With nursery admissions set to start from January 2 next year,many schools have come out with interesting criteria for choosing candidates. Cambridge School,New Friends Colony,is awarding points to children whose parents hail from intercultural backgrounds. This,according to the schools administrative officer,is part of the institutions efforts to promote cultural integration. The school will also give extra points to children with special needs,as well as those who have physically challenged parents. Parents with special achievements will win five additional points for their children. Springdales School will give extra points to children belonging to minorities. The schools admission notice reads: In keeping with our ethos and objectives,we will embrace a diverse mix of children from different communities,religions,regions,and linguistic groups. Aspirants must provide authentic proof that they qualify to be minorities,as defined by authorised bodies such as the Minorities Commission. The school will award the most points to people in the sibling (30) and alumni (25) criteria. This is still lower than last years 35 points awarded to children of the alumni. Also,first-born children will get 10 points at Springdales. Children,whose parents are serving in civil and allied services/armed forces,will get 20 points (10 for each parent) in DPS RK Puram. Even though many parents and some schools under the banner of the Delhi State Private Schools Management Association had written to the directorate,seeking scrapping of the sibling and alumni criteria,they figure prominently in the points breakdown of schools that have announced admissions so far. However,the number of points allotted to the criteria has come down,Sumit Mehra,founder of admissionsnursery.com,said. Last year,schools were awarding anywhere between 25 and 35 points for each of these criteria. Schools such as St Marys and Mount Carmel are not giving any points to the girl child this year. Another school,however,will award eight points to the first-born girl child and 10 to the first-born boy. A particular school is offering five points for the adopted girl child,and two for the adopted boy. Some schools such as Bal Bharti,Tagore International and Mount Carmel have done away with the points system,and are opting for a draw of lots instead.
