Nursery schools

The case is still in court and the next date of hearing has been set for January 16, 2018.

The high court also told the government to make any changes in the guidelines for the next session at least three months before admissions were schedule to begin. That deadline has passed.

When told that the government was not likely to intervene this year, SK Bhattacharya, president of the Action Committee for Unaided Recognized Private School, said his body would welcome the move. “The government needs to keep a balance between autonomy of private schools and transparency. If this is happening, it will ensure parents don’t face any confusion due to last minute changes.”

As things stand, residential proximity to the school carries the highest weight for new admissions to most institutions. The radius, however, varies from school to school. Other criteria include preference for girls, for candidates who have siblings in the same school, for children of alumni, and for students with a single parent. A total of 100 points are divided between these criteria in different proportions.

A Delhi government official said that the education department would meet over the next two days to finalise the admission schedule.

Even if no changes are made to guidelines, the official stressed, all schools will have to abide by an earlier government order that abolished 51 admission criteria considered “discriminatory”. These included oral tests, interviews, achievements of parents, non-smoking parents, and vegetarian parents.