Nursery admission: Slim chance for ‘general’ kids

Children aged over four years and those who don`t enjoy any special quota have a bleak chance of getting admission in Delhi schools this year.

New Delhi: Children aged over four years and
those who don`t enjoy any special quota seem to have a bleak
chance of getting admission this year, as many Delhi schools
are not taking fresh batches for KG and offering only 35 per
cent or less seats to kids under general category for nursery.

Barring a few, most of the schools in the city have not
opened admissions in KG this year citing zero vacancy, cutting
down the scope of admission for those who missed or failed to
secure a seat last year.

Another hazard that parents are facing this time is the
less number of seats available under general category. As
almost all top schools are giving weightage to children in
sibling and alumni categories and have kept aside a major junk
of their seats for EWS, management and disabled child quota,
the chances of those who don`t suit to these criteria are very
slim, parents have complained.

Arti Jain, who in 2011 had applied in 21 schools for her
son`s nursery admission but failed to secure a seat in any of
those school, says she is not very hopeful of securing her
child`s admission this year too.

"My son is four years old now and fit for admission in KG
this year. But after screening admission notice of schools, I
got very much disappointed. None of schools in our vicinity is
accepting children for KG. If I try for nursery, my son would
lose a year," Jain told PTI.

"And as my child doesn`t fall under any special category,
I am really hopeless this year too."
In 2007, the Ganguly Committee had recommended that KG
should be the entry level for a child aged four years before
he or she begins formal schooling (Class I). But schools are
treating nursery as the entry level.

"This is a very peculiar situation which needs to be
addressed carefully," said Ashok Ganguly, the former CBSE
chairmen, who headed that very committee.

"Giving priority to children under the heads like sibling
or alumni is not wrong. But the weightage schools are giving
to those categories now is something that needs to be looked
into," he pointed out.

PTI

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