Moreover, some schools have even postponed the release of their final list due to the last minute changes in the admission criteria.
A parent, who is a chartered accountant by profession and had applied in four south Delhi schools, said, ‘‘The schools must have submitted their admission criteria to the directorate of education months back. So why has the government woke up only now. We had relied on the admission criteria before applying in a particular school.’’ Though DoE had issued such directions only to a couple of schools in south Delhi, possibly to set an example for next year, many parents in other parts of the city also felt confused.
Another parent, who did not wish to be named so as to not jeopardize his daughter’s admission, said, ‘‘When I came to know about the DoE’s new instructions, I called up at all the schools I had applied to. Thankfully none of the schools in west Delhi has changed its criteria.’’ He added, ‘‘Doing away with the parameters of profession and education is justified only to some extent. What do you replace these parameters with? You can’t give 50 points to just distance! A wide range of parameters help.’’
Gyan Bharati School in Saket, which was one of the schools asked to change its criteria just a few days before the release of final list, had to start from the scratch again to modify the result. ‘‘The sudden change will definitely affect the result of candidates,’’ said director R C Shekhar.
Most schools like DPS Vasant Kunj, DPS RK Puram, Tagore International, Vasant Vihar, Sanskriti, Bal Bharati are coming out with the lists on Monday. The lists will be put up on the websites and also on the notice board in some schools. However, Srijan School postponed the release of list indefinitely to seek ‘‘clarification regarding criteria from the department.’’ Ahlcon International School in Mayur Vihar has also postponed its list till January 8 for formulating new parameters in place of profession and education.
A piece of advice for parents who get lucky on Monday: ‘‘The most important thing is to secure a seat in whichever school your child gets through. Check the fee details of the concerned school and be ready with original documents like birth certificate, first-child/girlchild affidavit, residential proof etc,’’ said Sumit Vohra, founder of an online forum for parents, www.admissionsnursery.com. Many schools check the original documents again at the time of admission even if they had done the verification before.
Vohra added, ‘‘There is no need to be depressed if you do not succeed in the first go. There will be opportunities later as many parents withdraw admissions in the second or third list.’’
toireporter@timesgroup.com