By Suhas Munshi

Setting the alarm at 2 am and rushing to queue up in front of a school in the knuckle-crunching Delhi winter cold for that elusive nursery admission form! 

That was the routine Jagdeep Singh Ahuja tenaciously followed for most of this winter for his son - who has seen just three summers of his life but old enough to begin his long academic journey. Ahuja's labour of love, however, didn't bear fruit. 

Altogether 55 schools have 'rejected' his applications. Sparing no effort to get his child admitted to a school in Delhi, Ahuja applied in 55 schools. But his son has not made it to the first list of any of the schools. 

The child (right) has not made it to the first list of nursery admissions of any school

The points system hasn't been any good to Ahujas. Neither his alumnus status nor the home-to-school 'distance factor' could see his son through. In fact, Ahuja lives close to several schools in south Delhi. 

People who have survived the agony of the rigorous nursery admission process in the Capital sympathised with the Ahujas. 

But they admit that Ahuja has made a record of sorts by applying in so many schools. The previous record was held by another south Delhi parent. He applied in 27 schools. 

This time around there was an unprecedented number of applications in all schools. 

Denied: Jagdeep Singh Ahuja's son has been rejected from 55 schools in the city

'In a survey conducted last year, the majority of parents applied in around five schools. This time a sample survey comprising 2,500 parents revealed that more than 50 per cent of them applied in more than 10 schools,' Sumit Vohra, who runs admissionsnursery. com, said. 

Vohra said for each seat there were 50 applications this nursery admission season. Several parents have complained on his portal, accusing schools of changing their point criterion midway.

'We saw new trends of firstcome first-served admissions this time along with the trend of advance booking, through which many schools accepted donations, while rejecting applications simultaneously for having already filled up their allotted seats,' Vohra said. 

Ahuja, an alumnus of Cambridge School in New Friends Colony, said he was 'rejected' by his 'own school'. 

He was denied the alumni points because '1991 was too old a date to seek points for alumnus status'. 

'What do they want? A fresh Class 12 pass father?' he asked in sheer frustration. In other schools, Ahuja missed out for not attending the draw of lot. He said most schools did not inform him in advance. 

In others where Ahuja did manage to show up on time, he was rejected for not taking his son along. 

'In some schools they said the draw of lot was already over. I don't know how that happened because no information was given. 

'A lot of schools partially or completely concealed their admission procedure and the points system. We never got to know how many points were awarded to us and where was the scope for a redressal,' Ahuja said. 

To highlight the unintelligible points system, Ahuja cited Cambridge school where he said points were awarded for interreligion marriage of parents. But the school, he claimed, never made it clear which religion was considered valid.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2101797/Mr-M...