Nursery admissions: Recalcitrant schools ask for parents' income, education

Leaving parents more confounded by each passing day, several schools in the city are flouting the rules for nursery admissions by according points for clauses that were struck down by the Delhi High Court.

For instance, the Apeejay School in Saket is giving 15 points to aspirants who are children or grandchildren of promoters, officer bearers, or members of board of governors of the school. According to the HC, schools cannot give preference to children whose parents or grandparents are significant, non-financial volunteers in the school. When contacted, the school authorities said the matter was under discussion.

In a notification dated December 19, the HC had withheld 51 of 62 criteria, terming them unfair, unreasonable, and non-transparent.

Similarly, Sneh International School in Nirman Vihar is screening students by taking into account the annual income of parents from all sources. Others like Venkateswar International School in Dwarka and DAV Pushpanjali School in Pitampura are also asking for information about parents' income.

This criterion was also struck down by the HC, stating that parents seeking admission in a particular school are aware of the fee structure and are willing to pay.

Going a step further, the Adarsh Kindergarten in Vikaspuri is not only asking about the monthly income of parents and their qualifications but is also questioning who whould be taking care of the child, if both parents are working.

According to the notification issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE), the HC had stated that being a developing country, India did not have 100 per cent literacy rate, and giving weightage to parents' education would be unjust to students. The HC had also ruled that equal weightage should be given to all students, regardless of whether one or both parents are working.

"Many schools are asking for parents' income, education, and profession, among other things, which have been withheld by the HC last year. Schools are clearly flouting the DoE guidelines. In case schools want to know about the profession or education of parents for record purposes, they can ask for them while confirming the admission. But asking for these details is clearly for the purpose of screening," said Sumit Vohra, Founder of the admissionnursery.com.

Meanwhile, the HC has asked parents to fill up application forms of various schools based on the criteria set by them and as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The court said the order was to ensure that the admission process was "not hampered", and added that the scrutiny of application forms would be subject to further orders.