No seats? There is still some hope….

Your ward did not get seat anywhere? I know how frustrating this could be as I myself have lived thru it in 2007-2008 session. Many parents who thought that they would get a seat becaue fo their links, status, designation and had applied to top 3-5 schools only, are worst hit as they are now having minimum chances of getting to any school.
I have been suggesting this on many platforms (my blog, my articles in media, my handbook on Nursery Admission in Delhi, and also in interviews with Radio City…as well) that apply to as many school as you can as that would at least increase your chances. Anyways, the battle is not lost……!!
We observed last year that many schools has some HIDDEN-UNDISCLOSED seats and they filled them after the dust got settled, they started calling parents (probably picked randomly from the waitlidted candidates) and offered them seats (for no extra money! and not sure some schools amy have accpet money as well- who knows….. you know how all these things work benind the doors)
So this could be one hope for few parents and more-over, expect that some wards may have got admission in multiple schools and they are going to keep one seat only and will withdraw from other school and that would give way to some other lucky ward there….and by the way……trust me this worked for me and for few parents to whom i sugested this, if you know such lucky parents, offer them to accompany you when they are going to submit the withdrawal application, you can meet the admission officer and request them to enroll your kid for that NOW vacant seat.
Aprart from this, you can try getting in touch with admission officer yourself and seerequest them to call you if there is any vacant seat….

Nursery seats are for sale?

Last year many prominent schools “sold” few seats to various parents and names of these schools are well known to all Delhi parents….I guess….and rates were ranging from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 5,00,000
I was just wondering if anyone of parents have heard any such thing this year as well.
Many have been throwing the names of Amity International, Modern School, Ryan International and also DPS but really no clear evidence have been produced and the reason could be that one who might have paid would not like to expose it as this might put their seat at risk in that school.

New stories....on old topic.....

TIMELINE of 2008-2009 Nursery Admissions in Delhi

Nursery Admissions begin in Delhi....... Sep 07
Nursery Admissions Guidelines are out... Oct 07
Parents worries start for admissions.... Nov 07
Confusion over Admissions process....... Dec 07
Parents help parents through internet... Jan 08
Admission lists are out and parents in trouble... Feb 08
First ever nursery admission helpline started for parents by parents...Mar 08
Schools open...few get to school, and other make important decisions...Apr 08
..........
..........
..........
No news, no stories in media and no real work being done by DOE....... Jun 08
.......
......

Lots of things were planned by parents, some joined hands and came forward but lack of real support made it difficlt to continue with helpline. Parents blamed that media was more interested in "stories" than anything else. They chased parents to get "breaking" stories but I guess we all could certainly do better if we all could have met at least few more times and hold our spirits higher.

The spark is still there, fire will broke out again and helpless parents will start running around but do you think govt. has learned a lesson from this year's faliure? No! because they dont think that it was a faliure....they have made history.

We here are planning to launch this again at a bigger level this time, we are inviting parents (as usual) and for a change, we are involving teachers, principals, and schools (all sort of schools) who think a like on this education, admissions system and are willing to make a difference. Hope the efforts will go in right direction....ameeen!

Cheers!
Spyder

Congratulations on your (n your kid's) 1st day at school

Congratulations on the first day at school and here are some tips, suggestions that you may find useful in preparing yourself and your kid to new school, new friends, and a new milestone if the life.

Whether it's first day at a school nursery, or first day at pre-primary school, it's going to be an emotional time, and hopefully an exciting time too...it is a big day! You might find you're more nervous than they are! But whether your child is laid-back or nervous about starting school this day is a real milestone in both of your lives. Your child may be anxious about what to expect on the first day at school.

If so, one way of helping them is to talk through their fears:
+explain where they'll be going, what they'll be doing, and for how long
+answer questions, and iron out any fears by asking what they think the school might be like
+emphasise the things they may enjoy doing
+Don't dismiss your child's fears - things that seem obvious or silly to an adult can seem like terrible obstacles to a five year old.

