When Shalini Dutt Channey, a resident of Hauz Khas in New Delhi, told The Quint about how her daughter’s application for a nursery admission was rejected, she inadvertently revealed the ordeal that scores of parents in India’s capital go through every year.
We did not get a response from most of the 15 schools we had applied to. So there was no option. Her play school thankfully offered a nursery programme, so we ended up keeping her there.Shalini Dutt Channey, Parent
Several Delhi parents are thrown into a world of uncertainty when the 1,500-plus unaided private recognised schools throw open the nursery admission process towards the end of December every year.
The demand is high and the seats are far and few in between — according to an estimate posted last year, the number of applicants was four times higher than the 1.25 lakh seats available.
This year, admission forms were made available on 27 December. The admission process is expected to end on 31 March 2018.
The admissions will take place via a 100-point system, wherein schools decide on their different criteria and allot points. Among the popular criteria that are adopted by schools are:
- Location (the distance between the school and the child’s residence)
- Sibling (whether the child has a sibling enrolled in the same school)
- Alumni (whether the parents are alumni of the school)
- Girl child
- Single parent
Anxiety Seeps in
Priya Mathews, who is taking part in the protracted process for the first time, is anxious. The 32-year-old says she doesn’t know whether her three-and-a-half year old son will be granted admission in the school of her choice.
Living in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj locality comes as a relief, she says, as the locality houses various good schools, which would ensure the requisite points in the location criterion. However, concerns still remain.
I am definitely worried as the pool of children is so large. There is so much competition, people don’t just apply to just five or six schools, but 20-25 of them. I am also concerned about the lack of transparency in the whole process. I have heard stories about people having contacts being easily able to get a seat. We have heard about people being asked for money for a management seat.Priya Mathews
Mathew’s concern about the lack of transparency is shared by Channey. The 45-year-old recalls how two years ago, she was advised by many to “push politically” to ensure her daughter gets admission.
There is a lot of this implicit push and pull happening. Some people do get the seats of their choice through this method. But I didn’t do that.Shalini Dutt Channey
The Criteria-Based System: Boon or Bane?
There seems to be no clear line of support or opposition among the parents for the criteria-based system being followed by schools for nursery admissions. While some of these play out to their benefit, others put them in a position of disadvantage.
So while Priya Mathews expects the location criterion to work in her favour, she is also mindful of the fact that people residing in areas where there are very few schools are at a huge disadvantage for no fault of theirs.
It is true that in areas like Delhi Cantonment, parents will face a lot of problems as there are very few schools offering nursery admission there.Priya Mathews
One parent points out how this criteria has the potential to be misused – there have been instances of people modifying their place of residence on paper. Channey says the several criteria put forward by schools only ends up denying the parents their right of choice.
Child’s Aadhaar Card Mandatory for Admission?
The process to get one’s child admitted to a nursery school doesn’t appear to show any signs of easing up this year.
Sumit Vohra, the founder of Admissionsnursery.com, points out that schools making it mandatory to present the Aadhaar card of not just the parents, but also the child, will only add to the tension.
He further claims that despite the implementation of an upper-age limit being delayed to 2019-20 by the Directorate of Education, a number of schools are flouting this mandate, as they will be setting their own upper-age limit during admissions.
According to Vohra, some schools would also continue to set up bizarre “unjustifiable” criteria — such as eating preferences, extra-curricular proficiency of the child, etc — despite the fact that they have been abolished by the Delhi government.
What is the Solution?
With nursery admissions in the national capital being fraught with challenges, parents wonder what can be done to smoothen the process.
Ameeta Wattal, Principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road, tells The Quint that it should be imperative for the state government to ensure that more nursery schools are opened in the capital.
Government schools should open more and more nursery schools. This way, the pressure on the private schools would reduce. Also, the onus is on the parents to make all schools responsible for good governance and education, and not just be reliant on the 15-16 so-called good schools.Ameeta Wattal, Principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road,
Another issue ailing the pre-primary level, as pointed out in this Hindustan Times article, is the lack of regulation at the pre-primary level. The article cites former CBSE chairperson Ashok Ganguly as making a case for the need for a proper law to govern the pre-primary level.
RTE (Right to Education) has no provision for pre-primary. If amended suitably, then this can be made applicable to the entire country and can cover issues such as admission process, teacher recruitment, and curriculum.Ashok Ganguly to HT in December 2016
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