Selection criteria, quota may mar prospects of most of students

The long process for the nursery admissions in around 1400 Delhi private schools started on Monday, the second day of the New Year, as most of the private schools launched the admission forms online.

The process of filling and submission of the admission forms by the parents interested in nursery admission can be done till January 23.

The schools will then select the students based on the admissions criteria set up by the Department of Education (DoE) and based on the quotas reserved by certain schools.

Most of the private schools have set the eligibility for the nursery admissions of the students born between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013.

Even as there are around more than 1,000 private schools, experts cited the possibility of most of the parents not getting the preferred school of their choice.

Besides shortage of seats, most of the students will be missing out on the selection criteria and the prevailing management quota.

The 285 schools, set up on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land will be issuing separate guidelines and will not be carrying their admission process for now.

Proximity of distance from the school is the topmost criteria for the students seeking the admission in the private schools. The schools have set 40 points for this criteria. Besides this, having a girl child and having an alumni from the school have also been given top preferences for the admission criteria.

Twenty five per cent of the nursery seats have been reserved for the economically weaker section students.

The presence of management quota or certain reserved quota within the private quota also is one of the main factors which may mar the prospects of most of the students.

“There is no denying the fact that the guidelines devised will result in parents not getting the desired school for their kids. Since Delhi possesses quality private schools, there will always be a high demand. The supply can only meet the demand if the guidelines devised can aid in the growth of the private schools, “said TR Gupta, Patron, Delhi State Public School Management Association.

However, Gupta defended the management quota saying that there is nothing wrong having some reserved categories, if done with transparency.

“Rather than criticising the private schools, guidelines will have to be made flexible so that most of the students do not miss out on quality education,” said Prachi Grover, Chairperson Vidya Bharti School.