Tips for starting school...
+For that first day, remember to find the camera the night before and put it out ready!
+Talk to your child about what they will do if they need the toilet or want a drink of water during the day - who they should tell. You will probably be able to go in with them and you can show them where the toilets are and where they will put their coat.
+Trousers with an elasticated waist, and socks rather than tights for girls, might be easier to start with. If they need a belt, the snake elasticated ones with 'S' buckles just pull up and down with the trousers. There's lots more clothing tips on the 'getting ready for school' page.
+Make sure they can undo their lunchbox themselves, and cope with their clothing - check it fits before that first morning! As it gets colder, you will need to help them learn to put on their coat and do it up, or it will take them ages to get out at playtime!
+You might occasionally want to take an apple or raisins to eat on the way home if the journey is a bit of a trek - help boost their energy levels. Some mums do this everyday for the first year or so.
+Expect them to be tired and perhaps a bit grumpy at home as they get used to the new routine!
+If you have a younger child too, they might find it strange that the older one is gone for longer periods now. Plan to make a special fuss of them - give them lots of attention until you all get used to it!
+Try to say hello to a different mum every day as you collect (not easy to do, but just stand nearby and make a friendly comment - see what happens!). Or if you're feeling shy, just smile a lot and people will talk to you. Once you've got to know a few people it gets easier for you and for the children.
Courtsey: WWW

Question many parents have been asking...and noone has answer!

Father of a girl child came with this analysis and I thought it would be useful to share with you all, he writes:

While my daughter has got admission in school of choice I guess I was lucky and I feel for the others who haven’t been so lucky. One particular thing that draws my attention is that while all the schools came out with the first list adhering to the points system, there hasn’t been any such second or third list of any significance.

Without naming the schools if we grade 4 schools as : A , B, C, D

And assume that all these schools are in the same vicinity ( say within a range of 8 -10 kms) it is obvious that a child getting admission in A,B and/or C will surely get admitted in A.

I have done a study of such schools out of sheer curiosity and found that the number of such overlapping seats would be around 15-20 whereas they have admitted only 7-8 from the second list.

Actually second lists were announced after the fee submission dates of A and B was over. Both A&B had fee submissions dates more or less overlapping each other.

So where does those seats go???

Minutes of Meeting: Delhi Parents First Meet

FUTURE of INDIA Initiative - Delhi Parents First Meet
Minutes of Meeting

Date: Sunday 2nd March, 2008
Time: 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM IST
Venue: Malviya Nagar, New Delhi
Total Invitees: 56
Accepted: 14
No. of participants: 8
Absent: 6

Minutes of the meeting can be found here. Next meeting will be held on Sunday 16th, Mar 08 or Sunday 23rd, Mar 08

Definitely no system can be improved in one meeting or probably two but a few can really change it for good. There are our initial efforts and we need your views, suggestions and queries on initiative and the discussion that we had in the first meeting. Please send your views, suggestions, queries to me at SpyderIndia@gmail.com

Please join us in this mission and we need your support to make it success!

Click here to Join!

Withdrawal case? Get you hard-earned money refunded from school....

Case Study: Refund of fee in case of withdrawal of admission
Rule No. 13 (Page 4 of 11) of “FINAL ORDER OF DATED 24.11.2007 AFTER INCORPATING ALL AMMENDMENTS EVEN SUSEQUENT TO HON’BLE SUPREME COURT - ORDER DATED 14.12.07” clearly states that:

13. If any parent or guardian, after depositing the full fee for admission of a child, chooses to withdraw the child from the school within one month from the date of the admission, then the school may retain the Registration Charges, Admission Fee and the tuition fee for one month only, and shall refund all other amounts of fee or other charges.

i.e. Schools giving admissions to Pre-School and Pre-Primary for the session 2008-2009 can only deduct money charged towards:
• Full Registration Charges, and
• Full Admission Fee, and
• One Month Tuition Fee

… and rest of the money has to be refunded back to the parents if the application is withdrawn within one month from the date of admission.

