Nursery admissions in Delhi's 1,700 private schools begin today

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NEW DELHI: The nursery admission process in nearly 1,700 private schools in Delhi has begun on Wednesday. The last date of submission of the application forms is January 17 while the process will end on March 31, 2018.

The admission process will be conducted to fill 75 percent of the total seats available in the city, the remaining 25 per cent will be reserved for those belonging to the economically weaker section/disadvantaged (EWS/DG) category. Admission to these seats will be conducted by the Delhi government centrally. The application forms will be made available on the websites of these schools from Wednesday.

The Directorate of Education (DoE), in a circular issued on last Tuesday, had given autonomy to private schools to decide their own criteria for entry level classes and directed them to upload the same on their websites by Tuesday. It, however, had reminded them not to include any of 62 criteria, including status of child, parents' education and non-smoker parents among others, that the Delhi High Court had declared "unfair, unreasonable and un-transparent", last year.

Despite the DoE delaying the implementation of upper-age limit in the entry level admissions to the session 2019-20, several schools, including Frank Anthony Public School in Lajpat Nagar Cambridge Foundation in Rajouri Garden, have included the age bar in their criteria, sending parents into a tizzy.

"We are still confused if the upper-age limit of four years is applicable this year or not. I tried to file a complaint on the DoE grievance portal but it's not working properly," said Nimita Shah, a parent.

Every year, nearly four times of children apply than the available number of seats which are around 1.25 lakh across the city. The admission is conducted through a point system for which schools set their criteria. After a screening process, the schools issues lists of selected candidates.

The last date to submit application forms in schools is January 17 and the first list will be released on February 1.

The schedule and rules apply to all private schools in the city, including the 298 schools built on government land. Last year, the government had issued separate criteria for them making neighbourhood the sole criteria for admission. The schools moved court against the move, and the matter is currently sub judice.

Documents required:

Birth certificate issued by the municipal corporations   

Proof of address: Ration card issued in the name of parents and the child/Domicile certificate of the child or his/her parents/ Voter ID card of any one of the parents/ electricity bill or water bill or passport in the name of parents/ Aadhaar Card in the name of any parent  

Copy of fee bill of sibling; copy of report card (in case of sibling quota)  

For specially-abled students – details of disability from appropriate government authority/ Certificate from a clinical psychologist that the child is fit for mainstream schooling.

Important dates:

Dec 27 - Admission process begins; forms available in schools and on their websites

Jan 17 - Last date for submission of forms

Feb 1 - Uploading details of children who applied for general seats

Feb 8 - Uploading marks (as per point system) given to each child under general category

Feb 15 - Display of the first list of selected kids, including waiting list

Feb 16 - 20  Resolution of queries of parents, if any

Feb 28 - Display of the second list, including waiting list

March 1 - 7  Resolution of queries of parents

March 15 - Subsequent list of admission.

March 31  Admission closure

(With DNA inputs)