Delhi nursery admissions begin today, no upper age limit this year

The Delhi government’s proposed upper age limit, which said that a student would need to be less than four years of age to be eligible for nursery, less than five years for kindergarten and less than six years for admission to Class 1, had been challenged in court

The nursery admission process for approximately 1,600 private schools in Delhi will commence on Wednesday, with parents having time till January 17 to submit their application forms.

The nursery admission process for approximately 1,600 private schools in Delhi will commence on Wednesday, with parents having time till January 17 to submit their application forms (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Though a High Court order earlier this year had allowed the imposition of an upper age limit suggested by the directorate of education for entry level classes, the education department has said that the order will be applicable only from the next academic year.

The Delhi government’s proposed upper age limit, which said that a student would need to be less than four years of age to be eligible for nursery, less than five years for kindergarten and less than six years for admission to Class 1, had been challenged in court.

Although the Delhi High Court had earlier this year disposed these petitions, the directorate of education has said that the age limit will be applicable only for the 2019-20 academic year, “with a view to provide adequate notice/time to the parent/guardians to plan for the admission of their wards.”

This year, the government is not bringing any changes in the admission criteria and schools get to decide their own rules and allot the 100 points accordingly. The various criteria that the schools will divide the 100 points for admission into will include distance, first child, girl child and alumnus.

“…all private unaided recognised schools shall develop and adopt criteria for admission which shall be fair, reasonable, well defined, equitable, non-discriminatory, unambiguous and transparent,” the directorate of education said in a circular.

The directorate had also abolished 62 other criterion, which were found to be “unfair, unreasonable and non-transparent” in January last year. Later, the high court had upheld around 50 of these, including parents’ education, smoking, drinking and food habits, and direct interviews and oral tests of them and their wards.

Race for nursery seats

The nursery admission process for 1,600 pvt schools will commence on Wednesday. This year, the schools get to decide their own rules for admission process

SCHEDULE

2017 DECEMBER 27: Sale of admission forms to start

2018 JANUARY 17: Last date to submit application forms in schools
FEBRUARY 2: Schools to upload marks given to each student based on the points system
FEBRUARY 15: Schools to display first list of selected students with points allocated to each student
FEBRUARY 16-20: Resolution of queries by parents regarding allotment of points
FEBRUARY 28: Schools to display second list of selected students with points allocated to each student
MARCH 15: Subsequent lists, if any
MARCH 31: Closure of admission process

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF NURSERY SEATS IN EACH SCHOOL?
Each school has a different number of seats at entry level but it cannot be less than the highest number of seats it has had over the last three years. Check a school’s notice board, website and DOE website — edudel.nic.in — for more details

WHERE CAN I FIND THE CRITERIA ADOPTED BY A SCHOOL AND THE POINTS ALLOTTED?
Private unaided recognized schools can set their own admission criteria and points, which will be displayed on their website and also on DOE website.

ARE THERE ANY CRITERIA THAT SCHOOLS CANNOT ADOPT?
The government had abolished 62 parameters of 2015-16 that were found to be ‘unfair, unreasonable

and non-transparent’. These include oral tests, interviews, achievement of parents, non-smoking parents, food preference

CANASCHO MAKE BUYING O APROSPECTUS COMPULSORY?
Buying theschool prospectus or an applicationformisnot mandatory.Forms will be available online and schools cannot charge a processing feeexcepta registrationfee of Rs 25, which is non-refundable

HOW CAN I KNOW THE POINTS ACHIEVED BY MY CHILD?
Schools will display the points given to each applicant on their website on February 8, 2018. Schools will announce the first list of selected candidates on February 15

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR DRAW OF LOTS?
A draw of lots will be conducted in front of the parents if more than one student gets the same points. Parents will also get to see the slips being used for the draw. A video of the process will be recorded and the footage has to be preserved for at least three months

HOW CAN A PARENT SEEK REDRESSAL OF A GRIEVANCE?
Parents will get five days after the announcement of the first list during which they can approach the school authorities with queries. Parents can also complain to the DoE’s monitoring cell or register their complaints on Directorate of Education’s website

The 1,695 private recognised schools were asked to upload their criteria and the points to be assigned to each to the directorate of education’s portal by Tuesday, failing which their admission process would be “kept in abeyance.” Parents would then be able to view these online and also the school’s websites to see if their children qualify, and have until January 17 to submit their application forms at the school.

As of 7pm on Tuesday, the admission criteria for 993 private schools were available for on the directorate of education’s website. Most schools have assigned the maximum number of points (up to 90) to how far an applicant resides from the school.

The first list of selected students with points allotted to them will be displayed by February 15. Queries raised by parents will be resolved between February 16-20, and a second list will be displayed by February 28. Subsequent lists will be released, if seats remain, before the admission process closes on March 31.