What parents can do if school refuses to refund the money? Read them the Rule No. 13 of the order issued by DOE on 14.12.2007 (as above).

Some prominent schools have been telling parents that they will only refund some fixed ‘X’ amount because they have written it on their school gate on Jan, or published it in the prospectus or on website and so on, but Parents, please understand that DOE order is one such document that overrides all these stupid rules. Go and get your money back!

If anyone of you is facing difficulties in refund, please let us know (post a comment on blog or write me an e-mail if you would like to keep it confidential) and we will try to help you.

Managment quota seats are on sale thru dalals known to mgmt....

No one can deny this fact, the one who is selling such seats are only accepting it through "Education Dalaals" those are very close to the management.

One such person contacted me (not as Spyder of course) today - thru some 3rd party and it got confirmed as another friend of mine told me that he knows one such person who can get you a seat for Rs. 2,00,000 (INR Two Lakh Only) at Amity, Saket under management quota.

Amrita Vidyalayam is another such case, management quota seats are available for money (amount not known - will try to get the exact figure soon).

God damn it! Sahi business hai dost!

I had written a e-mails to various schools, principles, ministers and no replies except one school.

We can diffinately do something if we all come togather and raise voice.

Enough of Talking, it's time for Action!

We know you are harried by the whole nursery admission fiasco but what hurts us is that despite so many efforts from your side there has been no solution to this issue. Elections are round the corner and the Government of Delhi does not have time to worry about small things like education and all thanks to the inaction by the Government schools are making most of it.

You might be thinking that it’s over but wait and take note that the nursery admission monster is going to raise its ugly head once again next year. This time it will attack new kids since it is hell bent on crippling the Future of your Child.

If you want to help us in our efforts to slay the monster once and for all, if you are for better admission procedures, if you are for better infrastructure than come - Join us to help “Shape the Future of India”....

To join, please enter your e-mail id below and click on "Join Us!" button. We shall be broadcasting the details very soon....

Enter your email address:

We will fight to the end……Even if we loose….We will not take it quietly!

We need education to shape the future of the nation..
Each one teach one
You must have heard these oft repeated quotes.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself Does anyone care for these lines?
We do not know whats your reply is but what we know is that Schools and DOE do not believe in this, we would furter go to the extent of even saying that Schools believe that Education would shape their futre by generating fat donations and DOE agrees with schools by not taking action against such monstrous schools.

You would find below what can be labelled as GROSS INJUSTICE, Prejudice, Discrimanation and bias - against a 3 year old by denying a child his right to be educated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To,
The Principal,
Delhi Public School ,
Mathura Road , New Delhi

Sub: Representation regarding gross injustice to Iklavya Singh, a candidate for admission to Pre-School in your school by adopting deliberate and illegal means.

Sir/Madam,
We are the parents of Iklavya Singh, who is a candidate for admission to the Pre-School in your school. We bring to your kind notice, the following few facts for immediate and necessary action:

That for our son, Iklavya Singh, born on the 10th of July,2004, we applied through the proper process of your school for admission in pre-school. On completion of the preliminary formalities as contemplated by the process of your school, our son was awarded 60 marks by you and was shortlisted for admission as per the original list posted on the website www.dpsmathuraroad.org .

That thereafter, we met your good self on the 29th of January,2008 and got the documents verified. During this entire meeting, you and your associates appeared quite satisfied and asked us to wait for the final list .

That , however when the final list was posted by you, we were shocked to find the name of our son missing from it. The score of our son’s marks reduced from 60 to 52 in a most arbitrary, mischievous and biased manner without any valid reason. On enquiry, your office told us that since our residence ( 139 – D , Pocket – C , Siddhartha Extension ) is at a distance of about 4-5 kilometers from the school. We respectfully submit that this observation by your office is factually wrong and is not likely to cause any damage whatsoever to the school. Moreover, kindly recollect from record that the destination of disembarkation of our son has been given as RajDoot Hotel which is precisely 1.8 Kilometers from your school. Also, our residence is precisely 2.75 Kilometers from the school . We are prepared to board our son and take him back at the bus stop of RajDoot Hotel , a fact thoroughly discussed and agreed upon in our interaction with you and your staff on the 29th of January,2008.


