Nursery: Schools go tech-savvy to select EWS kids

Nursery admissions for children belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category has now become more tech-savvy. Schools have started using Google Maps to track neighbourhood localities, which fall under the EWS bracket.

Nursery admissions for children belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category has now become more tech-savvy. Schools have started using Google Maps to track neighbourhood localities, which fall under the EWS bracket.

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After the Delhi high court laid down strict guidelines for schools regarding EWS admissions — which stated that families living within one kilometre radius of the school would get first preference — schools are now trying to leave minimum room for error in listing areas that fall under the category.

“As per the high court order, the EWS category was supposed to give primary consideration to the families within one kilometre of the school. However, the forms that had been issued by the government did not have any provision for declaration of distance. So, we have to scrutinise the residential addresses to know whether or not they lie within one kilometre of the school,” said Ashok Pandey, principal, Ahlcon International School.

This attempt is largely aimed at increasing transparency in the admission process, so that no parent living within one kilometre of the school misses out on an opportunity to seek admission for their child.

“To make the system foolproof, we are using Google Maps to verify whether these areas are accurate or not,” added Pandey.

However, discrepancies in the system could not be entirely ruled out.

“While it is a very good system to verify the areas, there are some very small localities which may get left out from Google Maps. In case of larger localities which could have blocks or sectors within them, this system could prove useful to ensure that there is little room for error,” said Sumit Vohra, founder, www.admissionsnursery.com