Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) With the Delhi government insisting that parents’ profession or educational qualification cannot be a criteria for nursery admissions, many are worried that their children will get a raw deal due to this “last minute” decision.
For nursery admissions, schools in the city follow a 100-point system wherein they award points for factors like siblings studying in the same school, neighbourhood, alumni, girl child or first born.

However, a number of schools had additional criteria such as the parents’ proven track record, group discussions, views on education, profession and educational qualifications. Some of these include include Sanskriti, Vasant Valley, Gyan Bharati School, The Heritage School. In most schools, the first shortlist will be out Monday.

P. Guha, a resident of south Delhi who works with a media firm, had carefully selected institutions that were giving preference to professionals. But the Delhi governments’ move has left her crying foul as she does not score on the sibling or alumni criteria.

“I had selected some schools that fitted my educational profile or those that were giving weightage to my profession. But now after this directive, I don’t have any choice but to just pray and bank on my luck,” Guha told IANS.

The Delhi government now says that awarding points for parent’s profession and qualification is discriminatory and schools which are yet to bring out their lists will have to scrap these criteria.

The new diktat has not got gone down well with many parents who say the change comes at “the last minute”. They are wondering why the government has reacted now when the schools started distributing their forms with these criteria Dec 15.

Meenakshi Deep Ghatak, an aggrieved parent, posted on the website www.admissionsnursery.com: “The last-minute directive from the department of education is not only too late in the day but also a knee-jerk reaction under pressure from a powerful non-professional lobby. It will create huge chaos and uncertainty and serve to manipulate results to favour those whose wards would otherwise not find a place in some particular coveted schools.”

Many parents say they had carefully selected schools that were giving points for parents’ profession and education, besides others favourable factors, as these would give their wards a better chance of securing admission.

“Schools have become the property of sibling and alumni. So a child will experience reservation from its first step into education. The points system should be revised and should be made such that all get equal chance,” Ritesh Kumar Agarwal posted on www.admissionsnursery.com.

Pragya Vohra, another parent expressing her anger on the same website, said: “Parameters like alumni and sibling, it seems really tough getting there. This is totally not fair for parents of a single child.”

Nursery admissions in the national capital started last month Dec 15 when schools started selling admission forms and the last date for submission of forms were Jan 15.

-Indo-Asian News Service

ma/pg