It is clear from the above-mentioned fact that deducting 8 marks of our son for this reason is absolutely arbitrary and illegal. We are forced to read between the lines to conclude that our son has been deprived this opportunity for the reasons best known to you, for which there is no just and concrete explanation.

By the above action of your office, we feel highly aggrieved and discriminated. In view of the above-mentioned facts and circumstances, we hereby call upon you to rectify the above defects committed by your office by reducing the score of our son, and give our son admission in your school at the earliest failing which we shall be construed to knock the doors of law for this intentional high-handedness and arbitrary process adopted by you.

A copy of this representation is retained by us for future reference if any.

Copy to:
1. Delhi Public School Society
2. Director of School Education, Delhi
3. Office of The Chief Minister of Delhi

Thanks and Regards.
Gurpreet Singh ( Father of Iklavya Singh )
Prabhjot Kaur ( Mother of Iklavya Singh)
139-D Pocket-C, Siddhartha Extension,
New Delhi – 110014
(contact numbers removed for privacy reasons - spyder)

Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam at Bluebells School International, Kailash

Blue bells neighbourhood criteria is a real life exmaple of "Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam" mantra!
The directive was of giving marks according to the distance from school for neighbourhood. The school kept 20 marks for 0-15 kms.

In 15 Km almost all the areas like Naraina, Sarita Vihar, Badarpur, Daryaganj fall. So basically the criteria of neighbourhood was nullified (oh I am sorry let me correct this- broad-i-fied) and school has set an exmple here for the world. Unfortunately people with less than a km from school, parents both PG, in proffessional degrees and alumi doesnt even reflect in the waiting list of the school.

Hey people, shall we all go and offer schools managment "Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam" flowers as an award for such a decision?

What's cooking in Spyder Labs?

The parents’ outcry on admission issue is valid and understood but the biggest question is that what is the real solution to this problem? Can it be designed-revised-implemented in a day? A month? An year? Couple of years? Not sure!

Three problems/issues we have been thinking for last couple of days:

• Problems that parents been facing so far?
• Problems that delhi schools faced?
• Problems that DOE/ Education Ministry faced?
  

Now here we are not only talking about problems/issues that surfaced this year but the ones that Delhi parents, schools, and DOE have been going thru for last several years. The problems that Mr. Ashok Agarwal and Ms. Shobhana Takiyar raised in their petition. The problems, issues that were discussed, investigated and analyzed by Mr. Ashok Gaguly and other members.

We have gone through that 9 page petition and a good 35 page Ganguly Committee report (aka recommendations) and also touched briskly another two most important documents1) Delhi Education Act 1973, 2) Delhi School Education Rules 1973. It really doesn’t make sense to bang heads in suggesting changes in past/current nursery admission rules, point system and so on without really understanding all this. Mr. Ashok Agarwal and his fellow really understood the problem when he decided the file that petition, Ganguly committee also did what they were asked to do and the document really a must read for all of us.

So what now? I invite suggestions from all parents but for now we shall be focusing on planned suggestions (based on facts from past not just this year alone) rather than random suggestions as I fear this will not work until we understand the problem, issues. Rest assured that there is a system approved by DOE but unfortunately the execution was wrong and some drawbacks added to the problem, and on top of that schools have flaunted it by all means.
Parents who have good understanding of (one or more of following): Delhi Edu Act (at least section 16), Delhi School Edu Rules (at least admissions specific), Mr Ashok Agarwal's petition and decision on it, Recommendations and report prepared by Ganguly committee and not to mention this year's DOE orders, please come forward and let's meet sometime this month on weekend and brainstorm on the issues so far (history so far, this year, and future), areas of improvement, and our plan for future (feasibility, and execution)

We all have had faced it ourselves for our kids, and parents have been going thru this pain for last several years. I am sure we have professionals from all backgrounds among us.

