With nursery admissions turning into a rat race, nearly 32 per cent of parents who live in rented houses are planning to shift within the radius of "more popular schools" in Delhi-NCR for admission to their kids, a new study has found.
According to ASSOCHAM's survey on "Nursery admission procedures are taking away the innocence of pre-schooling", over 21 per cent of parents who live on rent have already shifted to the areas with more numbers of "famous schools" in Dwarka, Vasant Kunj, Rajendra Nagar, Rohini etc.
Others are planning to shift to areas where the concentration of "good" schools is higher and have already asked their brokers to find an accommodation, reveals the survey.
The survey was conducted on 2,500 parents in Delhi-NCR region.
"Nursery admissions have become an anxiety-ridden mission for parents seeking to secure a seat for their tiny tots in reputed public schools due to limited number of seats," said D S Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM.
"For parents it is sort of a wild shot as even after shelling out so much of money on admission forms there is no certainty that their child will eventually get through that school," added Rawat.
The neighbourhood criteria has made parents rush to shift house so that they can be within the three kms radius of the school, a distance that will get them a full 20 points, points out the survey.
There are over 3,000 public schools in Delhi which normally sell prospectus, containing details about admission processes in their respective schools for Rs 500-800, adds the ASSOCHAM paper.
"Increasingly rising fees of admission procedure in most of privately managed schools in metro has deterred the budget of even well to do families. Education is now being run like a commercial business enterprise these days," added Rawat.
As per the chamber estimates over 60 million children are studying in private schools charging hefty fees.
Having fallen through a lopsided government-approved points-system, many parents are being forced to opt for management seats that cost around Rs 1.5 lakh and more, adds the majority of respondent.
Some parents have no option unless they take a loan. Nearly 28 per cent said they are trying to get a personal loan.
