Nursery admissions likely to begin by mid-December

The guidelines for nursery admissions may come out by the end of November and the admission process may start by mid-December. Mallica Joshi reports.

The guidelines for nursery admissions may come out by the end of November and the admission process may start by mid-December. The Directorate of Education (DoE) is planning to give parents and schools more time to complete the nursery admission process to reduce stress levels.

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"We are trying to bring out the guidelines by the end of November. The process should start by December 15. We don't want to fit a lot of activities in a short period of time and hence the plan," said Amit Singla, director, DoE.

Last year, the admission guidelines were declared in mid-December and the sale of forms started in January. The schedule gave schools little time to plan other activities, such as printing prospectus, deciding points system and completing other administrative formalities before the sale of forms began.

The guidelines, meanwhile, are expected to be more or less the same as last year.

"Broadly, the guidelines and the rules will remain the same. We are looking at a few tweaks here and there to give parents and schools more time to complete the admission process. A situation where parents are forced to run to different schools on the same day should not arise," Singla added.

Last year, schools were granted a free hand to decide their own points system under the ambit of the Right to Education Act (RTE). All schools will have to reserve 25 per cent of their seats for students from the Economically Weaker Section.

To limit ambiguity only 20 per cent of the remaining 75 per cent seats were allowed to be reserved for the school's management quota. Interviewing or interacting with students or parents was also a big no as per RTE guidelines.

Nursery admissions in Delhi are a highly competitive affair with some parents saying it is tougher to get admission in a school of your choice in Delhi than it is to get admission in IITs or IIMs.