In Mother's Int'l, no seat if you don't own a house in city
Among the most sought-after schools in Delhi, The Mother's International School, Sri Aurobindo Marg, has come up with a baffling criterion for nursery admission -- parents of the applicant should own a house in the city. Mallica Joshi reports.
Among the most sought-after schools in Delhi, The Mother's International School, Sri Aurobindo Marg, has come up with a baffling criterion for nursery admission -- parents of the applicant should own a house in the city.
And they need to submit the proof of ownership.
This essentially means that anyone who is living on rent or in accommodation provided by the government can't get admission in the school despite having proof of residence such as passports or election identity cards.
A professor at IIT-Delhi, which is right across the road, for example, will not be able to get her child admitted in the school even if she is an alumna of the school.
This information, however, is not available upfront on the school website. Only when a parent fills up the form does the condition appear.
"We state that we are in occupation of house no (address) as owner (proof of ownership enclosed) and/or my spouse is the owner of the same," the second point in the undertaking says.
But this is not all. The undertaking also asks parents to ensure that they don't shift beyond the route of the school bus for as long as the child studies in the school. If the parents decide to, they will have to withdraw the child from school, the undertaking says.
The school, meanwhile, did not respond to queries regarding the criteria. The guard at the school gate said the office will remain closed till January 14. The same reply was given when this reporter rang up the school's official number. An email to the school also went unanswered.
"The school is accepting ration card, passport, voter ID or UID which any tenant can have but by asking for an additional document - i.e. the proof of ownership - is against the guidelines and a denial of right to education of those children whose parents don't own houses," said Sumit Vohra, founder, admissionsnursery.com, who has received a number of complaints from parents.
Parents are now demanding that the Directorate of Education take strict action against the school and direct it to get the forms refilled.
Amit Singla, director, Education, said he would have to go through the matter in detail before commenting.