We think the real need is to do it all differently; platform is set we are ready to give our best efforts, what you say about this whole idea? Any suggestions, questions, ideas you may have - please do share as every comment counts and it will really help everyone.

(can't think of more at 1am night but little suggestion: for now/time being, please don’t send suggestions on fixing the system, because it is important to know your opinion on this thought to begin with – a well begun is half done so let’s take a very focused approach– right is n’t it?)

Spyder wishes every parent all the best for 1st Feb

The nursery admission process in Delhi is one of the most difficult and emotionally traumatic for everyone. It is simply heart breaking to watch amazing parents as they navigate this almost impossible process. We have seen almost every type of emotional reaction since November 2007 the date when DOE first came out with first order for nursery admissions guidelines.

I just want to wish every parent all the very best! I wish that every kid gets to at least one list tomorrow.

We plan to work closely with other parents and media starting next month and take it to next level where parents community will provide suggestions, solution to problems so that at least next year we see happy faces at school gates from start of the admissions till the last kid gets admission and even beyond. I will certainly need your help, so please keep sending your suggestions to me (at spyderindia@gmail.com) and I will try my level best and give my 1000% to this mission - no looking back from here. Thanks again to everyone and best wishes.

...and stay connected for more real stuff on Nursery Admissions in Delhi.

PLEASE NOTE: SELECTION LISTS/LINKS/URLs WILL BE UPDATED ON NAD SITE!

Cheers
Spyder

Letter to Apeejay schools and their reposnse on selection criteria

Note: Entire conversation has been added now, last updated on January 28th, 2008

There was some confusion and doubt in parents mind related to selection list of Apeejay schools. As we could not get much details on issues reported by parents so we send a mail to school principals (Saket, Sheikh Sarai and Pitam Pura) and in response to our e-mail (Dated: January 25, 2008) that we had sent on behalf of all parents, we have received response from Mr. Aditya Berlia (head of ASERF - Apeejay Education Research Foundation) clarifying the doubts that were raised by parents through this blog.

Here is the abstract of this e-conversation:

We asked them to give clarification regarding nursery shortlisting which took place on 24th Jan 2008 across Apeejay schools in Delhi. The issues we highlighted included:
1) Since from the lists it was not clear as to what was the basis of shortlisting. So we asked them to help us understand the exact criteria that schools have followed.
2) As we all had observed that there are kids who scored higher points (for example 50, 54, 58 etc.) and they have not made it to the list but kids with less points (for example 40, 45, 50) have been selected. We asked them to give explanation of the same.

In his response (Dated: January 26, 2008) Mr Aditya mentioned that Apeejay Education Research Foundation has designed “representative affirmative action” system for the nursery admission and details can be found at research foundation website http://admissions.apeejay.edu/
Mr Aditya also mentioned that “system is new and some of the factors are hard to explain; we certainly could do a better job in this regard. I am sure however you will appreciate the manner in which we have conducted the admissions this year; we are certainly quite proud of it.”

Giving due respect to Mr. Aditya’s explanation we spent good time understanding the system process from website, and it was clear that the school had prepared 11 lists (by segments) and selected top scoring kids from each of these lists. So it is also clear that every list will have its own cutoff and hence a kid with 50 points (from “engineering segment”) might have failed but a kid with 35 points (from “media segment”) has made it to the selection list.

We don’t see any rule violation here, except that the school has not made the complete list available to public, so we have sent another mail (Dated: January 26th 2008) to Mr. Aditya asking school to publish the complete list so that we can check if this “system” has really been followed.

Updates received on January 28, 2008:
We have received response from Mr. Aditya today and in his response he mentioned that “With regards to publishing the names and numbers we had decided not to do it online to protect the privacy of the parents. Since the marks given be broken up to reveal confidential information about the parents' qualification and work background, as well as allow anyone to find out the status of someone else's admission, we wish to err on the side of caution in this regard. In this day and age when the privacy of individuals both online and offline are been regularly compromised we felt ethically obliged not to reveal this information online.”

