Nursery: More seats is not a viable option, say schools

Representatives of city schools met officials of the directorate of education on Wednesday to discuss possible solutions to the standoff in the nursery admission process and said that increasing seats was not a viable option.

Representatives of city schools met officials of the directorate of education on Wednesday to discuss possible solutions to the standoff in the nursery admission process and said that increasing seats was not a viable option.

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The Supreme Court, on Monday, had asked the DOE to talk to schools regarding a one-time increase of 5 to 6 seats in schools to accommodate transfer points’ parents.

The interstate transfer category was cancelled by the DOE after it found that some parents had forged transfer documents to get an edge over others. The DOE had initially allotted 5 points to children of those parents who were transferred to the city. In some schools, more than half of those selected in lotteries were from the transfer points’ category.

According to schools, the increase in seats was not a practical solution as schools would then have to increase the number of seats in the EWS and the girl child category too to maintain the mandated 25% and 5% reservation. Schools also stated that the last minute increase could set a precedent that could cloud future admission processes.

“It was a very productive and positive meeting. We have communicated to the directorate of education our reservations against increasing the number of seats. Apart from the issue of creating an imbalance in the EWS category and the girl child category reservations, it will set a precedent that can be quoted later and snowball into a bigger problem. We are satisfied with the discussion that took place today,” said Ameeta Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road.

The DOE is expected to communicate the schools’ views to the court on Friday.