NEW DELHI: Despite efforts by the city government to bring transparency in nursery admissions in private schools, the management quota seats—varying from 5 to 20 per cent—remain a matter of concern.
As parents are attending the ‘draw of lots’ organised by individual schools for the nursery admissions, several among them have complained to parents associations of schools asking for donations to get a seat reserved under management quota if they fail to get a seat in the lottery system. Confirming the same, Sumit Vohra, founder of the admission portal–nurseryadmisisonsportal.com–said, “This is true. Some schools ask for donations under the management quota and there are very few which apply for the management quota in real. In other words, this means giving money to reserve seats meant for management committee members of the school.”
School’s explanation
Recently, the principal of a private school in East Delhi, said the management quota is being “misunderstood” by the parents and not meant for those who can pay donations. “It is requested of all the parents to understand that the management quota is not asking anyone to pay the donations. We are not asking for a single penny other than the admission-related fee as per the structure already shared.”
“The management quota is for those parents who can volunteer to help our students in the vocational courses from class 5 onwards. It can be anybody from the IT sector who can help the kids learn computers or it can be even somebody who has a garment shop so he will be able to guide students to learn how garment manufacturing. The management quota is just for the parents who can become volunteers for our students later.”
However, one of the parents present in the school while talking to the newspaper said, “This is irrelevant because the school did not mention anything about the management quota on the school website. So what is the point of making such explanatory announcements when the draw of lots has already taken place?
‘Quota to loot money’
Seven years ago, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had called the management quota “a scam and a way to loot people”. The Delhi government had said the number of seats open to the general category shrunk owing to this quota. It had issued an order scrapping such admission criteria. The case went to the Delhi High Court.
However, in February 2016, the high court stated that the autonomy of private unaided schools about nursery admissions cannot be restricted by an office order and has to be done under the law. The high court had also added that if there were any malpractices about nursery admission criteria in private unaided schools, then such cases should be investigated and taken to their logical conclusion.
‘For volunteers’
Explaining the purpose of the management quota, the principal of a private school in East Delhi said it is for those parents who can volunteer to help students in the vocational courses from class 5 onwards. “It can be anybody from the IT sector who can help the kids learn computers or somebody who has a garment shop and will be able to guide students to learn how garment manufacturing.