While the Arvind Kejriwal Government is busy making guidelines for schools to follow which in turn are working on setting the criteria, the process is ultimately taking a toll on the psyche of parents. The talk of nursery admissions is giving sleepless nights to parents.
Deepanjali Chandel, a resident of Malviya Nagar, who has “no idea” about which school fall in nearby category to her residence, said, “I want to get my child admitted into nursery class but when it comes to select the school, I am totally blank.”
For Kanwaljeet Kaur Chawla of Adarsh Nagar, her daughter’s nursery admission became a nightmare when she spent her maximum time in gathering information about the school.
Another parent Kanwaljeet Kaur Chawla from Adarsh Nagar said, “There is no transparency on the school website. Only confusion prevails there. I spend most of my time in gathering information about the admission. My daughter is turning three in March so I want to get her admission this year. But there is no clarity in the admission process.
There are no counselling cells for parents where the queries could be raised. All that is available is information on Directorate of School Education (DOE) and school websites. Most of the parents complain that schools do not put up complete information online. However, the Government has directed the schools this year to make information available online on schools website along with the DOE website.
RC Jain, a school principal and chairperson of Delhi State Public School Management Association, is of the opinion that the guideline for schools to make everything online is not as easy as it sounds.
“This time the Government has taken authority of EWS admissions but it will make them realise how difficult it becomes for schools to manage. Besides, parents will fill forms manually as online is not easy for everyone,” Jain said.
In the past, cases like schools doing back door entries through donations have unfolded and this is also one of the major concerns for the parents. Anil Sharma from South Delhi says besides giving guidelines, the Government should also keep an eye on the schools during nursery admissions.
He said besides pre-admission counselling, the Government must open harassment and grievance cells where parents can approach for help.
Meanwhile, Ashok Pandey, Chairman of National Progressive School Conference suggested that parents should apply to as many schools as possible and schools should maintain transparency with a wholly parent-friendly procedure.
“Most of the confusion is not confusion but it is anxiety because the number of seats are less and number of applicants is increasing every year. Every school will follow the guidelines…my simple suggestion is that parents should apply as many schools as possible and schools should also maintain the transparency and the whole procedure should be parent friendly and no parent should be harassed,” stressed Pandey.