Delhi government orders action against 50 private schools over admissions

New Delhi: Following complaints of irregularities in nursery admissions, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has ordered strict action against more than 50 private schools. Nursery admissions for the upcoming session are underway in private schools of Delhi.

On the basis of complaints received, over 50 schools have been issued notices for fixing “arbitrary” and “unreasonable” admission norms. The AAP dispensation had last year issued a list of 51 abolished criteria for admissions.  

While 1,400 private schools in the national capital are free to set their own criteria excluding the abolished ones, the government has issued a fresh set of guidelines for 298 schools running on DDA land.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Siosida, who is also the education minister, slammed private schools running on DDA land for moving court against the new guidelines on nursery admissions saying the government had formed the new rules in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling of 2004.

“Ideally following the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2004 the guidelines for nursery admissions in 298 schools running on DDA land should have been formulated within three months. But it did not happen for whatever reason,” Mr Sisodia said in his blog.

“Now that our government has followed the court ruling and formulated the guidelines, these schools should follow them but they have decided to challenge a SC judgment before the high court,” he added.

The Delhi government had last month directed schools running on DDA land to hold the admission process till new guidelines are announced.

After keeping the admissions process on hold for over a week, the government announced a fresh set of norms making the distance of the school from the applicant’s residence a major criterion while considering them for admission.