Parents await Delhi’s new nursery admission system

NEW DELHI - The Delhi government’s decision to balance both the point and lottery systems in the new nursery admission guidelines that are likely to be announced Wednesday, has drawn a mixed response from parents in the capital.

“The new guidelines should be just and based on a rationale. The lottery system was totally random, while point system was applied differently by private schools,” said Nupur Nanda, who is seeking admission for her four-year-old son Kaustabh.

Private schools in Delhi were currently following a points-based system, under which applicants are selected on the basis of points awarded to them on various parameters - a process schools insist should be continued.

Under the admission guidelines in Right to Education (RTE) Act issued by the union human resource development ministry, no school is allowed to profile students based on their parents’ education.

The ministry guidelines, however, allowed schools to have categorisation based on a “rationale and just basis” such as alumni and sibling.

Within the categories, however, schools were not allowed to conduct interviews of either students or parents; hence admissions were done on a random basis, through a draw of lots system.

“The problem was that while the lottery system was too unjustified, schools had their own ways of applying points system by conducting interviews of parents, creating a merit system of their own. A balance of the two systems may bring some relief,” Shipra Ahuja, who is seeking admission for her daughter, told IANS.

While school associations have already reached the consensus on not applying lottery system, they are also looking forward to receiving a just and balanced perspective by the Delhi government.

“We are waiting for the guidelines that come tomorrow (Wednesday). Only that it would be better to decide what can be best suited for the parents and children,” said Madhulika Sen, principal of Tagore International School in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi.

The decision of the Delhi governments directorate of education will start the nursery admission process for the academic session 2011-12 from Jan 1, and continue till March 31, 2011.

“Even admission to higher classes is not so complicated. Already the admission procedure has got delayed by a month. We just hope that the new system eases the problems for us parents, quipped Vikas Sahay, another anxious parent of a four-year-old.