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Publication: The Times Of India Delhi; Date: Dec 28, 2010; Section: Times City; Page: 3


School suspends admission, cites ‘space shortage’

Neha Pushkarna | TNN

New Delhi: Much to the dismay of parents banking on sibling and neighbourhood points, Birla Vidya Niketan at Pushp Vihar in Saket has suspended nursery and KG admissions for this year. According to school officials, no child will be admitted to nursery or KG this time due to lack of space. By not conducting admissions this year, the school is apparently buying time to construct new classrooms. No wonder, parents seeking to apply in the school are disappointed.

“We are not conducting nursery admissions at all this year as there is a scarcity of rooms in the school. We cannot get more students unless we construct more rooms. We are still in the process of getting approval from different agencies for starting the construction work,” said a senior official at the school. As per sources in the school, the decision to scrap admissions this time was taken after a new management committee took over in August. Surprisingly, the school director resigned nearly a month ago and the post of principal is also lying vacant now.

A parent whose elder child already studies in the school, said, “I called up at the school to inquire about the nursery admission schedule when a staffer told me that I should try in another school. I had thought my second child would easily get admission in nursery this year by gaining points for sibling. But the school’s decision has come as a shock.”

Another parent wondered, “I hope the school is not folding up. They never mentioned there was a space crunch. Even our children never complained of over crowding in the classrooms In fact, they admitted more than 250 children in nursery every year.”

Sumit Vohra, who runs an online forum on nursery admissions for parents, added, “Many parents from the area are complaining that their options have gone down further.
Isn’t it difficult for a parent whose two children have to go to different schools? I hope the directorate of education knows about this.”

The DoE officials were unaware of the development but said that they couldn’t do anything if a school decided not to hold admissions for a particular year. The school official added, “I am aware of the plight of parents especially those whose older child already studies in our school. Hopefully everything will fall in place soon. We will resume admissions next year and implement the RTE too.”