The nursery admission process for approximately 1,600 private schools in Delhi will commence on Wednesday, with parents having time till January 17 to submit their application forms.
Though a High Court order earlier this year had allowed the imposition of an upper age limit suggested by the directorate of education for entry level classes, the education department has said that the order will be applicable only from the next academic year.
The Delhi government’s proposed upper age limit, which said that a student would need to be less than four years of age to be eligible for nursery, less than five years for kindergarten and less than six years for admission to Class 1, had been challenged in court.
Although the Delhi High Court had earlier this year disposed these petitions, the directorate of education has said that the age limit will be applicable only for the 2019-20 academic year, “with a view to provide adequate notice/time to the parent/guardians to plan for the admission of their wards.”
This year, the government is not bringing any changes in the admission criteria and schools get to decide their own rules and allot the 100 points accordingly. The various criteria that the schools will divide the 100 points for admission into will include distance, first child, girl child and alumnus.
“…all private unaided recognised schools shall develop and adopt criteria for admission which shall be fair, reasonable, well defined, equitable, non-discriminatory, unambiguous and transparent,” the directorate of education said in a circular.
The directorate had also abolished 62 other criterion, which were found to be “unfair, unreasonable and non-transparent” in January last year. Later, the high court had upheld around 50 of these, including parents’ education, smoking, drinking and food habits, and direct interviews and oral tests of them and their wards.
The 1,695 private recognised schools were asked to upload their criteria and the points to be assigned to each to the directorate of education’s portal by Tuesday, failing which their admission process would be “kept in abeyance.” Parents would then be able to view these online and also the school’s websites to see if their children qualify, and have until January 17 to submit their application forms at the school.
As of 7pm on Tuesday, the admission criteria for 993 private schools were available for on the directorate of education’s website. Most schools have assigned the maximum number of points (up to 90) to how far an applicant resides from the school.
The first list of selected students with points allotted to them will be displayed by February 15. Queries raised by parents will be resolved between February 16-20, and a second list will be displayed by February 28. Subsequent lists will be released, if seats remain, before the admission process closes on March 31.