Delhi nursery admissions start today: Distance key criteria, tighter deadline for parents

Applications for entry-level admission to nursery, KG or class I in Delhi’s private schools will be available starting today, with a completely online process in most prominent schools.

The upper age limit for admission to nursery is less than four years as on March 31, less than five years for KG and less than six years for class I.

Parents will have a shorter window than usual to submit the forms — on March 4. The first list of selected children will be released on March 20.

Schools have uploaded their respective admission criteria on their websites, and like previous years, proximity to schools carries the greatest weightage to determine a child’s eligibility for admission.

In most prominent schools, the forms are to be downloaded and submitted, and the registration fee is to be paid completely online. Physical submission of forms is otherwise a prevalent norm in most other schools.

In most schools, about 50% of the seats in entry-level classes are open for admission through this system, and 25% of the seats are mandatorily reserved for EWS/DG and disabled children, and many have 20% seats reserved under ‘management quota’, which are filled according to the school’s discretion. In many schools, 5% of seats are reserved for children of staff members.

While the ‘distance criteria’ carries the highest weightage in most schools, it varies both in the way it is measured and in the number of points allotted in different schools.

The Heritage School, Rohini has provided a list of localities that fall within eight kilometres from the school, and applicants residing in these areas will receive 80 points. Applicants residing beyond eight kilometres — any area not mentioned in the school’s list — will receive 70 points.

Mother’s International School has provided five lists of localities — those residing in list 1 areas, closest to the school, receive 40 points; those residing in list 2 receive 30 points; and so on. Residents of areas not in any of the lists will receive zero distance points.

Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka specifies 60 points for those residing within a two kilometre radius of the school, 40 points for between two to four kilometres, 20 points for between four to six, and 0 points for beyond. It states that Google Maps will be used to calculate the distance from the school.

Almost all schools have additional points for children who have a sibling studying in the school and those who have a parent who is an alumna of the school.

Several other schools have allotted additional points — the junior branches of DPS RK Puram have five points for girl children, while Mother’s International has 10 points for the same. Ahlcon International School has 10 points for children of a single parent, and five for a first child or girl child.

Some schools have many criteria for points — beyond distance and alumni parents. Salwan Public School has 10 points for first-born children, 5 for girl children, 20 for ‘social contribution’, for which the particulars are specified in the website, up to 20 points for achievements by parents in fields such as academia, sports, art and literature, and 15 points for “original research or specialisation in any field/received recognition for the same by a government recognised body”.