Najeeb Jung, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, announced changes to nursery school admission rules for the 2014-2015 school year. These new regulations have caused controversy to arise in Delhi, India among both parents and schools.
According to these new regulations, 65% of seats in nursery schools will be open to general admission, 25% will be held for economically disadvantaged students, 5% for children of staff, and 5% for girls if the school is co-educational.
The greatest conflict comes from imposing a distance criteria upon admissions, giving priority and preference to children living within 6 kilometers of schools. During the admission process, child applicants are chosen based upon the number of points they score out of 100. New admission guidelines declare that children will now receive a staggering 70 points just for living in the same neighborhood as the school to which they apply.
Parents and schools have criticized this decision and the potential implications it has for access to schooling. For instance, schools that currently have students living beyond the distance criteria will not be able to admit their siblings in subsequent years. This restriction also limits opportunities for children living in neighborhoods with few schools and limited seats open to admissions.
“The order prescribes that neighbourhood…be measured only up to 6 km, this is ludicrous in a city like Delhi. There are about 10 schools located within the area of our school and in some areas there are no schools at all…Where are children who have no schools in the neighbourhood supposed to go?” asked to Ameeta Mulla Wattal, the executive chairman for the National Progressive School Conference and the principal of Springdales School.
Najeeb Jung responded to this and other criticisms by holding a meeting with school authorities in Delhi. Following discussions of the admission guidelines, Najeeb Jung altered the distance criteria and extended it from 6 km to 8 km so that children and their parents will have more choices of schools. Another point of contention was the 5% quota for girls. Critics argue that this will limit the number of girls admitted to schools, while the Lieutenant Governor argues that it will ensure more equal treatment and refused to alter this criteria.
Private schools continue to be dissatisfied with the new admission criteria, especially with the loss of their discretionary 20% management quota. Private school associations have protested this and other changes as extreme, demanding they be given the opportunity to provide input into the decision-making process. They argue that the new rules deny them autonomy which is their right as private schools receiving no government aid.
The president of the Action Committee for Unaided Recognized Private Schools, S.K. Bhattacharya declared “if we don’t get any relief, there will be no course left to us but to approach the high court for a stay order.”
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Written by Amanda Lubit