Unclear nursery list leaves many parents flummoxed

Schools had been instructed to give a criteria-wise break-up of the points allotted. Many are yet to declare the list for the EWS students though they have declared the general category list. Shaswati Das reports.

When a hopeful Devesh Misra (name changed) logged on to the website of a popular school in south Delhi to check the status of his daughter's nursery admission, he was taken aback. Her name did not figure on the list, leaving Misra clueless.

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"I thought my daughter's admission was certain as she satisfied most of the criteria. We don't know on what basis the schools drew up their list as they aren't disclosing the break-up of the total points. If they did, we would know why the child was rejected," said Misra.

Like Misra, many parents have been flummoxed about the selection process of the schools. “Many parents are confused about the allocation of points. Also, several schools have declared the general category list without conducting draw of lots for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students,” said Sumit Vohra of www.admissionsnursery.com.

Schools had been instructed to give a criteria-wise break-up of the points allotted. The education department said this had been done to bring greater transparency in the admission process. Many schools have, however, displayed only collective points. Also, many are yet to declare the list for the EWS students though they have declared the general category list.

The education department has now decided to crack down on such schools. “We have issued a circular on both accords stating that schools must also declare the points secured by each applicant for each criteria. They should focus equally on the general category and EWS lists. We have directed our officials to probe into the matter and issue notices to the erring schools,” said a government official.

Schools, however, responded strongly saying that everything had been done transparently. Circulars — they said — would insinuate schools wrongly.

“Such circulars only create more panic. We had submitted all the parameters to the education department,” said Ameeta Wattal, vice chairperson, National Progressive Schools' Conference.