Nursery admission woes on

Shagun Kapil

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court's order extending nursery admission deadline had given parents some hope, but they are having a harrowing time as some schools are not accepting fresh applications.

The court had on Friday stayed the Aam Aadmi Party government's order fixing four years as the age limit for entry-level admissions. Terming the government's order as "curtailing the right of child to seek education", the court extended the deadline for admission till Tuesday 4 pm for children above the age of four years.

However, most parents complained that while some schools are disobeying the court's order by not accepting fresh application, others opened the process only on Monday, giving them inadequate time to apply.

"I have been running from pillar to post since Saturday, but schools are refusing to accept forms. Some like DPS have uploaded their online links only on Monday evening. I do not know if the order is going to benefit me at all," said Anika Singh, a parent.

Similarly, Alok Kumar's child's application was rejected by Montfort School in Ashok Vihar and he was told that only the forms submitted till January 22 (the previous last date to apply) will be accepted, as against the court's order. The Directorate of Education (DoE) issued a circular to comply with the court's order only after 24 hours. But barring a handful of schools, most did not open up the online procedure on Sunday.

"The judgment was out on Friday, but the schools did not accept forms on Saturday and Sunday saying they did not get the DoE notification. It is only today after 1 pm that some of them started accepting forms. With just one day left, it is very difficult to fill forms of so many schools physically as most do not have online procedure," said another parent.

Ayonavo Sur, whose child is over four years said he felt "some respite" after the order, but left disappointed as schools did not accept fresh applications till Monday afternoon.

"I rushed to Blue Bells School after the order, but they told us that the process was closed. It was only at 1 pm on Monday that they started accepting forms online. I am left with just one day to submit it physically," he said.

"This shows how concerned the schools are for parents who are having sleepless nights. Even after the DoE circular was out on Saturday, they (schools) did not revise their online links for nursery admission on Sunday. So, technically parents have just two or one day to complete filling of forms of so many schools," said Vohra, who also runs admissionsnursery.com, an online portal representing parent community in the capital.

Hindustan

Dainik Jagran

Amar Ujala