Nursery admission at 298 schools on government land begins

These schools will accept applications till January 31. For the other 1,400 schools, the application process ends on January 23.

The nursery admission process at the 298 schools built on government land will begin from Tuesday, the Directorate of Education (DOE) announced. The government has also extended the deadline for application submission.

The new policy was approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and announced by the government on Saturday. (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)

These schools can accept applications till January 31. For the other 1,400 schools, the application process ends on January 23.

The new policy was approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and announced by the government on Saturday. According to the policy, these schools, which are built on Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land, can admit students only using the neighbourhood/distance criteria, and siblings will be given priority.

Read: Distance, siblings rules get priority in Delhi nursery admissions

As the new rule comes into place, schools have lost on the 20% management quota. So according to a source, the representatives of the private schools will be meeting on Tuesday and they are likely to move court.

“How can there be two different rules for schools in one city. The government can’t undermine the Delhi School Education Rules 1973. We do not understand why the hurry,” said SK Bhattacharya, chairman of the action committee, an umbrella organisation of private schools.

As there was no clarity on when the application process would start, on Monday, parents thronged these schools in the morning, but were told to return and check the respective school’s website.

“I saw it in the papers that the policy for the school built on government land has been announced. I visited at least 10 schools. Some said they haven’t started the process, others said that we should keep tab on their website,” said Naina Gupta, an advocate from Rohini.

Another parent, Samir Jain, who lives in Mayur Vihar, said the situation was similar in his area. “As most big schools in my area were on government land I couldn’t apply anywhere,” said Jain.