Waiting game for school of choice can cost a fortune TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Nursery admissions in the NCR, especially if you are holding out for a ‘first preference’, can claim very large chunks of change. In an unregulated process that does not follow a common schedule or refund policy—unlike in Delhi—withdrawing admission can be a major hassle.Parents either end up enrolling their children in schools that weren’t their top preference or lose lakhs in a system of “blackmail”.

    “I paid around Rs 1.85 lakh and the school said it would refund Rs 50,000,” says Renu Singh. She had considered stopping the cheque but decided againstit. Shehopesher son makes it to another school but wonders if it is worth writing off over a lakh.“Ihadexpected thisbutit’sstillhardtolet goof Rs 1.3 lakh, and pay another lakh to secure a seat elsewhere,” she says.

    Those less prepared have no choice but to leave their children where they are. “Schools should follow the same calendar,” says Anuj Kumar who chose to stay with the Ghaziabad school he admitted his daughter into first since he can’t afford to forego Rs 71,000—he deposited Rs 76,000 but the school is willing to refund only Rs 5,000. “I called it unfair but they told me to meet the management. We may spend months negotiating, by whichtime, admissionswillbe closedeverywhere,leaving my child at their mercy,” says Kumar. Only the “caution money” is returned.

    “It’s like blackmail,” says Hari, another parent who had tosettlefor a schoolthatwasn’t at the top of his list because of the refund policy. He’d paid Rs 83,000 and the school would have refunded only Rs 11,000. “Schools don’t give a clear picture of how much they are charging and under what heads. No refund policy or the amount of time the process takes is mentioned either. In Gurgaon, they charge the fee for the first quarter—the session begins on April 1, 2014—months in advance,” he says. He too believes synchronizing the announcement of all lists will solve the problem.

  In a poll conducted on admissionsnursery.com, nearly 20% parents voted that the advance payment of fees is a major problem in the NCR.