In race for nursery admissions, parents of Admissionsnursery.com chalk out back-up plan(our featured members Puneet Sachar ) gives his take INDIAN EXPRESS 28 DEC

In race for nursery admissions, parents chalk out back-up plan

Maroosha Muzaffar
Tags : nursery admission season, Ajay Kumar, Mother’s International School, Shri Ram School
Posted: Tue Dec 28 2010, 00:57 hrs
New Delhi:

As the nursery admission season kickstarts in the Capital in a few days, parents across the city are keeping their options open. Apart from applying to all the “big” schools, they are also applying to smaller schools in their neighbourhood.
“There are good schools in and around my area, but I have to take into consideration that I do not qualify as the alumni of any of these schools, and my son will not get any sibling points either. To be safe, my wife and I are looking at the other not-so-well-known schools,” says Ajay Kumar from Pitampura, Northeast Delhi.

He adds that he does not want his son to lose an academic year in case he does not secure a seat in any of the popular schools.

“I want my son to get admission in a good school. But I also have to see the other side — what if he does not get through any of my preferred schools?” asks Geetika, a parent. “Just to be safe, I will also apply to smaller schools in and around the Kalkaji area.”

With the Delhi government giving schools a free hand to choose their admission criteria, most city schools have said they will follow the previous year’s admission criteria — the 100-point system.

“Apart from the schools we are interested in — Mother’s International School, Shri Ram School, Vasant Valley and DPS — there are other schools where we will definitely apply for our child,” says Punit Sachar from Vasant Kunj, South Delhi.

Principals of schools across Delhi also suggest that parents should apply to schools that are not on their preferred list.

“It is important that parents apply to other schools as well and not focus on only a handful of well-established schools. Parents have to ensure that the school gives a good education to their child and that thay are getting value for their money,” says Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School-Pusa Road.

There are about 1,950 private recognised unaided schools across the Capital.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 1udn5cvfevam1 on December 28, 2010 at 11:40am

Why people think that only a few big and popular name in a city is good school? pls think is it only good school or conciouness for established brand in the mind of parents and society at large ?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by nazneen anwar on December 28, 2010 at 8:18pm

i sat down today and crawled the web for schools all over south delhi........came with a short list of 54 schools!!!...lol.

these 54 are apart from the 30 or so good/popular/well known schools.

Now i am baffeled as to how many i sholud apply. Definately not 54+30 unless i want to go paranoid

can anyone tell me ideally how many schools i should apply in this scenario. I have a male child, no siblings, no alumni.....

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Shival Manchanda on December 28, 2010 at 8:40pm

south delhi is a large region....you should cut down ur list to nearby schools with maybe around 10-15kms to start with and you should also check criteria for each one of those. You can even go beyond 10kms if the points criteria of a particular school suits you. So there is no min or max no of forms that anyone can suggest......... i know it is difficult for all parents (especially for those having points only for neighbourhood and nothing else).I hope you make right choices.

not to make you worried, but just for info i filled up around 20 forms(in south delhi) last year and got though in 2.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by bijendra on December 28, 2010 at 10:24pm

nice practical insight Shival...thanks a lot for sharing your experience...

surely we should keep all choices in hand--preferred schools plus aother aboove average schools--so that we can have enough fall back options in need...

we all parents must make it sure that this is a very vital step in cementing the future of our tiny tot and we must not leave any stone unturned to fulfill it...but at same time rather than being wary as well as over ambitious we must be pragmatic by having our own preferred choice of schools by taking into account all relevant factors .....neighourhood nearness (as aptly suggested by Shival), basic ethos of the school (very vital for us that if the school's philosophy gels with our expectation or not), value for money (definitely we must be getting the best out of school for shaping our child's overall personality at a reasonable fee), getting 1st hand experience of existing parents in that perticular school of our dream (we personally did it last year by visiting the school at closing time and met parents who were waiting for their kids to take home; shared with them our candid views and got enriched with their frank feedback)....

folks all other physical parameters we all know from this forum, websites, media etc..plus this beautiful forum enable us to share our true feedback and experiences with each other so that going becomes easy for current parents...

at last i keep on repeating that simple yet beautiful answer that i got for a school being good "if our kid comes home happily on 1st day and afterwards too...we must say its' a good school-thats all".

All the Best

Bij:)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Roohi on December 29, 2010 at 1:12am

Well said Brijji. Please do not forget at the end of the it's we parents who have to 'help' teach our kids from activities to coloring to writing skills to diction. Bigger skools also have bigger pressure too. Don't be disheartened if you don't get so and so school. Make sure the school is convenient too