Chastised schools stop flouting rules

By Ritika Chopra in New Delhi

FACING heat from the education department for profiling children based on parents’ professions, four sought- after Delhi Public School ( DPS) branches have been forced to retract discriminatory admission criteria in the middle of the nursery season.

On January 5, M AIL T ODAY had reported how private schools continue to flout government rules and the Right to Education Act by framing an admission criterion that clearly favours applicants whose parents belong to specific professions. These included four DPS branches; R. K. Puram, Mathura Road, Vasant Kunj and Rohini.

While Mathura Road and R. K. Puram had resorted to indirect discrimination by awarding points to parents who were participants in the Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic Games, Vasant Kunj and Rohini had openly given their preference — in the shape of as much as 10 points — to a list of professions.

But by Friday, all four erring institutions had changed their admission policy by scrapping the controversial criterion and the points accorded to it. The changes have been communicated to all parents through the official website of each school.

“After the violations were highlighted in the media, notices were issued to all the concerned schools asking them to follow the rules and remove the discriminatory criterion,” an education official said, on condition of anonymity.

The admission guidelines under the Right to Education Act and the fresh admission rules issued by the Delhi government strictly prohibit private schools from profiling children on the basis of their parents’ professional and educational qualifications.

This is because every child has the right to an education irrespective of whether his/ her parents are educated and what they do for a living.

Acting at the behest of the Directorate of Education, DPS R. K. Puram, for instance, informed all parents that the “ six points allotted for sports” were cancelled.

“ Now, the total points shall be considered/ treated as 94 in place of 100. The list of the children seeking admission in pre- school ( nursery) 2011- 12 shall be prepared accordingly,” stated the notice uploaded on the school’s official website.

Similarly, the Vasant Kunj, Mathura Road and Rohini branches have cancelled the 10 points that each had allotted to parents’ professions. They all will now admit children on the basis of 90 points instead of 100.

The principals of all four schools could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Parents who were up in arms against the schools setting discriminatory criterion are happy with the government’s prompt action in this regard.

“ Unlike last time, when the government did not take action on time, we are happy to see that the Directorate of Education has forced the schools to remove the controversial criteria well in time. DPS schools have set an example for other erring institutions and we hope they will follow suit,” Sumit Vohra, founder of an online portal called admissionsnursery.com said.However, some schools are still undeterred by the education department’s directive.Banyan Tree in the Lodhi Institutional Area and Salwan Montessori School on Pusa Road are still profiling children based on parents’ achievements and education.

ritika. chopra@ mailtoday. in