Why make last-minute changes in admission process? asks HC

PARENTS HAVE MOVED COURT SAYING THAT THE NOTIFICATION HAS BARRED THEM FROM PICKING THE SCHOOL OF THEIR CHOICE

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court slammed thecitygovernmenton Thursday for creating “chaos and confusion” in the nursery admissions every year by putting up fresh notifications just before the admission season starts.

“Why have you put up a new notification in January when the admission process starts in January... This makes the citizen jittery, who does not know where to go,” Justice Manmohan said.

The judge noted that this behaviour of the government inconvenienced parents who didn’t get enough time to plan the admission process of their kids.

“It has become very difficult to deal with the government... In the last four years, you (government) have come up with at least three notifications in the month of January,” the judge said , while hearing petitions moved by two groups representing private schools and parents.

The court noted that the late notification on nursery has created a situation where if anyone challenges it and the court interferes, the whole admission planning of parents is disturbed.

“What were you (government) doing the whole year? This notification should have come at least six months or a year in advance so that parents get to plan in advance. Don’t take anyone by surprise,” the judge said.

The Action Committee for Unaided Recognised Private Schools, consisting of more than 450 private unaided recognised schools functioning in Delhi, and the Forum for Promotion of Quality Education have challenged the January 7 notification on nursery admissions restricting private schools built on government land to admit nursery students only using the neighbourhood or distance criteria.

The notification gave priority to those living within a radius of 1km. In case seats remain vacant, those living within 3km radius will get a chance.

Justice Manmohan, however, posted the petitions to be assigned to the appropriate bench after Delhi government said the issue should be listed before the judge hearing education matter.

Later, the petitions came up for hearing before Justice V Kameswar Rao, who posted the case for detailed hearing on Friday.

One of the major problems that the 298 private schools built on DDA land are facing is that they can no longer deny admission to anyone who seeks admission from their neighbourhood.