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Nursery admission guidelines in 10 days

Delay Due To RTE Implementation: Edu Minister

Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN

New Delhi: Dismissing the confusion among parents over nursery admissions in the capital,education minister Arvinder Singh said on Wednesday the guidelines and regulations would be released in 10 days.
He said the process had not been delayed and last year,too,it started after mid-December.Whatever be the reason,parents are still jittery about the eligibility criteria as there is still no clarity on the minimum age for admission and other parameters.
The minister said the slight delay in formulating guidelines was due to the enforcement of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. We sought a few clarifications from the HRD ministry,government of India.Our present system is as good as lottery system and our guidelines are against any kind of screening.But since the point system,followed by many schools,is not specified in the RTE we need to clarify with the central government.
But not all are ready to buy the argument,stating that the HRD has no role to play.Social Jurist Ashok Agarwal said: Things are not as simple.First,we have to determine if nursery admissions comes under RTE as the age specified is between six to 14.Moreover,HRD has no role to play,except that of an advisor.Secondly,the Delhi government has to frame the new guidelines,which so far it has not.Point system still exists which is a violation of the RTE.
Even Amod Kanth,chairperson of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights,believes that HRD has no role to play and whatever has been laid down in the RTE should be implemented in letter and spirit.
Meanwhile,Singh said the state government would come out with the new set of guidelines,wherein,as specified in the RTE,screening will be done away with and the neighbourhood policy would be the priority. Neighbourhood and sibling would be the priority.But there will be no selection on the basis of educational qualifications of parents or for being alumni of the school.Other eligibility criteria will also be as per RTE.
There are around 1,900 public schools which will conduct nursery admissions this year.Till the guidelines are declared,the state of confusion will remain.Schools,too,are clueless. We do not know about the admission criteria as of now.Hopefully,we will get some information from the directorate of education.The criterion for age will also be clear only then, said Usha Ram,principal,Laxman Public School.
manash.gohain@timesgroup.com