Admission stalemate continues, stay on lotteries extended

Parents’ woes seem unending as the High Court has extended the stay on nursery admissions till Friday when it will hear pleas against the admission guidelines.

The court rejected the data provided by Directorate of Education (DoE) giving details pertaining to nursery admission in the unaided recognised private schools.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul asked the DoE to file the data afresh containing number of seats and other aspects related to the nursery admission.

The court was not convinced with the city government’s reply that nursery admission guidelines have been framed after proper deliberations, taking into account all relevant issues including the neighbourhood scheme.

“What about the larger issue? What about the right to education? The issue is simply of demand and supply. Seats are few and the demand is more. What are you doing to deal with it?” it said. “In every academic year, courts are flooded with such petitions,” said the bench.

According to the guidelines, out of 100, 70 points are given kids who live within a radius of 8 km radius from a school. Twenty points to a child whose sibling is studying in the same school and five points are earmarked for the kids whose parents were alumni.

The Delhi government has recently done away with five points which were being awarded to kids under inter-state transfer category. The court is hearing several petitions and appeals filed by parents against various aspects of nursery admission. 

One of the appeals seek scrapping of five and 20 points being awarded to kids falling under alumni and sibling categories, saying the kids, having only 70 neighbourhood points, are left with no hope or scope of getting admission. 

Another appeal has been filed by some parents against the March 6 single judge bench order by which the government was asked to conduct a fresh draw of lots among similarly placed kids who have secured 70 points on the basis of neighbourhood criteria. 

The petition alleged that kids, who have already declared selected for nursery admission after the draw of lots, will have to undergo the same process again in accordance with the order.

The present dispute started after the Lieutenant Governor had issued an order on February 27 abolishing 5 points  being awarded to inter-state transfer cases. The single judge found fault with the order and had directed that candidates having equal marks be considered equally by conducting a fresh lotteries.