A drag-out fight to get into pre-K as nursery admissions are delayed yet again
Just after Government officials confirmed the release of nursery admission guidelines, a roadblock has already come in the way thus, pushing the start of admissions in the Capital yet again. The Delhi High Court has asked lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to hold the announcement of guidelines until the court takes a call on a pending case over the previous guidelines. This means that the guidelines which were supposed to be out this week may not be out until mid-November and may undergo massive changes.
last year, a case was filed by the action committee regarding the guidelines for nursery that were laid out by Jung. Thus, the same case has been pending ever since and had its last hearing on Monday. Since the judgement in the matter is yet to be given, the Delhi High Court asked Jung to delay the release of its guidelines as the judgement may affect guidelines.
According to lawyer Kamal Gupta, the matter is reserved for judgement and it could take around 10-15 days before the verdict is out. “Until then, Jung has been asked to put a stay on the fresh guidelines. The hearings for the case are now over and only the judgement is left to be delivered. Based on what the court says, the guidelines will be issued. One cannot anticipate right now how long it will take,” said Gupta.
On Sunday, sources in the Directorate of Education (DoE) had confirmed that the guidelines are likely to be out this week. To ensure that happens, Director Padmini Singla along with Additional Director Madhu Teotia had gone for a meeting with Jung on Monday. However, before the conclusion of the meeting, the Delhi High Court passed this order.
So far Wednesday has been set as the day for judgement by the High Court. However, with holidays on Tuesday and Thursday, if the judgement doesn’t come on Wednesday, there may be a delay in the judgement. Moreover, Gupta said that Wednesday will probably be for finishing the paperwork, not the judgement.
Additionally, the case regarding placing nursery admission under the Right to Education Act has its hearing on November 14 as well. According to Sumit Vohra, founder of the popular portal admissionsnursery.com, if the guidelines don’t come before November 14, even this case can act as a barrier and delay admissions until December. “However, there is no confirmation on that. Parents are worried about what will happen this year. Nursery admissions are an agony for them,” said Vohra.