The New Year began on a tense note for parents seeking nursery admission for their children with schools across the Capital beginning the sale of admission forms on Tuesday. Over four lakh applicants are expected to apply for the one lakh seats that are available this year. The last date for submission of applications is January 15.
Sumit Vohra, who runs a website called admissionsnursery.com , said: “Of the one lakh seats available, 25 per cent are reserved for students from economically weaker sections of societ, 20 per cent for management quota and other criteria include points for neighbourhood, first born, girl child, sibling and differently-abled students. This year seats are also reserved for orphans. We would advise parents to apply to at least ten schools in the neighbourhood to ensure that their child has a decent chance of making it to a good school.”
According to a survey conducted by the group, 84 per cent of the 1,460 parents contacted for the survey said they believed they would not get admission easily. They were also apprehensive that this year too would see a repeat of the admission nightmare the city has been witness to.
“Nearly 40 per cent of them said they will be applying to 10-15 schools. Close to 20 per cent put the number at 15-20 schools and 14 per cent said they would apply to more than 20. Parents seeking admission for their children to nursery noted that there was anxiety and panic about the admissions,” noted the survey.
Meanwhile, stating that she wasn’t convinced about the fairness of the point system followed by Delhi schools, Rani Gupta, residing in Rajouri Garden and applying to various schools for nursery admission for her daughter, said: “Neighbourhood should be the only criteria that schools should be following. The rest of the criteria seem more to exclude people than include them. Parents whose children sought admission last year have also told us that several schools are conducting indirect screening of children and also looking at the qualification of parents which is prohibited as per guidelines specified by the Delhi Government.”
