Nursery admissions to begin on December 27, check criteria here

The application process will end on January 17, and the first list will be uploaded on February 15 (Express)

Nursery admission to the 1,700 schools in the city for 75 per cent of the seats will begin on December 27, the Directorate of Education (DoE) announced on Tuesday. For the remaining 25 per cent seats, reserved for students belonging to the economically weaker section/ disadvantaged (EWS/DG) category, the admission will be conducted centrally by the government. The schools will have to upload the criteria and points by December 26, while application forms will be made available a day later. No deviation from this schedule will be allowed.

The nursery admissions take place through a point system — schools upload criteria against which points are allotted to each child, with a maximum of 100 points. The schools have the freedom to select the criteria and allot points for admission. However, they cannot use certain “discriminatory criteria”, which the government had listed in January 2016, and was subsequently upheld by the Delhi High Court. These criteria include ‘first born’, ‘special ground’ (parents with proficiency), ‘status of child’, among others.

The 20 per cent management quota, points for sibling enrolled in the same school, neighbourhood and school specific criteria remain. Most schools allot maximum points to the neighbourhood criteria — children residing within the 0-3 km radius. The application process will end on January 17, and the first list will be uploaded on February 15. The schedule and rule applies to all private schools in the city, including the ones built on government land.

Last year, for the over 300 schools built on government land, the government had issued separate criteria — making neighbourhood the sole criteria for admission. The schools moved court against the move, and the matter is currently sub judice. This year, the admission process is expected to end by March 31, 2018.