The anxiety of parents seeking admission for their wards in nursery continues to build up as the admission schedule for the 2012 session is nearing.
The much awaited reply of the Delhi Government fixing the age limit for admission in nursery has been postponed to December 14. Nursery admissions always become an issue in the city and virtually leads to a ‘crisis situation’ as parents, school and the Government with the judiciary too getting involved. The nursery admission process for Delhi schools is likely to start only after December 14, when the Government will file its reply in the court.
The Delhi Government is yet to take a decision on the age for admitting a toddler into a primary school. The Ashok Ganguly Committee report in 2006 had recommended that no child below the age of four should be put to primary school. The report had also recommended restricting the pre-primary education to only one year. The Delhi Cabinet had accepted the recommendation of the commission and had intimated the court that a draft guideline based on the recommendation was being formulated by the Delhi Government. However, four years on, the Government is yet to come out with its draft. The Delhi Government was to file its reply in the High Court on Tuesday. However, the Government had sought time from the court to file its reply.
The Delhi High Court has fixed December 14 as the final hearing. “The court has given the Government two weeks’ time to file its reply. The court has also hinted that till the time the Government clarifies its stand on the age, the admission process will not get started. The court has asked the Government to file its reply and to give a valid explanation for its decision,” said Ashok Agarwal, the counsel for the Social Jurist.
The Ganguly Committee report recommends pre-nursery schooling to only one year; the Delhi Cabinet, too, had accepted the committee report, but four years on, the Government is yet to notify the same. “The Government of Delhi is working in the interest of the management of per schools. Restricting nursery admission to one year, will hamper the interest of the schools who admit students at the age of Three (two typo error),” said Sumit Vohra, founder of www.Admissionsnursery.com.
Delhi’s Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely’s recent comment on no change in admission guidelines has added to the worries of the parents aspiring to get their wards admitted in a good school. Last year, the Delhi Government had given a freehand to the schools to formulate the guidelines and set their own criteria for admission. The schools had then decided to award points to the children based on having one’s sibling in the same school, being the child of an alumni, first girl child and kids living in school neighbourhood among others.
