Schools are allocating points for attending “play school”, allege parents

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

With parents complaining that several Delhi schools are allocating points for students who have attended a “play school” before applying for nursery admissions, the State Education Department has notified that unaided recognised private schools in the city should display the break-up of points secured by each student as part of the nursery admission process.

Delhi Education Minister Kiran Walia said: “This applies to schools following the 100-point admission system where we have already specified the areas the points have to be allotted to those applying for admissions. Schools cannot bring in categories that are discriminatory and this kind of selection is definitely not encouraged. Schools have to adhere to the direction that has been issued by the Department or face tough action against them.’’

Director (Education) Amit Singla noted: “It has come to the department’s notice that a few un-aided recognised schools which follow the point system for admissions are not displaying the points secured to the applicants/parents. We had, on Friday, directed all these schools to display points secured by each applicant on each criteria as well as total points secured as per 100 point admission criteria adopted by the school for admission.’’

He added that several schools in the Capital were found awarding points under ‘vague’ categories. “You cannot give points for noble work, play school that the child attended previously, parents’ contribution to the national/international community, etc,” he said.

Website admissionsnursery.com founder Sumit Vohra said: “This important notification has been sent to managements of all private unaided schools and education officers in each district. We believe this will reduced the harassment parents face each year and bring in more clarity about the nursery admission process. Last year too many prominent schools did not display points for selected candidates, which left parents wondering and complaining about malpractice in the admission process.”

Stating that schools should not only display the points for each selected students Mr. Vohra said: “The schools should be asked to provide a list of points that have been allotted to all the students who applied for admissions. This should also be posted on the school website to help parents know exactly where the points have been allotted. Results of students selected under the economically weaker section should also be displayed alongside.”