Nursery Admissions in Delhi NCR 2025-26
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Many parents are happy with the new guidelines but still some are complaining about the distance Criteria Sumit Vohra- Hindu/Asian Age/TOI
Schools up in arms over new nursery admission guidelines
Most private unaided schools in the city are so livid that they are considering the possibility of taking legal recourse against the nursery admission guidelines released by the Lieutenant-Governor’s office on Wednesday. The water-tight criteria and the specific weightage prescribed to each has been termed “ludicrous,” and “arbitrary”, while the Lieutenant-Governor’s office has been accused of ignoring the opinion of respected educationists.
“We have written, made phone calls and also appealed to meet the L-G, but we have been consistently ignored just because we are not sitting on a dharna. Educationists who have been honoured nationally have submitted their opinion which has been ignored and the guidelines have been issued arbitrarily thoughtlessly,” said National Progressive School Conference executive chairman Ameeta Mulla Wattal, who is also the principal of Springdales School.
She was very clear that the “management quota” which most activists sought to colour with suspicion was not something that her organisation - which has the membership of most private schools in the city - was actually bothered about and it was the points that were awarded to each criteria and the manner in which they were supposed to go about it, that was harmful for the school, the parent and the child.
“The order prescribes that neighbourhood which has to be allotted 70 points be measured only up to 6 km, this is ludicrous in a city like Delhi. There are about 10 schools located within the area of our school and in some areas there are no schools at all. Places like North Delhi hardly have any schools and other areas like the East and South have about 40 to 50 schools between them. Where are children who have no schools in the neighbourhood supposed to go?” she asked adding that in the past the schools usually adjusted the criteria based on the profiles of their applicants. “It is disadvantageous to those whose siblings have already been admitted last year. If we admitted a child who was living 7 km away last year, we will not be able to admit the brother who applies this year.”
The issue of just a five per cent quota for girls was also a sore point. “Around 80 per cent of the children who apply are boys. The quota for girls in the new order is also done through neighbourhood among them and this is severely disadvantageous to the girl child. I speak from experience which unfortunately along with the experience of other educationists like me has just been brushed aside. We will be forced to take legal recourse if we continue to be ignored like this,” she said.
“Neighbourhood which has been allotted 70 points doesn’t fit well with areas such as Chhatarpur, Sainik Farms and the remote areas and some areas of East and Central Delhi where hardly any good school falls within the six kilometre radius. The minimum radius should have had been 10 km. Also, if a first child studies at a school situated 10 km away from home and the parents want to admit their second child in the same school they then will be allotted only 20 points that are prescribed under the sibling criteria,” said Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery.com.
TOI- DEC 20 Kids in areas with school clusters have an edge
There are schools everywhere but Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery.com says that Delhi parents tend to consider those schools 'good' which check certain boxes - an established 'brand',and, therefore, age of the institution, and, finally, those that represent a new-enough approach to education to draw what he calls "the creamy layer." He says: "People like to send their kids to schools where the rich and powerful send theirs. They want the 'right crowd'."
Judging by these parameters, many groups of parents have found they are staying in areas with no schools within 6km that they would even look at.
From the schools' perspective, the 6km cap will benefit some schools and put others, in less densely-populated areas, in trouble. "It is good for us," says Fr. Babu Varghese, principal, Don Bosco, "Earlier, the cap was 10km. Now we'll have fewer applications to deal with. But Carmel Convent is in Chanakyapuri. Where's the population within 6km? Each school's situation is different." Parents residing in areas such as Sarita Vihar, Chattarpur and most of outer and parts of north and west Delhi are now wondering where they stand. Even before this order was issued, many parents were already moving to areas like Vasant Kunj - another area with a high concentration of 'brands' - to improve their chances. Madhulika Sen, principal, Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, points out that there are 17 schools in the area.
But it's not just parents going for the 'brands' who are in trouble. "The fight is over only a few, established schools," says R C Jain, president, Delhi State Public School Management Association ( DSPSMA), "but the neighbourhood criterion will affect those in outlying parts of Delhi worst. Najafgarh kids were coming to Dwarka, Burari ones would study in Model Town and Seelampur children enrolled in Preet Vihar because they believed these areas had relatively better schools. The freedom to define neighbourhood and assign points allowed that. Now these people will be out of the race altogether."
The freewheeling with points and criteria - agree both schools and parents - needed to be regulated to some extent and a more transparent system put in place, but this degree of control is uncalled for, schools feel. Schools know where their kids are coming from and kept that in mind while deciding on points.The new system doesn't allow families to send their kids out of their immediate areas," says Jain."There's the huge Army school in Dhaula Kuan with little population around," says S K Bhattacharya, president, Action Committee: Unaided Recognized Private Schools, citing another example, "and there are areas like Karol Bagh which has over a dozen schools in the same area."
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gitanjali Suresh Nair on
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I totally agree with mahesh. Suddenly schools and parents alike are coming up with arguments for the sake of arguing.
How many cases would there be of 'The sad case of a sibling who can no longer study in the same school' as compared to the several thousands of neighborhood children who were earlier being biased against due to alumni and sibling
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Permalink Reply by mahesh jain on
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thanx Gitanjali...and hope that all kids seeking admission will get the best they want.... i am worried too..but the business of education is spoiling the fun....
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Permalink Reply by Anu Khatri on
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I just want to know how the distance criteria works how we calculate d exact distance or there are any chance bcoz we are 7 km far for school which we want
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Permalink Reply by Sakshi (Moderator) on
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Anu
Doe has mentioned aerial or by road, Doe will device some method common for all to benefit the parents (by google we think , nothing finalised)
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We are I think 6.5 far from ahlcon intl. Or 7km far from ahlcon public school then then is there any chance to admission of my child there
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Permalink Reply by Vandana Sanwal on
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@Anu Khatri- I agree..really looking forward to a change in distance criteria upto 10 km. we putting up to Vikaspuri and there are only two schools which we can think KRM and St. francis... now if the distance criteria remains the same..all the parents who are locating within 6 km. would be rushing to these two schools for admission..so again the chances of our kid to get admission is very minimal!!
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Permalink Reply by shelka on
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I agree, same options for my kid also......st.francis, being a minority institution is having lesser general seats anyways.....so i think KRM is the only option we have...!
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Anu
Wait for the rules of distance measurement by doe should be out by 31 dec.