Delhi government today extended the deadline for nursery admissions under the economically weaker section (EWS) category till February 5, in a relief to parents struggling with online applications.
The online admission portal, launched by Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) this year, has so far received 64,000 applications for 27,000 seats in private schools.
"Last date for nursery online admission application, under Economic weaker section (EWS) category in pvt schools is being extended for 2 weeks," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said in a tweet.
"Delhi govt introduced portal for online admission under EWS this year. 64000 applications received for 27000 seats in different pvt schools," he added.
The nursery admission process in Delhi schools began on January 1 and will conclude on March 31.
While the last date for submitting the application expired today the first list will be out on February 15 followed by another list on February 29.
The admissions to the entry level classes in private schools under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Group (DG) categories were also scheduled to be carried out in the same schedule. However, for them the deadline has been extended.
DoE also issued a circular in this regard today clarifying that the extension is only for the application date while the rest of the schedule will remain unaltered.
The government's move to make the EWS admission process online for schools recognised under the Delhi School Education Act and Rules (DSEAR), 1973 and continue with the offline process for schools recognised under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, saw parents hassled about which school is under which category. Accessibility to the Internet and required infrastructure also came across as a major problem for them.
Several camps have also been set up at the offices of MLAs to help parents fill up the admission form online.
The move to make admissions online came in wake of the fake admissions detected under the categories in previous years.
Till now, the government has just been issuing a common form and monitoring the draw-of-lots. The rest of the process used to be managed by schools. In an online system, however, candidates will be allotted seats and the admission process will be centralised.
The government has also fixed an upper age limit for admission to entry-level classes with the maximum age for nursery being set at four years, and five and six years for pre-primary and class-I, respectively.
