Enrolling your child in a Delhi school? Admission procedure is going to get stricter

Delhi: Getting your child enrolled in any school in Delhi has its own set of difficulties. In addition to the already existing admission criteria and award points set by various schools, the Directorate of Education (DoE) has now instructed schools to ‘ensure strict admission procedures’.

The DoE's latest circular mandates that all schools, including government, government-aided, and non-aided recognised private schools in Delhi must carry out ‘thorough documentation’ and ‘implement greater scrutiny’ during admission. This is being done to prevent illegal Bangladeshi migrants' enrollment in the schools.

What the circular says

“Schools must ensure strict admission procedures, verification of students’ documentation to prevent illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ enrollment, implementation of greater scrutiny to detect and prevent unauthorised admissions of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in particular,” read the circular signed by Deputy Director of Education (Schools) Sanjay Subhas Kumar.

The circular added that all schools must “ensure that when admitting migrant children into schools, it is essential to follow a thorough careful process to ensure that all necessary documentation is submitted, verified and handled properly”.

However, the circular does not outline the specific documents that a student or their parents must submit to verify their legal stay in the country.

What are the existing rules?

Admission to various schools, including government and private schools in Delhi, requires documents such as birth certificate, address proof and school leaving certificate.

In addition to these, some schools have their own admission criteria. Some of the common factors include proximity to the school, alumni parents, and siblings already enrolled.

Delhi school admissions a difficult scene

Securing admission to any school in Delhi for a child has always been a tough nut to crack. In 2023, Ashneer Grover, the former co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, took to X to state that admission for a 4-year-old child in a private school in Delhi-NCR is more challenging than gaining entry into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

The same year, Delhi's former CM Arvind Kejriwal had also mentioned about the intense competition. The CM said over 90,000 applications for 4,400 seats in 36 Schools of Specialised Excellence, across Delhi, had been received in 2023.