He also added that “Next year we plan to implement a more stringent security system with a username / password aspect; along with a more secure server (better programming as pointed out by you is also needed). The lists were put on the notice board of the school for local consumption. Certainly we have learned a lot from the process this year (we received around 6700 applications for 300 seats), and try for more disclosure next year, perhaps putting in a place a system where marks are given immediately at the point of application.”

We thank Mr. Aditya for timely clarification he has provided to all of us. This has certainly helped everyone

Nursery Mathematics

I never thought that my good score in mathematics (shameless self-promotion: I scored 100% marks in 10th grade exams) would come handy after almost 19 years when I will start searching for a nursery school for my kid. What else you can expect from a harried engineer parent?

This “brain twisting” analysis idea came into my mind when I started analyzing chances/probability of my kid making to ‘any’ possible second, third of final list of any school in Delhi.

Hope you understand that the numbers used for this analysis are only indicative and doesn’t reflect any real data. I hope this would lit some ‘hope’ in everyone’s heart – yes there is still some hope. Keep smiling!

Let’s do some basic maths now:

Inputs:
100 - Schools taking admissions for 2008-2009 year in Delhi………...…..… (a)
3000 - Seats for 2008-2009 year (across all schools in Delhi)…………....… (b)
4000 – Applicants for 2008-2009 year (across Delhi)…………………………. (c)

Avg. no. of applications per applicant: 10 (data taken from poll results)
Total applications: 4000 x 10= 40000

Output:
Seats short (c - b): 1000
% of applicants appearing on more than one list: 10% = 4000 (c) x 10%= 400 …….....…….. (d)
Avg. no of lists one kid is appearing: 4
Total seats blocked by these applicants (d x 4): 400 x 4 = 1600 seats……………….…...……... (e)
These kids would free seats (e - d): 1600 – 400 = 1200 seats………………………………………. (f)
Avg. no of available seats per school (f/a): 1200/100 = 12……………………………………………. (g)

Average highest points (based on observations so far): 75 …………………………………...……… (h)
Average cut-off points (based on observations so far): 50 ………………………………….………… (i)
Average points per seat ((h - i)/(b/a)): (75-50)/30 = 25/30= approx. 0.75………..………….. (j)
Expected drop in points (g x j): 12 x 0.75 = approx. 10
Next expected cut-off: 50 – 10 = 40

If you think, you could not understand my point here, then here is the conclusion of this math :)
If you look at the final result of this calculation, the expected drop in cut-off is touching 40, and I am sure it would even drop to 30 which means that many of us would make to the list at one or other school after 1st Feb, 2008. I wish I could put actual numbers in this calculation, the output would have been really really interesting. What you say?

I wish I were right here with this calculation ‘cum’ prediction and see ‘many-many’ happy parents at schools gates in the month of February.

Cheers!

The truth behind nursery admissions in Delhi!

The story is known to everyone, parents have cried themselves hoarse over the issue, we have had everything from media to public participation over the Nursery Admission fiasco. The problem began when the DOE flouted vague guidelines regarding nursery admissions on 24th November 2007 (Order No. F/DE/15/1031/ACT/2007/7002 later revised in Dec 2007) which led to the rampant rule flouting by schools across Delhi. Since the guidelines were not very clear the schools got a chance to play with the guidelines and started there own modifications (read fiddling around with the rules). A number of them have been exposed here on nurseryadmissionsdelhi.blogspot.com; but it hasn’t been enough to move anybody to take a step in the interest of the tiny tots (who we all know are the future of the nation). The government’s reaction has been limited to the one off comment (Lovely proudly declaring that every student would get admission) where as the media has pitched in with a few articles here and another news story there (no blaming the media since the future of India is not a TRP or readership booster). The actual problem is that no body cares about the real problem; on a poll conducted here (http://nurseryadmissionsdelhi.blogspot.com/) we asked the people “How many schools have you applied for?” we got shocking results:


You might ask what’s the relevance of my talking about this poll here; well for one it goes on to show the level of desperation among parents ( to the Delhi government – you are losing serious votes here). Now the question “who is listening to our plea?” the DOE is silent, the media doesn’t see a TRP cow in nursery admissions, the schools have become like Reliance Power IPO (oversubscribed) and the sad truth is nobody cares.

