School-hopping parents to face odd-even bother

Problems likely while visiting schools for admission

Parents seeking admission for their kids in nursery are likely to face inconvenience with the Delhi government’s odd-even plan starting from January 1.

The distribution of registration forms in most schools in the capital is starting from January 1 and parents are a worried lot as to how they will manage going from one school to another without a personal vehicle.

According to the odd-even scheme, even numbered cars will be allowed to ply on even dates and odd-numbered ones will ply on odd dates from 8 am-8 pm till January 15.

“We will have to go to various schools to collect forms. There is no last-mile connectivity here and I was relying on my car,” said Himanshu Singh, a resident of Paschim Vihar.

Though he supported the government’s plan of curbing pollution, he said it could
have come into force after January 15, the last date of submission of forms in various schools.

Singh is planning to make use of commercial cab services like Ola and Uber during the days when he would not be able to ply his car.

Adding to the parents’ woes is the flouting of Directorate of Education (DoE) guidelines by many schools such as Mt St Mary’s School in Delhi Cantt by starting the issuance of forms from January 4.

“Some schools are going against DoE schedule and are starting the process from January 2 or 4 but as per the guidelines, the sale of forms should start from 1st,” said Sumit Vohra, founder of nurseryadmission.com, a portal for parent community.
He said submission of forms online is available only in few schools.

“Only few schools are completely online and parents need to visit the rest of the schools. Once the odd-even vehicle formula will be implemented, how will parents cover two or three schools? We are getting a lot of queries from the parents on the same,” he said.

“The government should bring a list of schools who are selling forms online or should direct all schools to do so. Both my husband and I are working and we are worried as to how we will purchase forms and still reach office on time,” said Ritu Singh, a parent.
Meanwhile, schools continue to flout nursery admission guidelines in the criteria brought out by them.

As per the DoE guidelines, the schools cannot give points to students on the parents’
profession or qualification/income.

“But some schools are doing indirect screening and flouting the guidelines by giving points to kids of defence personnel. Are parents working in other fields have contributed less to the country? Some schools are also taking interview and asking for parents’ income so that they can choose creamy layer who can fulfill schools financial demands,” Vohra said.

According to the criteria given on the website of Pragati Public School, 10 points are reserved for kids of defence personnel.