Despite new guidelines, nursery admissions may be chaotic!

Updated on: Monday, December 20, 2010

Fresh guidelines may have put an end to the anxiety surrounding nursery admissions in the capital, but experts believe the process is going to be chaotic this year as everything has been left to schools to decide.

They also claim the guidelines issued recently by the Directorate of Education (DoE), Delhi, are “irrational, unjust and violative” of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and may lead to a situation that prevailed some five years ago when there was no regulation on the admission process.

As the guidelines have left everything to the schools to decide, there is much possibility that confusion and chaos will prevail, said former CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly, who had formulated the 100-point system for nursery admissions three years ago.

“The admission process has to be transparent, hassle-free and very objective also. There should have been a clearcut framework given to schools,” Ganguly told PTI.

“And, there should be certain aspect of uniformity. It should not be like that some schools have a different format, while others have some other type of format.

“There may have their own parameters, own criteria but there needs to be certain framework which should be uniform,” he said.

According to the guidelines, every school needs to keep aside 25 per cent of their seats for children belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS). The selection in this category has to be done through a lottery system.

While for the rest 75 per cent seats, open for children from the general category, schools can either adopt a lottery system or continue with the 100-point system, which is being followed for past three years.

This may include points for having one’s sibling in the same school, being the child of a single parent or the alumnus of the same school or transfer cases among others criteria.

But, experts feel this leverage given to schools could lead to manipulation and confusion. And the categorisation allowed for the 75 per cent of the seats is a clear violation of the RTE Act, they say.

“The RTE Act clearly says that you cannot differentiate between two children on any ground. By giving points on grounds like alumni, sibling or say transfer case, you are violating the law,” said Ashok Agarwal of NGO Social Jurist, which is planning to file a PIL against it on Monday.

“I believe that the guidelines are issued without the authority and sanctity of law. It is more or less an advisory note and not statutory guidelines. It has no binding on any one and has no legal consequences,” says Agarwal, who is also the president of All India Parents Association (AIPA).

Despite new guidelines, nursery admissions may be chaotic!

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