Nursery admission norms leave many fuming

This year, schools have come with a variety of criteria for the nursery admissions. Some are giving points to vegetarian parents or to students having parents and grandparents as alumni while others are preferring those whose parents are from the defence and medicine backgrounds.

At DAV Public School Vasant Kunj, 10 out of the total 100 points are being allotted to students whose parents are from the forces while at Moder n School Vasant Vihar, an additional five points will be allotted to children of serving officers in the defence services.

Similarly, at GD Goenka Public School Rohini Sector 9, students whose parents are from the defence sector, doctors and college professors and teachers will get five points.

Schools such as Mahavir Senior Model School (MSMS) and Vardhman Siksha Mandir, both Jain minority schools, will allot five points each for parents who are vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers. Director of MSMS, S L Jain, said that the school runs on a philosophy that encourages certain lifestyle habits as they are good. “Smoking and drinking alcohol is bad for heath. We ask parents to give us in writing that they have these qualities,” Jain said.

While parents and experts say these are arbitrary criteria, the directorate of education says the schools are free to fix their own guidelines as per a high court order. “The high court has allowed schools to have their own criteria,” said Padmini Singla, director.

At Modern School Vasant Vihar, additional 20 points for alumni and 25 points for double or two generation alumni and 30 points for three or more generation alumni are being given. Similarly at Happy School, Daryaganj 25 points are being given to students who have parents or grandparents as alumni of the school.

“The autonomy being given to schools is being grossly misused by them. Some schools are giving points based on what parents are doing. The rule of dynasty is being used by some schools by giving points not just for parents but also for grandparents if they are alumni of the school,” said Sumit Vohra, who runs an online portal on nursery admissions.

Many parents said that while having such criteria may benefit a few parents, it will be a disadvantage for many of them. “May be some parents will benefit out of it but this will put majority of parents at disadvantage,” said Tabbasum, who will be seeking admission for her three-year-old son.

Read more: No waiting for govt, Delhi schools make own nursery norms