While the Delhi government has tightened its grip over private schools and laid down strict rules for admissions to nursery, private schools in neighboring Noida are blatantly violating Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, by conducting interviews of students, as well as their parents, for admission.
Admission tests and interviews are considered as tools for profiling children and their families, therefore, conducting such a process are prohibited. Section 13(1) of the RTE Act, provides that while admitting a child, no school or person shall subject the child or his/her parents to any 'screening procedure,'while section 2(o) of the Act defines the term as the 'method of selection for admission of a child, in preference over another, other than a random method.'
However several parents, who had been denied nursery seats for their three-year-olds in prestigious schools in Noida, alleged that in contravention to the rules, children were asked asked to identify fruits, colours and flowers. They were also asked to recite poems during the "interaction."
"My son was asked to identify geometrical shapes and colours during his interview at two private schools in Noida. Despite giving all the answers correctly, his name was not there in the list of selected candidates of both the schools," said a parent, who did not wanted to be named.
Some parents also alleged that schools have been asking "inappropriate" questions like their financial status, working hours and lifestyles.
"I was asked about my working hours during the interview in Bal Bharti School. I was then told that I won't be able to take care of my child's studies as I work for long hours," said another parent whose daughter was also denied admission in at least three schools.
However, Asha Prabhakar, the Principal of Bal Bharti School, denied the allegations saying, "those who could not get admissions are levelling false allegations against the school. We have limited seats and can't give admission to everyone." She, however, did not deny the fact that interviews were being conducted.
Explaining the reason behind these irregularities, Sumit Vohra who runs an admission portal, said, "In the absence of any regulatory body in Noida and Ghaziabad there is no fixed criteria of admission in these schools. There is no fixed age bar, calender and fee refund process. Every school is setting its own rules. Most of these school do profiling and screening of parents and children which is against the RTE Act."
"There is an immediate need of a regulatory body to fix the admission norms here. Otherwise parents continue to suffer," he added.
