Points to ponder: schools continue to flout norms for nursery admission

Nursery admissions in Delhi schools continue to flout banned criteria, despite DoE regulations, sparking concerns among parents.

More than eight years after the Directorate of Education (DoE) issued a circular banning ‘unfair’ criteria for nursery admissions, several schools continue to give weightage to ‘parents’ education’ and ‘meritorious child’, among other prohibited parameters.

The admission process for nursery, KG, and Class 1 in private unaided recognised schools for the 2025-26 academic year started on November 28. Parents can register for admissions until December 20.

Following a Delhi High Court order in 2016, the DoE had abolished 62 criteria, including those that allot points to parents who are vegetarians, non-smokers, etc.

Later that year, some parents challenged the ban on the criteria, after which the court allowed schools to use 12 of them, including the ‘management quota’ but upheld the prohibition on the remaining. 

The prohibition on certain criteria is attached along with the DoE’s nursery admission notification even this year. However, when The Hindu combed through the admissions criteria uploaded by 1,464 schools on the DoE website, many schools were found flouting the ban. As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, 1,468 schools had uploaded their criteria, and 273 are still yet to upload it.

When reached for comment, DoE officials did not respond. A source, however, said, “The DoE will certainly take action if schools are awarding points for banned criteria if and when it receives such complaints.”

Modern Perfect Public School in Sangam Vihar has awarded 15 (out of 100) points to ‘meritorious child’. The DoE list had banned ‘scholar students’ as a criterion with the justification for the prohibition reading, “It is illogical. No scholastic aptitude can be tested at entry-level classes.” Surender Kumar, the school principal, said he was unaware that the criterion was banned, adding he will remove it.