Delhi government declares guidelines for Nursery Admission 2011-2012 in Delhi

The Delhi government on Wednesday left schools free to devise their own criteria for nursery admissions but said they must reserve a quarter of the seats for poor families.

Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely announced the guidelines.

He said 25 percent of nursery seats will have to be kept aside for children whose parents's annual income is less than Rs.100,000. Schools will be allowed to randomly select from applications in this category.

As for the remaining 75 percent, Lovely said schools will be free to formulate their policy for admission but it should include a criteria for categorisation of the applicant.

"The schools will be free to base their criteria like sibling, alumni or neighbourhood. They will be asked to formulate their plan and submit it to the education department. The schools should consider that categorisation should be rational, reasonable and just," Lovely said.

He also said there should not be profiling of the child based on the parent's educational qualification and income.

The Delhi government guidelines come a day after the human resource development (HRD) ministry clarified the meaning of "random" used in the Right to Education Act.

Delhi has around 2,000 schools. The admission process will begin Jan 1, 2011 and will be completed by March 31, 2011.

"The government will ensure that no child will be left without admission in Delhi but there is a possibility that parents may not get a school of their choice," Lovely said.