Admissions to Nursery: Tensions Ahead

The admission Process to nursery classes has been the subject of much controversy in recent years. Private unaided schools, in particular, have come under critical scrutiny for their admission procedures. This issue has been agitating the minds of educationist, parents, jurist and all those concerned with the education of young children as to how the trauma and tension associated with the admission process can be eliminated and a child friendly method evolved. The admission procedures for these very young children between the ages of 3.5 and 5 years after consist of written/oral selection test for children, interview of children, and interview of/interaction with parents. Criteria such as siblings, neighbourhood concept, alumni, profession and educational qualifications of parents are also included by some schools in their admission criteria for short listing of candidates. As there is no common admission procedure for all the private schools of Delhi, each school has been using its own discretion in formulating a procedure and implementing it for selecting children for admission to nursery classes. In doing so, there have often been complaints that procedures used are not transparent and equitable and as a result, many parents felt unfairly treated. Since so much of the future of their children was at stake, these feelings have a legitimacy of their own.