Nursery admission in Delhi schools to begin on Friday

Nursery admission in 1,600-odd private schools in Delhi will begin on Friday, a fortnight before the usual schedule.

The Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) had last week released a detailed schedule according to which the last date for submitting application forms is December 27.

The first and second lists of selected children will be out on January 24 and February 12 respectively. The process will conclude on March 16.

"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 their official website," a senior DoE official said.

The government had last year 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 a court in 2017. Though a Delhi High Court order last year 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.