If you have a child eligible for nursery admission this year and hope to score points by marking siblings, girl child, single parent and alumni, you may have reasons to worry. This year’s only criterion for nursery admission should be proximity of location or neighbourhood points. The decision was made on Monday by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) on the sidelines of a discussion about its role in implementing the Right to Education Act.

Under Section 13(1) of the Act that came into effect on April 1 this year, no child should be subjected to any kind of screening for admissions. The DCPCR, which is empowered under section 31(1) to monitor the implementation of RTE, feels point system amounts to screening of students.

“We have met with education officials of New Delhi Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Directorate of Education (DoE) and have conveyed to them that points allocated to neighbourhood for nursery admission should be the only criterion, as other criteria are discriminatory,” said Amod Kanth, chairperson, DCPCR.

While principals of some public schools said they are waiting for a directive from the DoE, others said that the High Court had given them autonomy to decide the criteria of admission. “How does point system amount to screening? We are not conducting any test or interview for the student or the parents,” said S.L. Jain, principal of Mahavir Jain School.

Usha Ram, principal of Laxman Public School said: “We are waiting for a directive from the DoE. In the absence of point system one will have no choice but to conduct lottery system.”

Speaking on the issue Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “We need to define what amounts to screening. At the moment we are taking legal opinion and will issue directives to school before the nursery admission.”