Private schools have demanded that the government ban the preference given to certain category of children during nursery admissions, as they prepare to admit next year’s batch.

An umbrella body of private schools demanded the government ban allocation of extra weightage to girls and to applicants with single parent among others saying that such criteria are discriminatory.

The Delhi government had introduced a new point system for nursery admissions last year that allowed schools to allot points to applicants based on criteria they deemed fit, expect for a few that were banned by the government.

The the new point system was enforced under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), which bars any discrimination during nursery admission. R C Jain, chairperson of the Delhi State Private Schools Association (DSPA) that claims to have at least 750 member schools, said certain criteria which some schools followed last year were discriminatory.

“Take for example the case of extra points given to applicants with single parent. A child’s parents should not be of concern to the school,” Jain said. In their letter to the Education department last week, the DSPA has also suggested extra weightage given to applicants whose grandparents were alumni of a particular school should also be banned, Jain said.

A senior Education official said a set of guidelines for schools to follow this admission season will be announced late December or early January, after which admissions will begin.

Prabhat Raman, Principal of Dr Radhakrishnan School in Defence Colony, said criterion such as giving extra points to a girl applicant is unjust to boy applicants.

We are asking that girl applicants should not be given preferential treatment. Because of this criterion, only girls were admitted in some schools last year,” he said.

Gitish Chandra Jham, principal of Lawrence Public School in Janakpuri, said he will soon write to the Directorate of Education (DoE)to stop schools from discriminating between girls and boys.

Chairperson of the DSPA Jain said they have also suggested that the criterion of giving extra points to applicants whose parents are in a transferable job, which some schools followed last year, should also be scrapped.

“Also, only those applicants whose parents are alumnus, and not grandparents, should be given extra points,” he said.

While the DSPA has demanded these changes, the National Progressive Schools Alliance (NPSA), another key association of leading private schools, prefers to wait for government guidelines.

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President L V Sehgal told Newsline, “Till now we have not proposed any changes to our member schools.”

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/3632

 

Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday said the criteria for nursery admissions for next year’s batch will not be very different from those followed last year. He said last year’s experiment with a new point system for admissions worked quite well and the government has not received complaints strong enough for it to overhaul the system.

“We did receive suggestions from some quarters, including the suggestion that applicants with alumnus parents should not be given extra weightage. The point is, we cannot please everyone,” Lovely told Newsline.

The minister said the government will announce the admission schedule and guidelines for schools to follow by late December or early January.

He said the criteria will be notified at the right time, otherwise schools take undue benefit and charge tuition fee from parents months in advance.

Parents (of AdmissionsNursery.Com)  who Newsline spoke to said reforms in nursery admissions envisaged under the RTE won’t take shape if the government decides to go ahead with last year’s guidelines.

Meenal Agarwal, a resident of West Delhi said, her son is a case in point to illustrate the discrimination meted out to several students under the current system.

“If the same criteria persists, I will lose out on many grounds. West Delhi does not have many renowned schools, plus, I have a son. There are no special points for boys in any schools,” she said.

Another parent, Gagandeep Kaur Saini was worried about the uncertainty that prevails. “I am seeking admission for my child this year and I hope that last year’s confusion regarding nursery admissions is not repeated.”

L V Sehgal, President of the National Progressive Schools Alliance, said last year’s confusion was caused by the fact that the criteria and notifications were announced very late,

“If last year’s criteria will be repeated this year also then there should be no confusion at all,” he said.