Delhi Govt Issues Order To Check Arbitrary Admissions At Schools

The order directed the schools not be to organize separate admission process under the guise of their separate branches of Montessori, junior or pre-school.

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Tuesday issued a new order to stop the arbitrary actions being taken by schools in the nursery, KG and first class admission process being conducted in more than 1700 private schools.

Under the new directive, schools will not be able to organize separate admission processes for these under the guise of their separate branches of Montessori school, junior and pre-school. The Delhi government order said that all these schools will be a part of their main school. School operators cannot organize a separate admission process for them.

The government has also said that admissions in all schools will be done through the same fixed process. School operators cannot change the admission process for Montessori, junior and pre-school branches of their main school at their will. Some schools in Delhi also have two to three pre-school units. There are frequent complaints against these schools that they conduct separate admissions for these pre-school units. The last date for receiving application forms is 20th December.

According to Aparajita Gautam, President of Delhi Parents Association, there are about 60 Montessori schools operating in Delhi, whose main schools are up to 12th class. But, there is no clarity from the government regarding the rules of admission. She said that an order was issued by the Directorate of Education in the year 1999 that pre-schools running under the same society or trust will be considered as the same institution in any case.

“There is very little difference between Montessori, play school, pre-school and nursery school. A child above two years of age can also be in Montessori school, whereas a child above three years of age should be in nursery school,” she added.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, President of All India Parents Association and running an NGO by the name of Social Jurist, says that the schools do so to avoid free admissions as mandated by the Right to Education Act.

“School operators run many Montessori schools as per the rules of the main school. When children are sent to the main branch for admission, there is no monitoring of admission,” he said.