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Schools flout norms, start nursery rush

Indian Express, 13 November 09

For Poonam Rathore, the nightmare has just begun. Even though the Education Department’s announcement on October 28 that all schools across the Capital will have to follow a fixed schedule for nursery admissions starting from December 15 did bring relief, she soon found a few schools have already started registrations.

In clear violation of the Directorate of Education (DoE) order, many schools have set their own timetable for nursery admissions.

“When the Directorate gave the order, I relaxed a bit, but then my friends told me a few schools have started online registrations,” said Rathore. “I did not want to miss out.”

Bhatnagar International Foundation School, Vasant Kunj, starting its first nursery session, is one of them. The school website says the registration process is on. Parents are being asked to fill up information forms. They claim the school has started interaction with parents. Devender Khemani, who visited the school for his son’s admission, said, “I did fill up the information form, which was like a registration form. The school said that they would call me.”

Khemani claimed the school asked him to pay Rs 55,000 to ‘reserve’ the seat. “They told me that if I paid, my son’s seat would be confirmed.” He would be considered a “fresh case” after December 15, if he failed to make the payment, the school reportedly told him.

“It is a gimmick used by schools. These schools know they won’t get many applicants after December 15,” said Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery.com. School authorities, when contacted, said, “We haven’t started registrations process. They will start only from December 15, but you can fill up the registration form and then the school will call you.”

Rathore said, “I want my daughter to get admitted to a good school, but don’t know whether I should apply to schools now. We don’t even know whether or not the fees we deposit will be refunded later.”

After the DoE order on October 28, many schools like Convent of Jesus and Mary and St Columba’s postponed their admissions.

Several schools — New Era Junior School, Rajouri Garden, Presidium School, Kids Way at Pusa Road, Vivek Summit at East Patel Nagar — have already started the admission process or are about to start soon. Parents are left wondering whom to follow — the DoE or the schools.

“These schools may not be able to get students later, so they are trying to start admissions as soon as possible,” said Rajan Arora of nurseryadmissions.com. Other schools, mostly around Dwarka, that have not stopped nursery admissions are — Nirmal Bharatiya School (started on November 1 after the DoE order was announced), MBS International School (September) and Shanti Gyan Niketan.

Director Education, P Krishnamurthy, said, “Nobody has filed a complaint. Somebody has to complain for us to take action. We’ve issued notices to schools that had started the admission process (three branches of Bal Bharati Public School that Newsline had reported). He added that no new guidelines have been new issued to the schools. “Last year’s guidelines are being followed this year as well.”

Read the story in Indian Express