Schools flouting admission norms

Admission of your young one to a school of your choice was never easy. But this year, it is truly a nightmare, reports Nivedita Khandekar.

Admission of your young one to a school of your choice was never easy. But this year, it is truly a nightmare.

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Despite clear guidelines on admissions to pre-school (previously called nursery) from the Supreme Court, many schools are openly flouting the strictures — selling forms at exorbitant amounts, interacting with children directly, asking for income proof from parents, being ambiguous about the weightage point system… the list is endless.

One strict guideline is that no child should be called for any kind of interview by the teacher or the principal for admission to pre-school. But some schools are disregarding this blatantly. Says Vipul Sharma (name changed), a businessman, “My three-year-old child was shown a muskmelon and told to identify it. Is a three-year-old supposed to know such things?”

Amiown in Pushp Vihar (near Saket) is calling children for “interaction.” When contacted, Savita Mehta, spokesperson for the Amity group (which runs Amiown), admitted calling children for interviews, but denied that it is for the pre-school. “When our registration slip mentions ‘pre-school’, we actually are calling children for the pre-nursery group, which is a year less than the nursery,” she said, adding that the interaction is very “casual and informal.”

The court had also ruled that forms and prospectus are to be sold at nominal rates. But some schools are selling the same for as high as Rs 650-850. And to top it, many schools are not giving any receipt for this. Also, a prominent school in East of Kailash has asked parents to submit income proof from parents.