RTE ROLLOUT
Gurgaon schools favour lottery system
NewDelhi:Islottery system or random selection for admission to nursery class the bestoption?Gurgaon schoolshad nooption but to follow Haryana government’s directive and implement it. Delhi schools are now getting ready for a similar process.
While most school authorities in Gurgaon were in favour of the lottery system, headsof schoolsfrom Delhiweredividedin their opinion.
Principal of DPS, Gurgaon, Aditi Misra,talked abouttheexperienceof using the lottery system. According to her, as one does not have any alternative, this seems like the best option. ‘‘To the extent that random selection criteria is needed to enforce theRTEAct,itis a fair process.Thoughthe process was completed smoothly, it is more important to create more schools if RTE has to be truly implemented. There is a huge gap between the number of students
we can accommodate and the number of applicationswe get,’’saidMisra.
Even parents can discern the imbalancebetween demand andsupply.‘‘Thereis a dearth of good public schools. Though I applied in three schools, my son didn’t makeitto any despitethelottery system. Plain unlucky, I should say,’’ said PuneetArora.
While maintaining government guidelines for schools have been in line with the random selection process without any discriminatory, education minister, Arvinder Singh, has now asked for suggestions from public schools for criteria of admission. Principal of Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, Ashok Pandey, said, ‘‘The MHRD has taken a call that there should be no screening on discriminatory criteria and selection should be on random basis. But on the same note it said that alumni, siblings, neighbourhood and girl child could be given consideration. These arethe present guidelinesfor Delhischools. So, why are we unnecessarily creating confusion for schools and parents and delaying the process?’’
While most school authorities in Gurgaon were in favour of the lottery system, headsof schoolsfrom Delhiweredividedin their opinion.
Principal of DPS, Gurgaon, Aditi Misra,talked abouttheexperienceof using the lottery system. According to her, as one does not have any alternative, this seems like the best option. ‘‘To the extent that random selection criteria is needed to enforce theRTEAct,itis a fair process.Thoughthe process was completed smoothly, it is more important to create more schools if RTE has to be truly implemented. There is a huge gap between the number of students
we can accommodate and the number of applicationswe get,’’saidMisra.
Even parents can discern the imbalancebetween demand andsupply.‘‘Thereis a dearth of good public schools. Though I applied in three schools, my son didn’t makeitto any despitethelottery system. Plain unlucky, I should say,’’ said PuneetArora.
While maintaining government guidelines for schools have been in line with the random selection process without any discriminatory, education minister, Arvinder Singh, has now asked for suggestions from public schools for criteria of admission. Principal of Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, Ashok Pandey, said, ‘‘The MHRD has taken a call that there should be no screening on discriminatory criteria and selection should be on random basis. But on the same note it said that alumni, siblings, neighbourhood and girl child could be given consideration. These arethe present guidelinesfor Delhischools. So, why are we unnecessarily creating confusion for schools and parents and delaying the process?’’
