Nursery admissions begin today in the national capital

New Delhi: The nursery admission process for approximately 1,600 private schools in the national capital will begin on Saturday with private schools making their criteria public on Friday.

Distance of student's residence from school, sibling quota, parents being alumni of the school, single child, first child are some of the criteria listed by schools for admissions to the entry level classes. 

According to the schedule released by the Directorate of Education (DoE), the application window will be open from Saturday and the last date for submitting application forms for nursery class admission for 2019-20 session is January 7. 

The first list of selected children, along with marks secured by them, will be out on February 4. The second list will be out on February 21 and the nursery admission process will conclude on March 31. 

Twenty-five per cent seats in pre-school, pre-primary and Class 1 will be reserved for economically weaker sections/disadvantaged groups (EWS/DG). 

The directorate had instructed all private schools to upload their criteria (with points for each criterion) for admission in open seats, on its official website by December 14. However, there is no clarity yet on the schedule of EWS admissions. 

The government has also set an upper age limit of less than four years to be eligible for nursery, less than five years for kindergarten, and less than six years for admission to Class 1. The proposal for an upper age limit was challenged in court in 2017. 

Though a Delhi High Court order in 2017 had allowed the imposition of the upper age limit, the DoE had decided that the order will be applicable only from 2019 academic session. 

Apart from the abolished criteria, the schools have been given autonomy to come up with their own points system.