Nursery admission fees to burn hole in parents' pockets

After successfully clearing the rigorous process of securing the elusive nursery seat for their tiny tots, parents in the Capital are gearing up for the last but big hurdle -- fees that range between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1.25 lakh in almost all sought-after schools.

Some schools are even demanding three to four lakh rupees to ensure a child's admission under their “manipulative” management quota, parents and experts allege.
“We have lost all hope of our son’s admission as the schools where he was shortlisted have asked us more than Rs 1 lakh to secure our child's name in the final list,” said Arti Sharma, a south Delhi resident.

“I have applied to more than 10 schools, but none of them have selected my child. And the school where he was shortlisted, is asking so much money which I cannot afford. His chances of getting admission this year look very slim,” Sharma said.

Ranjit Arora, a resident of Pitampura who had applied to more than 20 schools, also has a similar story. “A few good schools offered my child a nursery seat but for a hefty amount,” Arora said.

Regular feature

Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com, said such complaints are a regular feature on his forum. “A minute look at our website could show you hundreds of such donation-related complaints posted by distraught parents this year,” Vohra said.

“It seems as if some schools have converted their general seats into paid seats under the highly-manipulative management quota which is a very disturbing phenomenon,” he said.

Unhappy with the Directorate of Education (DoE) for not taking adequate steps to prevent such “corruption”, parents are now venting their anger on the online forum.

Parents have alleged how some schools have turned nursery admission into a money-minting business. Educationists also pointed out those fees in top schools are going to leave a big hole in the pockets of parents.

According to the fees structure available on the websites of some schools, one has to pay Rs 95,220 towards tuition fees for a year, Rs 14,283 as development charges and Rs 14283 as annual charges, besides other minor charges.

Disturbing trends

According to experts, the nursery season also saw two disturbing trends such as advance booking and the policy of first-come-first-serve.  Ishwar Natrajan, a resident of Anand Vihar, says he is a victim of the first-come-first-serve policy that spoilt his daughter’s chances of getting admission in a neighbourhood school.

“My daughter’s name appeared in the list of selected candidates in the school, but when I went to the school, they told me the admissions are over and they had adopted a first-come-first-serve policy,” he said.