It’s our sincere plea to the government of Delhi and the media to please take note (a little bit of action would also come in handy).

Now the latest in the series of exposes about the schools and there football with DOE guidelines:

“SHRI RAM SCHOOL FARCE – As seen and reported by a harried parent”

Imagine as if this is your profile:
1) You are an Engineer, IIM Graduate with an excellent academic record
2) Your spouse has a profile similar to yours
3) You have represented India abroad on multiple occasions
3) You have won several National Level debates/contests/awards like “Technical Paper Contest, National Quiz, International Scholarship” etc.
4) You have certain 40 points (as per admissions criterion detailed out on admission form and school website)

Now, I think you would agree with me that you both can easily score at least 15 points in the interaction (some fellow parents like to call it GD, 'Cattle' Fair and so on) that was held at Sri Ram Vatika a few days back.

So in total you have good 55 points in Sri Ram School and the cut-off is 55 points (54 for the waiting list), but you are no where on that list?

What do you think they should do now? Does that selection criterion really make any sense to anyone out there?

We are opening a new poll today to help understand this problem, please give him the score that you think he would have scored looking at his profile (consider that he has good academic, extra-curricular record).

Kathuria Public School, Mahipalpur - Pre-School Admissions Open!

Kathuria Public School, Mahipalpur Road, Vasant Kunj New Delhi , Delhi-70

This school has opened seats for pre-school (nursery) classes for 2008-2009 session. As per current information they have approx. 35-40 seats.

Although school has opened admissions very late but no harm for parents as such. HEre is the school report (received at 10:00am on 14/01/2008):

1. Very ordinary school, gives an impression of govt. school, so parents who are not willing to send their kids to Govt. school might reject it.
2. Admission on first come-first serve basis
3. Very nominal fee (Approx. 3-4K admission fee, Rs. 700-900 p/m tution fee) - please check with school for exact fee structure.
4. Overall very avg. type of school in terms of education, facilities etc.

Here is the contact information:
Ph:26871111, 55336061

All the best!

Take That! The site claiming to be non-commercial blocks and bans this blog!

As most of us all have seen them on TV, it looked like they were advertising their website rather addressing the issues. I thought I should share my view and help them with whatever I can and I posted this comments today evening on their site:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Puja for really coming out and showing courage. You guys have really set an example for rest of the people, but I would somewhat agree to the comments by 'r' that says "it was more like site promotion than bringing up real issues", saying openly that you spent 'x' amount and helping other parents and then talking about future plans (next year and so on) of this 'website' was bit discouraging and out of the topic of issue that parents are facing...

Anyways, thanks for great efforts. We are also trying our level best at Nursery Admissions Delhi blog (http://nurseryadmissionsdelhi.blogspot.com/) to address real issues directly from parents and media and more.

Thanks again, but it could have been better.
Spyder
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

....and to my big surprise, the original post was removed from site because many parents had displayed same views on their site regarding today's coverage on NDTV. And to add to that they banned my account and blocked me from entering the site. Any explainations ????

If anyone wants to see this, I can share my login and password and you can check yourself.

One could easily guess that from the today's coverage on NDTV, as they mentioned they had spent so much money on the site, they have plans for next year and so on.....but hardly a word about the Nursery Admissions, Issues Parents are facing........

Shame on such business minded people that are playing with Parents feelings!

A Parent's Agony - Dilli Se...

