Delhi kids may not find place in Gurugram schools

GURUGRAM: From the next academic year, nursery admissions will not be the same again in the Millennium City.
The elementary education department has, for the first time in Haryana, come out with a set of rules for nursery admissions. Among the rules is a uniform age criterion and another stating that admission preference should be given to students who reside within one kilometre radius of a school.
Though overall parents in Gurugram have welcomed the rules, some are apprehensive whether these will work as they might not get a school of their choice within a kilometre or the one in the neighbourhood may be too expensive.
Many parents have welcomed the rules but some are apprehensive whether these will work as they might not get a school of their choice within a kilometre or the one in the neighbourhood may be too expensive for them. On the other hand, the admission rules have left some schools fuming. What these rules also do is put most Gurugram schools out of bounds for parents in Delhi.
Haryana education department officials said there has long been a clamour among parents for regulating the nursery admission process in the state, particularly in Gurugram. "The new rules will come into effect from the next academic session," P K Das, additional chief secretary of the school education department, said.
However, the new rules have mixed reactions from parents. "One-kilometre preference is a bit too harsh on parents. What if we don't get a school of our choice in the vicnity or the same is too costly for us to afford?" said Praveen Yadav, a parent. Sumit Vohra, founder of admisssionnursery.com, a website for parents, also agreed. "Parents who live in new sectors will continue to get their kids admitted in city schools. This one-kilometre radius rule won't stand as parents and schools both want admission."
But Akash Jain, another parent, heaved a sigh of relief. "Some schools charge up to Rs 1,000 for application forms. Now, forms will be free of cost." However, some schools seem to be at unease about the lottery system clause, which, they say, might not work as most of them admit students on 'first come, first serve' basis.
Deepika Sharma, principal of DPS Gurugram, Palam Vihar, said: "Having a set of rules is fine, but I don't know how the lottery system is going to work out. " But Vaibhav Kapoor, principal of Ajanta Public School, said, "The new rules will clear doubts and confusions a parent goes through at the time of admission."
However, Colonel Pratap Singh (retd), senior vice-president of Haryana Progressive School's Conference, Gurugram, said, "Private schools should have been given the liberty to scrutinise parents if they can pay fees or not."