Haryana likely to adopt Delhi model for nursery admission

“I agree that there are problems with the admissions schedule followed by the private schools,especially in Gurgaon. We need to look into it and fix it,” Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bukkal told Newsline over the phone.

She said there is a need to plan and structure the pre-school admissions to help reduce parents’ anxiety.

“Every year there are new private schools opening up in Gurgaon and they need to fill in seats. So,they start the admission process earlier than other schools. This causes a lot of problems for the parents. They have to keep tab of each and every school. We will try and fix this problem,” she said.

Mansi,an HR executive with a private company has been keeping tab on schools’ pre-school admission from August. Lotus Valley International School at Gurgaon sold its forms from August 23 to August 30 last month. Others in Noida are accepting applications at present.

Arun Awasthi,an engineer says,“My wife and I work. We don’t get much time but we have to keep tab on each and every school that issues forms. This unplanned admission season is troubling.” The pre-school admissions in Gurgaon are mostly determined by schools’ interaction with the parents. Most of the schools,even the new ones that have opened in the Millennium City select their pre-school students after interactions with the parents. However,a few schools have started replicating the 100-point selection criteria – followed in schools across Delhi – where,schools take into consideration distance from home the

school,sibling and alumni criteria and grant points according to that.

Bukkal said,“I am aware that schools in Gurgaon start admissions process as early as August. And,parents are supposed to submit fees in that school. However,other schools start admissions in October. This year we will try and find solutions to the refund issues that parents face as well. We too should have an admissions calender.”

The Minister hinted that the the state directorate of education might try and replicate the Delhi model of pre-school admissions.

“We need to improve the current admissions process and we will look into the matter seriously.”

In Delhi,the Directorate of Education issues a calender and within a given time frame all schools are supposed to start and end the registration process. The directorate also issues dates for the announcements of the first,second and the third list of the selected candidates.

In Haryana (Gurgaon),this rule is not applicable to the schools. So schools have their own calender which at times stretches up to the whole year.