Nursery admissions juggernaut to roll out today Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Nursery admissions are all set to begin here in the Capital on January 1 with schools issuing admission forms and announcing their admission criteria for the year. As per the orders of the Directorate of Education, maximum marks in the criteria list are to be awarded to proximity to the school. Stating that it did not want schools to trouble or harass parents, the Directorate has instructed schools to come out with specific guidelines for admission and follow a uniform pattern of dates for sale, submission and announcing of results. A senior official in the Delhi Education Department said on Monday: “We have asked all schools to begin the admission process by January 1 and close it by March 30. The last date for submitting filled up forms will be January 15 and schools will be required to post their first list by February 15 (including for the economically weaker section, disadvantage groups and the waiting list). The second list is to be announced by February 28.”

Founder of the website admissionsnursery.com Sumit Vohra said: “A lot of schools in the city have already announced their admission criteria. Most have adhered to allocating maximum points for students applying under the neighbourhood section. But despite several protests schools seem reluctant to completely give up children of alumni, siblings and other criteria including achievements, awards and national/international contributions of parents. Parents have repeated complained about this trend stating that this is an unfair means of selecting students.” “However,” he added, “the Directorate has simplified the process for parents by announcing specific dates for the sale, submission and announcing results. Several schools last year were following school specific dates which created a lot of confusion for parents. This year too parents will need to have the child’s birth certificate and address proof as the main documents to apply for admissions.”