People who are trying to secure nursery admission for their children under the category of Disadvantaged Groups (DG) private schools will now need to show certificates specifying the physical disabilities of their wards. This is now mandatory in the 1,700 plus private schools in the national capital.
Moreover, the education department of the Delhi government has also declared that only families that have an annual income below Rs 1 lakh can seek admission under the category of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). The documents that need to be produced in this case include bank accounts details and a certificate specifying sources of income.
The admission process for EWS and other reserved categories will start from January 22, while the last date for submission of online applications under the EWS /DG category is February 21.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) has issued the nursery admission guidelines for the reserved group categories and stated that the education department will ensure transparency in the system and only deserving children will be given admission in each reserved category. The government, however, has not kept the DG category exclusive to the physically challenged. Other reserved categories such as SC, ST and OBC also fall under it. Parents of children falling under these three categories shall also need to submit income proofs. Apart from these, orphans, transgenders and children affected by HIV are also included in the DG category.
Parents of children with disabilities, however, want the DG category to include only them. In fact, in 2014, this issue had been raised in the Delhi High Court through a PIL.
“I urge the court to direct the Delhi government to give its opinion in the next hearing,” said Ashok Agrawal, senior advocate of the Delhi High Court.
The DoE has asked each private school (conducting nursery admission for the academic session 2018-19) to upload details of residential areas in its neighbourhood by January 15. “Zonal level teams of DoE will examine all details given by the schools and examine the neighbourhood criteria for admission,” stated a notification from the DoE, issued to private schools.
