NEW DELHI: Aarti Jain took admission in MBA when her son was born because she'd heard that qualifications of parents fetch extra points during nursery admissions. By the time her son was old enough to take admission, none of the schools she applied at cared about her qualifications. She is one of several parents who did not manage to secure a seat for their child in the last round of admissions.

Jain has been trying for two years. The first time (2011), she applied at 21 schools; in 2012, at 15 schools for a seat in pre-primary. She failed both times. "We got points only for first-born child and for distance," she says, "But we lost out on points for alumni and siblings. I've left 30-40 complaint with the DOE but nothing has been done." She sends her son, now in KG, to a school run by a pre-school chain; from next year, he'll move to the senior school, Class I. "I'll have to try again next year as the senior school is in Ashok Vihar," she says, "We live in Connaught Place. How can a four-year-old travel that far every day?" Typically, kids who don't get admitted continue in the same pre-school-nursery they've been attending and try to take admission later.

First-borns seem to have a tougher deal altogether with points for first-borns being generally far less than that for siblings. Mahesh Batra's son too is continuing at the play school. He'd tried in five-six schools in January, 2012, failing to get a seat anywhere.

Despite the chaos, nursery-level is where the child stands the greatest chance of securing a seat. Karan Arora will be trying again next year but "KG admissions are very tough," he observes. "There are very few seats and chances of her getting in are bleak but we have to try. If we can't manage to get her admitted, we'll try again in 2014. She is studying nursery at the same school as the pre-school and is only till that level," he says. He, a resident of Shivalik, Malviya Nagar, had applied to 24 schools the first time - "at least 10 were within one kilometer" - but lost points for alumni, sibling and transfers. "We got points for a first-born and for girl-child. But those are very few points," he says,

"But now we can't choose a school now, the school will have to choose us."