Following the guidelines released by the Delhi lieutenant governor, the schools in the national capital are yet to take a decision on using Google Maps to determine the neighbourhood criteria.
This time, the government has allotted 70 points under neighbourhood criteria, which means children residing within a radius of 6 kms would be given maximum weightage. But school authorities are yet to decide on methods which would be used to measure the distance.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) in its guidelines did not mention any specific method of measuring the distance, and said that the schools should identify localities within a 6 kms radius (aerial or road).
Mount Abu Public School principal Jyoti Arora said that in order to resolve the confusion arising from the issue, the DoE should come forward with some maps to “clarity” the matter. The length measured in Google Maps and the actual road distance is quite different, she claimed.
“There is confusion, nothing is discreet and there should be some clarity in this matter. Hopefully, the DoE would come out with a correct way of measuring it soon,” said Ms Arora. Near her school, there are 25 other schools. However, she mentioned that there are many other areas which do not have any schools within the fixed radius. The government should ascertain the map depending on the geographical location of the schools, she added.
Mr S.L. Jain, principal of Mahavir Senior Model School in G.T. Karnal road, is planning to hold a meeting to ascertain the route and distance issue.
The founder of admissionsnursery.com, Sumit Vohra, explained how neighbourhood criteria will lead to confusion for parents and the schools. “In Google Maps, we can change the route and it provides different distances for different routes.”
“Distance calculation should be published before starting the admission process,” he said.