Nursery admission EWS seats: DOE to seek suggestions from public

NEWDELHI: The directorate of education (DOE) will take suggestions from citizens before deciding which residential area to include or remove in the neighbourhood criteria for each private school.

The move comes after the DOE’S earlier decision to take suggestions only from private schools was criticised by activists and parents.

Parents said there was a fear that the schools may exclude slums from the list of residential areas falling in their neighbourhood.

The DOE had last week announced that nursery admissions in private schools for students under the EWS/DG categories will begin from January 22.

In a circular issued on January 10, the DOE had asked each participating school to upload details of residential areas falling in its neighbourhood till January 15. “We had a relook at the issue and decided to take suggestions from the general public as well to give us a better idea about the residential areas under each school,” a DOE official said.

A new circular said teams set up at the zonal level would study suggestions both from schools and public on residential areas and availability of seats. “We had to put 150 extra officials in the teams to handle suggestions from the public. But we have not received too many suggestions till now,” the official said.

The teams will receive suggestions till Thursday.

The EWS/DG nursery admissions will have an upper age limit for admission. The DOE said the age limit for admission to nursery is 3-5 years, for KG is 4-6 years and for Class 1 it is 5-7 years.

There was no age limit for admission on general seats.

Families with annual income less than ₹1 lakh can seek admission under the EWS category. The DG category includes SC, ST, OBC, non-creamy layer, physically challenged, orphan and transgender and all children living with or affected by HIV.

The application process will begin on January 22 and will conclude on February 21. The computerised draw of lots is on March 7.