New Delhi : With no information on admissions to entry-level classes to the capital’s 1,700 private schools for the 2021-22 academic session, parents planning to get their children enrolled this year are now left concerned.

The process for admissions to entry-level classes – nursery, kindergarten, and class 1 – normally begins between November and December every year.

Simran Kaur, a resident of northwest Delhi’s Rani Bagh area, said the family was trying to get their three-year-old daughter enrolled into a school this year. “For nursery, the upper age limit is four. We are worried that if our child is not admitted this year, she will lose a year. Though we don’t want her to physically go to school till the vaccine for Covid-19 is available, we do want her to join online classes at least,” said the 26-year-old homemaker.

Sumit Vohra, who runs a portal on nursery admissions, said they have been receiving queries from parents on a daily basis. “Parents are concerned and have been asking if there are any tentative dates for admissions since NCR cities have initiated the process for conducting nursery admissions. The Delhi government could release a notice to assuage parents’ concerns,” he said.

Echoing Kaur’s concerns, Vohra said not conducting admissions this year was not feasible since there is an upper age limit for entry-level classes. Last year, the minimum ages for nursery, kindergarten and class 1 was three, four, and five years while the maximum limit for the categories was four years, five years, and six years, respectively.

“Not all schools provide online forms and in some cases parents have to visit the schools for the forms. Schools ask parents to submit hard copies of documents. Doing this would be challenging during the pandemic,” Vohra said.

A senior official from the Directorate of Education said it was too early to comment due to the Covid-19 situation.

“Generally, the process for nursery admissions to the city’s private schools starts around November-end and so far there has been no discussion on this because we are dealing with an unprecedented situation. More clarity will emerge in the coming weeks,” the official said.

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There are 1,700 pvt schools which conduct admissions as per education dept norms.

With directions awaited from the education department on nursery admissions for the next academic session, several private schools across the city said queries from anxious parents have begun coming in. Admissions have been delayed this year as the academic calender has been disrupted by the pandemic.

Last year, the Delhi Directorate of Education had released the schedule for admissions to Nursery, KG and class I — whichever might be the entry-level in a particular school — by mid-November, and the application process had begun on November 29. Every year, starting from late November, the city begins buzzing with the rush for these admissions.

“The matter is under submission with the government and we too are waiting for directions but it is clear that the timeline is very likely to be altered this time,” said an official in the education department.

The Indian School principal Tania Joshi said, “We began getting queries from parents around a week ago, on whether they will have to come to school to collect forms or if they will be available online. As of now, we haven’t begun with the process at all because when the directorate issues the schedule, they also release ‘dos and don’ts’ on the criteria that we can set for admission.”

She also referred to a large advertisement that appeared in newspapers Monday, on a common platform through which parents can apply to multiple schools through one form: “I was surprised when I saw it, I wondered if I had missed something on admissions starting.”

There are around 1,700 private schools in the city recognised by the Delhi government’s education department which conduct their nursery admissions in accordance with the schedule and guidelines laid down by the department.

Meanwhile, The British School — which is independent of this process — is set to begin registrations for admission Tuesday, closing on November 27 for nursery, December 18 for the primary level and January 31 for the secondary level.

Similarly, admissions to private schools in NCR cities such as Noida and Gurgaon, which are not governed by a streamlined process as in Delhi, have also been taking place.

 Sumit Vohra, who runs a large online community for nursery admissions, said he is receiving 50 queries a day.

“One issue is that the admission process had not successfully moved online completely. There are only some schools in which you can download and submit the form online. There are some in which you can download the form online but have to go to the school to submit it, and others where you have to go to the school just to collect the form,” said Vohra.

In the meantime, EWS/DG admissions to private schools are yet to conclude for the year 2019-2020. A fresh round of applications will begin Tuesday since 838 of these seats continue to remain vacant.