Two days before nursery admissions are set to begin in the Capital, the Delhi Government on Monday announced a helpline for parents to answer queries and register their grievances related to the admission process.
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia after announcing the helpline – 011- 27352525 – said the facility will enable aggrieved parents contact his office directly over admissions-related problems. “Parents can register their complaints against any school by calling the helpline. Their grievances would be addressed in three working days,” he said.
Trained call executives will receive calls and register complaints against schools and a unique ID would be sent to the caller via SMS as acknowledgment for further follow up, said officials. Complaints will be forwarded to the concerned school and the education officer for resolution after which the caller will be informed via SMS.
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Mr. Sisodia said the common man wants his family to be healthy and educated. “People have small dreams. They want education for their children, better health facilities, better transport. They want to lead a comfortable life and education is the basis of that dream. Launching this helpline is a step towards that dream,” he said.
Further, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a web application, www.edudel.nic.in , which will facilitate pre-primary admissions in private schools and enable parents to find nearby schools and check the availability of seats and fee structures.
He said that parents can get information about the locations of the school, seats available, seats reserved for OBC and SC/STs, fee structure and the name of the head of the school/principal/headmaster. “The users can select their locality, sub-locality, landmark from a drop down menu. Once a landmark nearest to their residence is selected, a table would appear on screen listing all unaided private recognised schools near the landmark,” he added.
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Mr. Kejriwal also questioned why Delhi’s schools are resistant to being transparent. “Schools are charitable societies and their motive should not be to earn profit. Why are Delhi schools resistant to being transparent?” he asked. He also noted that ensuring transparency was a pre-requisite for removing irregularities in the system. Earlier, in its election manifesto, the Aam Aadmi Party had specified that it will clamp down on ‘donation’ demands by private educational institutions.