Govt issues new nursery admission guidelines for the poor
The Delhi Government on Saturday came out with detailed guidelines for nursery admission of children belonging to economically weaker section (EWS) to private schools in the national Capital for the academic year 2015-16. As per the guidelines, all the schools will have to reserve at least 25 per cent of the total seats for the EWS category children. On the neighbourhood criteria, admission shall first be offered to eligible students belonging to EWS or DG group residing within one km of the specific school, said the circular issued on December 26.
“In case the vacancies remain unfilled, students residing within 3 km of the school shall be admitted. If there are still vacancies, then the admission shall be offered to other students residing within 6 km of the institution. Students residing beyond 6 km shall be admitted only in case vacancies remain unfilled even after considering all the students within six km area. However, schools will accept forms from all applicants under EWS or DG group irrespective of distance of residence from school,” said the guidelines.
“The Directorate of Education has devised a common registration form for admission under EWS and DG category and the same is uploaded on the official website of DoE —www.edudel.nic.in — for the benefit of schools as well as applicants. All the schools are directed to use the said format only by downloading the said form or using a printed version of the application form,” the circular stated.
The DoE will send observers for draw of lots of EWS and DG category only like previous years.
The directive has been issued on the basis of the Right To Eduction (RTE) Act, 2009 and in the manner as prescribed in the Directorate’s Notification dated January 7, 2011. Also, any person residing in Delhi and having a residence proof and requisite income certificate is eligible for applying in private unaided recognised schools for admission of their ward under EWS category.
The condition of minimum residency period of three years in Delhi for applying to admission under EWS and DG category has been waived. Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes not falling in the creamy layer, child with special needs and suffering from the disabilities as defined in the Persons With Disabilities Act, 1996, orphans and transgenders shall be considered as DG category as defined in RTE Act-2009.
After completion of admission process, schools will send information about the number of filled and vacant seats to the Chairman of the District Admission Monitoring Committee. The District Admission Monitoring Committee has been empowered to fill such vacancies and can take steps as per the directions contained in sub-clause (d) of this Directorate’s notification dated January 7, 2011 and Rule 13 of Delhi Right to Education Rules, 2011.
Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com, an online forum of more than 42,000 parents in Delhi, however, said that the guidelines will not offer much of relief to parents. “There is nothing new in these guidelines. Parents were expecting that schedule for draw of lots would be mentioned in the circular, which is not there in these guidelines. “Infact, the parents will now suffer in the tussle between the schools and DoE as the draw of lots cannot take place without an observer provided by DoE and DoE will try to delay the procedure till the next High Court hearing on January 15, Vohra said. However, the only relief for parents, Vohra said is that they can download the common admission form from the DoE website which most of the schools were refusing to give.