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No lottery in nursery admissions: Dikshit

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The Delhi government has ruled out having a lottery system for nursery admissions this year. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit said on Thursday that admitting students through draw of lots — much talked about in the post Right to Education Act scenario — was unsustainable both for schools and parents.

    While Dikshit invited suggestions by Friday from schools on admission norms, in all likelihood the points system will continue with modifications.

    ‘‘The child’s interest is of paramount concern to us but at the same time if the lottery gives rise to a situation where two children of the same parents study in two schools at two corners of the city, that is hardly acceptable,’’ the CM told TOI after a meeting with all stakeholders at her residence.

    ‘‘We have told schools that the one non-negotiable point is the 25% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS). As for nursery admission norms, the schools can give us their suggestions by tomorrow afternoon and we will work on them,’’ she said. Dikshit hinted that the way forward seemed to be the points system but what categories ought to be included, ‘‘sibling, alumnus etc, we are hoping the schools will tell us’’.

    Describing the meeting as a ‘‘broad discussion’’ on the issue, Dikshit said the schools had also asked her how, in whatever system is decided upon, they could incorporate seats for their own staff and management.

‘DRAW OF LOTS UNFAIR’

Draw of lots for nursery admissions unsustainable for schools and parents, says CM Sheila Dikshit

Asks schools to suggest admission norms by Friday afternoon to help govt decide its policy

Most schools in favour of retaining points system. Govt keen to see all schools implement 25% EWS quota Most schools back 100-pt system

New Delhi: CM Sheila Dikshit said the schools had asked her how in whatever system is decided upon, they could incorporate seats for their own staff and management. ‘‘There were two organizations representing various schools. We told them that it is not our concern. We need the new education policy of the government of India to be implemented to a T. Beyond that we are willing to try and evolve a system which is satisfactory to most stakeholders,’’ she said.

    Most schools are in favour of continuing the 100-point system, which also has the support of many parents who have been lobbying for it on online forums. Though the representatives from Federation of Schools — a body of nearly 300 schools — insisted after the meeting that point system will come back, the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC) principals said nothing was confirmed yet.

    Suraj Prakash, a retired principal and member of NPSC who was present at the meeting, said, ‘‘The schools proposed that the point system should be retained. The CM gave us a patient hearing and assured us that she will talk to all stakeholders before finalizing the admission procedure this year.’’

    As RTE Act prohibits any kind of screening for admission till class VIII, the point system hasn’t got a green signal from the government yet. However, schools say the system has fallen in place well in the last three years and should be continued at least for admissions in the general category. ‘‘It’s the most objective system for admission while draw of lots is based on luck. It is unacceptable,’’ a principal said.

    The 100-point system was introduced in 2007 on the recommendation of the Ganguly committee. Under it, a nursery admission candidate was awarded points on different parameters like distance from school, sibling, alumni, linguistic and religious minorities, and even parents’ qualification and occupation.

    Schools were allowed to fix their own parameters as per their philosophy though they had to inform the directorate of education about these. Candidates were given admission if the points scored were above a certain cutoff. Parents were also called for an informal interaction with schools which is likely to be done away with following the implementation of the RTE Act.

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