In between her duties, Dr Sakshi Arora would snatch a few moments and call up schools to find out about admission dates for her daughter. On her list, she had around 25. She didn’t want to miss the deadlines.

But after the Directorate of Education (DoE) announced that schools in the city would have to follow a fixed schedule, Arora is one relieved parent.

When she gets home, she goes online to keep track of admission dates on popular blogs.

“It was difficult earlier to keep track of admission dates. Both of us took turns to call schools every day. It was very stressful,” Arora said.

Parents might be relieved, but schools think bundling them all as part of the same herd has infringed on their autonomy — granted by the Supreme Court in 2007.

But unlike last year, when the school lobby had protested the government’s decision to introduce a uniform schedule, this year schools have barely whimpered and many have even apologised to parents for starting early.

Big schools like Convent of Jesus and Mary have changed their deadlines after the DoE said it would not tolerate any deviation.

Many schools had started admissions in October but though they have fallen in line, principals have questioned whether the DoE order does not contradict that of the Supreme Court’s. The apex court had said that schools have the autonomy to follow their own schedules and only need to inform DoE.

Apeejay School Pitampura Principal D K Bedi said the DoE’s directives are against the spirit of the court order. Bedi said: “Does the Supreme Court order prevail or that of the DoE’s? I agree seats won’t be blocked and parents will have an easier time, but they will lose more money. Previously, if they applied and didn’t get in, they would consider another school. Now when all of them open within 15 days, they will end up applying to more schools.”

... contd.