While a section of parents were relieved that the Delhi High Court had imposed a stay on the “neighbourhood criteria” for nursery admissions in private unaided schools built on government land, others were unhappy as they had pinned their hopes on securing a seat via the same criteria.
February 14 deadline
Many parents rushed to schools on Wednesday morning to ensure that the forms they had filled were still valid and that there were no changes in the procedure due to the judgment. February 14 was the deadline to fill the application forms.
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said the government may approach the Supreme Court.
“We will appeal to the High Court Double Bench. If required, we will approach the Supreme Court. Schools that are not corrupt, should have transparency [in the admission process],” Mr. Sisodia said.
The Minister had written about the issue on his blog earlier. He had said if these schools hadn’t been allotted land, good government schools could’ve been built there. When the 298 schools were allotted land, Mr. Sisodia had written, the allotment letter clearly stated that they would not deny admission to children living in the neighbourhood. Lamenting that this condition had been ignored for years, he added it was time it was applied.
Parents, however, were mostly annoyed that nursery admissions in the city are always punctuated by litigation. “Why did the government have to wait till January to come up with the criteria? It should’ve made these rules much earlier to ensure total transparency and clarity,” said Jhanvi Sharma, a parent.
Notification
The Delhi government had in a notification on January 7 made it mandatory for 298 schools running on DDA land to admit only those students in nursery class who are residents of the same neighbourhood.
