.

Quoting the Delhi HC order by Justice Manmohan, the DoE notification said: “It is directed that all candidates having equal marks shall be considered equally by conducting a fresh draw of lots, wherever necessary.”

Meanwhile, the Delhi HC on Friday sought a response from the Delhi Government on a plea seeking scrapping of the alumni and sibling categories in nursery admissions. Justice Manmohan refused to pass any interim orders in the hearing conducted in his chamber and listed the matter to be taken up on July 25. The matter was listed before him after the same was mentioned before the bench of acting Chief Justice BD Ahmed and Justice S Mridul for an urgent hearing. The petition, filed by Sudhanshu Jain and some other parents through advocate Prashant Mehta, has sought quashing of the two categories or in the alternative setting up a cap on the number of seats allotted to the two groups.

Parents, who are at the receiving end of the confusion that has been prevailing ever since the DoE’s first notification on the point system came, are fed up of the mess and say that the system is appalling.

“This is so disappointing. Redraw of lots is like asking us to go through the entire tedious process again. We were thinking it was just a matter of a few days. Now this delay of 25 days is not acceptable and shows inefficiency on the part of the Government and the system which is least bothered about a child,” said Bhavna Malik, Assistant Professor in a college and a resident of Paschim Vihar who has applied in over ten schools in the Capital and secured a seat in none.

As per the High Court order and the DoE notification, the selection of all those children by draw of lots in all categories stands cancelled which means that the parents of inter-State transfer category will participate in the redraw along with those of sibling, alumni and neighbourhood category. However, seats confirmed earlier by point system, excluding the transfer cases and lottery cases, will remain untouched.

While parents are deeply aggrieved and fed up of the mess, some parents who did not secure any seat are welcoming the decision thinking it gives them another chance at selection. “It’s an assault on parents who had got selected in draw of lots earlier but I had not secured any seat so I take it as another chance for me and I hope to get one this time,” said Shantanu Mehrotra, a parent.

Agreeing with the sentiments of the parents, Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com said: “It is ridiculous and has led to loss of faith in the system. Parents are feeling tortured by so many twists and turns and hence approaching the court because of which the confusion is not ending.”

The unrest among parents is evident with several admission forums being flooded by anguished parents. The fiasco has led to one category of parents fighting with another.

DAINIK JAGRAN

नर्सरी दाखिला प्रक्रिया में होगी और देर 25 अप्रैल तक स्कूलों को पूरी कर लेनी है प्रक्रिया राज्य ब्यूरो, नई दिल्ली : नर्सरी दाखिला प्रक्रिया में अब और देरी होगी। शिक्षा निदेशालय ने दाखिले की तिथि में बदलाव किया है। निदेशालय ने स्पष्ट किया है कि स्कूल दाखिले की पहली सूची 7 अप्रैल तक निकाल सकते हैं। दूसरी सूची के लिए 15 अप्रैल की तिथि निर्धारित की गई है। इसके बाद 21 अप्रैल तक सूची निकाली जा सकती है, लेकिन पूरी प्रवेश प्रक्रिया 25 अप्रैल तक समाप्त हो जानी चाहिए। हालांकि कुछ स्कूल नए दिशा-निर्देश के बाद भी अपनी वेबसाइट पर पहले निकाली गई सूची के आधार पर 13 मार्च तक फीस जमा करने की बात कह रहे हैं। इससे अभिभावक असमंजस की स्थिति में हैं।1एडमिशन नर्सरी डॉट कॉम के प्रमुख सुमित वोहरा का कहना है कि शिक्षा निदेशालय और अदालत के बीच अभिभावकों की स्थिति सर्कस के पात्र की तरह हो गई है। प्रवेश प्रक्रिया में देर होने से अभिभावक आशंकित हैं कि बच्चों का दाखिला होगा कि नहीं। कहीं ऐसा न हो कि अदालती कार्यवाही के कारण यह साल ऐसे ही बीत जाए।11जागरण सं वाददाता, नई दिल्ली : नर्सरी दाखिले में दोबारा से ड्रॉ कराने के हाईकोर्ट के फैसले से अभिभावकों में नाराजगी है। 1 उनका कहना है कि जिनका नाम ड्रॉ में आ चुका था, उनका नाम दोबारा आने की क्या गारंटी है। ड्रॉ से लेकर दस्तावेजों के वैरीफिकेशन तक पहले ही काफी मशक्कत करनी पड़ी है। कोर्ट को ऐसा फैसला देना चाहिए था, जिससे सभी अभिभावक संतुष्ट होते।