DoE's apathy irks parents, shatters hope in system

Govts warning of punitive action falls on deaf ears, schools flout rules

Parents who had applied for nursery admissions this year are angry with the Directorate of Education for not taking any action against erring schools in Delhi. 

“Violation of norms seem to be common in the ongoing nursery admissions as schools are openly flouting guidelines laid down by DoE despite the government’s warning of punitive action against erring schools. We have not seen a single reaction by the DoE yet. Parents are being forced to give donations to secure their child’s future,” said Pankaj Jain, a parent who applied in 20 schools this year. 

He added that schools are still refusing to cooperate by not being transparent about their admission procedures.

Many said the DoE is not rectifying the issue due to lack of will but they would not lose hope. “What are we supposed to do when the authorities are not cooperating? I know several people who have filed complaints but nothing has been done. I am waiting for the second list and if a good number of parents are on the same platform, we will protest outside DoE’s office. We should not give up yet,” said Manu Dhawan, a  parent from Model town. 

However, Sumit Vohra, who runs www. admissionsnursery.com, a portal exclusively for parents, said: “I had protested last year in front of DoE’s office but no action was taken against any school. Parents are now fed up with the system’s attitude towards their issues. Even after sting operations and several news articles highlighting the failure of the system, the DoE is not doing anything. My question is why?”    

Some parents believe their children will not learn anything better from such schools. 

Violating laws

“Why would we want our children to go to schools such as Delhi Public School, Ahlcon Public School or Springdales even after knowing that they are violating laws. How can these school help our children become responsible citizens when they are not being responsible,” said Pankaj Pandey, a parent from Mayur Vihar.

However, the DoE had taken action against two erring schools on Friday who were trying to conduct draw of lots for economically weaker sections category without waiting for DoE’s new directive on distance criteria.

DoE finally takes action against two erring schools

The Directorate of Education pulled up authorities at Ryan International School and G D Goenka School in Rohini, north-west Delhi, asking them to stop the draw of lots for nursery admissions under the economically weaker section category, on Friday. 

The DoE is supposed to issue a new directive on EWS category admissions based on the order given by the Supreme Court on distance criteria. However, the school authorities did not wait for the directive and called a handful of parents for the draw based on their own criteria on Friday.

“Many of us, who got a call, informed other parents about the school’s announcement which led to a situation where more than 150 parents turned up for the draw. We did not know that the school had called only some of us,” said a parent who got a call from G D Goenka school in Rohini sector 9.

This led to fights among parents and the school authorities for not being transparent about the admission procedure. The DoE was informed about the situation and the deputy directors, who were supposed to be part of the draw, ordered these schools to cancel the draw for violating rules.

To avoid controversies Ryan International School sent the parents away saying the High Court had issued a new notice for draw of lots. “They said the draw has been postponed because of a new order when the High Court has not issued any order on Friday but had passed one on January 31. They are misleading parents,” said Khagesh Jha, a Delhi-based advocate.