The Delhi Government on Wednesday decided to scrap nursery admissions in private schools through management quota and all other quotas. However, the existing provision of 25 per cent seats earmarked for students of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) would continue.
Calling management quota the “biggest scandal” in the Indian education system Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked schools to remove 62 “unfair” and “discriminatory” criteria from their selection process to ensure transparency in admissions.
Making the announcement, Kejriwal warned schools that if they violate the Government’s order, the schools could be taken over by the Directorate of Education.
“Some private unaided recognised schools are reserving seats under management quota as well as under different categories like sibling, alumni etc. Some schools have actually reserved 75 per cent seats, leaving only 25 per cent open. We have issued an order today that apart from 25 per cent reservation for the EWS category, there can be no other quota in private schools,” Kejriwal said.
“As per the High Court’s order, admissions in private schools cannot be micromanaged and they should have autonomy to fix criteria for admission as long as they are reasonable, fair and transparent. Following those directions, we allowed private schools to fix their own admission process and upload the set criteria on the education department’s website to ensure transparency,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal added that on analysing the criteria, the Government was shocked to find that schools listed inane points like consumption of alcohol by parents, their smoking and food habits, proficiency in painting and music etc.
“These points seem arbitrary and discriminatory to the children. So we are issuing an order that 62 such criteria that are not fair, reasonable, transparent and are against the principle of Article 14 of the Constitution (Right to Equality), should be scrapped,” Kejriwal said.
The Government’s order further said the list of 62 criteria is “indicative not exhaustive”. “Therefore, the Private Unaided Recognised Schools are directed to remove all the criteria and points which are not clear, just, well-defined and discriminatory,” it said.
Schools adopted a cautious approach while reacting to the decision. While most reputed private schools refused to comment saying they were yet to receive the official order, school associations which had moved court in 2014 after lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung had notified the scrapping of quota system, claimed the matter was still pending and hence the announcement amounts to “contempt of court”.
Responding to the notification, lV Sehgal, Principal, Bal Bharti Public School said schools would keep criteria that is legally permitted.
“The Government had asked us to upload our criteria on the Directorate of Education’s website and that has been done. If they find that any school is not being transparent, it should be questioned. However, we will go ahead with the criteria as permitted legally,” Sehgal told The Pioneer.
Claiming that his school has kept a maximum of 40 points for distance, he added that management quota was there in the school which, however, did not fetch points for the aspirants. “Besides distance, we have kept 20 points for siblings, 20 for first born and 10 for alumni,” he said.
On December 8, the Directorate of Education had asked all private schools to develop and adopt criteria for nursery-level admissions for the 75 per cent open seats for the 2016-17 session “which should be clear, well-defined, equitable, non-discriminatory, unambiguous and transparent”.