In a major relief to scores of parents seeking admission to their wards in nursery, the lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday enhanced the outer limit of 6 km kept for the neighbourhood criteria to 8 km.
The development comes following several complaints from the private schools and some parents against the nursery admission guidelines.
“Some parents had raised concerns on narrowly missing the criteria because they had identified a specific school. Hence, the distance kept for the neighbourhood criteria of admissions has been increased to 8 km,” said a statement from the DoE, adding that any further increase “would vitiate the concept of neighbourhools and increase the travel time for small children.”
This change has brought a relief to schools that had raised objection over the earlier order of six kilometer distance saying that there were no residential areas around them which made it difficult to follow the criteria accurately.
“It’s a fantastic amendment and is encouraging for schools. The 6 km distance was not valid for us because our school is further distant from residential areas. It is good for parents as well who had to strike down the schools they had chosen because they could not fit in the earlier prescribed distance,” said Ritu Pathak, Principal, GD Goenka School, Rohini.
This change has certainly made parents happy campers as they feel this has broadened their arena and can help in getting admission in desired schools which they were narrowly missing. “It’s a great amendment. We are glad to know that the distance has increased. There were certain schools we were missing out on by a mere 1 km. Now we can apply there,” said Priyanka, a parent and resident of Malviya Nagar.