हम इस कहानी को यहीं खतम नहीं करना चाहते! खास कर जब हमें दुसरे अभिभावकों की सद्भावना और सहायता मिल रही है। ये कहानी एक परिवार, एक बच्चे की नहीं, बल्कि हज़ारों, लाखों परिवारों की है, उनके बच्चों की है। हमें मालूम है कि हमारी तरह बहुत से माता पिता इस परेशानी से गुज़र रहे हैं।

आज (११-जनवरी-2008) एक पिता ने, जो श्री राम वाटिका में 'ग्रुप मीटिंग' कर के आ रह था, बताया कि सच तो ये है के मेने सब स्कूलों में फॉर्म भरें हैं, अब प्रिंसिपल के इस सवाल का ज़वाब क्या हो के मैंने "श्री राम वाटिका क्यों चुना ?"

हमने एक शुरुआत की थी इस एक सच्ची कहानी से, और इस कहानी में आज एक और पन्ना जुडा है। आज हम ये प्रण करते हैं की हर इस कहानी को सब के सामने लाया जाएगा। हर कोशिश नाकाम न जाये ये हम सब कि दुआ है। हर बच्चे को एक अच्छा स्कूल मिले....हर वो सपना सच हो जो उसके लिए माता पिता ने संजोया है।

आमीन!

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True Story#1 from parents: "Untitled..."
I thought that I will take this blog to a new level and probably will help change the politics behind admissions but seems like it is not as easy as it seems. I even thought of filing PIL (also suggested by few visitors on this blog) but as we all know even PIL is not an easy way out, high courts are not accepting PILs and has given their own limitations.

Don’t know if my kid would get admission in pre-primary in any of the schools in Delhi, I have forgotten of all my dreams of getting him a good school from day one…
I wonder sometimes, why I have to compromise in life, why my innocent child is forced to compromise for no reason. Why a stupid fault in the system will go down our life which will keep coming as nightmare for rest of the life.

Why can’t we have intelligent politicians that put some brain before they take any decisions? I go to schools and see poor parents standing in the lines to get forms, and other are standing to submit forms. No one is really looking confident, and I am sure none of us can understand why schools are allowed to have different form formats? Why different schools are asking for different supporting documents and that too in their own way (self attested, attested by gazetted officer, just plain photo-copies and so on…).

I am a poor parent like 1000 out there who is earning good my family belongs to general class, has raised a healthy first child, I have spent over 5000 rupees in buying admission forms and still not sure if my kid will get admission in any school this year.

Here I am, the typical Indian parent, now for the future of my 4 year kid I am ready to pay anyone a good amount who can promise me admission in school for my kid…
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True Story#2 from parents: "My Poor Child"
As I type this, I hear you playing downstairs, so happily, so cheerfully, so unaware of the hundreds of vicious people in those schools out there who will give negative marks to you and me. Me for not being a Govt servant, not being on transfer, not being a post-graduate. You for not being first-born, not being physically-handicapped, not being a girl.

Play on, my child, play on.

These arrogant people - these Principals and Head-mistresses and Head-masters who will determine your next 14 years of life this month with a flick of their pens or at the flick of a cheque - don't matter. You still are my most wonderful child.

GOTHILLA, THE SADDEST OF THE VISIGOTHS
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The Banyan Tree School (Lodhi Complex) - Parents Interaction

Here are updates from The Banyan Tree School (Nr. Sai Mandir, Lodhi Complex, New Delhi) - Parents Interaction held today:

Overview: Very well organized, the parents who attended interaction at Birla Vidya Mandir would easily get it as it was more or less the same, except that parents had to face two 'interviewers' (sorry read teachers). It was very well organized in terms of time slots, waiting areas, attendents etc. Per reports, it was taking approx. 20-30 mins (school gate entry-exit time) which is pretty much okie. Per reports from parents we came to know that teachers greeted them as they entered and were very friendly. They made it clear that this interaction will not attract any additional points.

Bad things about interaction:

1. Interviewers (sorry again, please read 'teachers') were asking questions, so in all it can be called interview.
2. Majority of the parents have reported that they did not check documents in front of them, instead they fired questions to parents.