L-G nod to guidelines for 298 schools on DDA land

New Delhi: The lieutenant-governor on Saturday approved the nursery admission guidelines for nearly 300 private schools on government land, thus ending a week-long delay for admission seekers.

As per the guidelines, these schools will have to fill up 75 per cent of their seats based on the “neighbourhood” criteria, which gives first preference to students residing within 1 km radius. If seats still remain vacant, the schools will give next preference to students residing within 1-3 km range. The third and fourth preference will go to those residing within 3 to 6 km range and to 6 km and above range, subsequently.  

Nursery admissions for the upcoming session in over 1,400 private schools in Delhi began on January 2. Last week, the government had directed 298 private schools, built on land allocated by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), to withhold their admission process till new guidelines were issued. 

In a relief to thousands of students and their parents, these schools will soon be able to accept applications. The government guidelines seek to clarify the “neighbourhood” criteria, which was one of the major bones of contention between the school authorities and the government. 

“The Delhi government will notify nursery admission guidelines later today and the admission process will begin immediately,” a senior government functionary said. 

The department of education (DoE) had earlier called schools to discuss the admission process and the modalities of admission as per the neighbourhood criteria. 

The file on admission criteria was sent for the L-G’s nod on December 23, 2016. 

“We had sent the proposed guidelines to the L-G’s office for approval. But due to change of the lieutenant-governor, the process was delayed,” the official added.