Govt employees' kids get ahead in admission queue

Schools refuse to accept forms from private sector staff

Some schools are giving preference to children of government employees in nursery admissions this year and are refusing to accept forms from applicants working in the private sector, alleged some parents.

St Thomas School on Mandir Marg has specifically mentioned that only government employees can avail the nine points given under transfer category. Even The Pinnacle School at Panchsheel Enclave has mentioned that government employees will be given preference.

V K International School and St Xaviers Schools in Vikaspuri have kept aside transfer points for school employees only.

This is in violation to nursery admission guidelines given by the directorate of education as setting aside points for specific categories for government employees and school employees is not permitted.

“This is discrimination. If the government does not take action against the erring schools, it will be a big issue as several deserving children will not be able to get admission,” said Sumit Vohra, founder of nurseryadmissions.com, a portal for parents.

Also, several schools like Aadharshila Vatika in Gujranwala Town and Lancer Public school have also said they will give admission on first-come-first-serve basis which is not permitted under DoE’s guidelines.

“No point system or selection criterion is mentioned by the schools. When we insisted to get some clarity they gave none and told us to ‘have faith’ in the system and said they will scrutinise the forms and call parents individually to let them know if they are selected,” posted a parent on nurseryadmissions.com.

Meanwhile, the DoE has started a helpline on January 10 for parents applying and will continue it till the last day of sale of nursery forms on January 15.

The help desk is operational between 10 am to 2 pm, and is run by an education officer or a deputy education officer along with two to four teachers at each zonal office.
But some parents said the helpline is not helpful as most of the times the calls are not picked.