Uncertainty still clouds parents with regard to nursery admissions in the national Capital as the Supreme Court hasn’t yet issued an order for the next date of hearing of the petition filed by parents asking for inter-State transfers (IST). With the SC’s stay on admissions, as per the order on April 11, the High Court’s hearing, dated April 16, hangs on a string.
Parents are now in a haze as to whether a decision will be made this month or not. According to the SC order passed by a two-member bench of Justice Hl Dattu and Justice SA Bobde, permission to file Special leave Petition (SlP) is granted. Thus, while the petitioners are already filing an SlP for IST, many parents are contemplating going to court to file a SlP asking for the complete withdrawal of IST.
Rikky Khorana, a parent from West Delhi, said that a lot of parents including him have created a group on Facebook and WhatsApp where they are consensually taking a decision on what to do. “The Supreme Court order is very vague and leaves us hanging midair. We haven’t decided anything yet, but based on how things are shaping up, we might go to court. We are in talks with the lawyer and we may also file a PIl saying that this chaos is affecting the future of our children. However, we are a whole lot of parents who are trying to work in sync so that we don’t add to the mess and instead try and solve it,” he added.
Some feel that getting relief from the SC with regard to IST will be a challenge. “As the petitioner will file an SlP now, it will take time. Therefore, it seems that the term will start in July only. Now it is up to the selected 70 pointers or alumni/sibling parents to approach the SC for relief which, as per my experience in SC, will not come easily as the High Court has seriously erred in allowing piecemeal admission without deciding on the IST issue,” said a member of an online forum Sachhin Sapra.
However, another parent Richa Nidhi showed her angst against parents who were not putting an ending to the chapter. “The confusion seems everlasting. Whatever the court’s decision is, either way kids will suffer. Till now it’s just a stay but the IST issue can go further if parents continue to file SlPs. There is no stopping them and all we can do is just discuss and end up with no solution,” she said.
While prior concern of most parents is the delay in session, some parents are miffed with school managements charging them fees in the interim. Sumit Vohra, founder, admissionsnursery.com, said, “Parents are not at all clear on what the state of affairs is right now. Schools have officially stated that they will not begin classes any time soon and if not now it is being deduced that the term will begin in July. In such cases, parents are a little cut up about the fact that they are being charged the fees for the first quarter which their child has not attended.