BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
This year, low admission to nursery classes in Delhi Private Schools has raised many doubts among the Muslims community. Of 92 schools which provided some sort of information on their websites, as many as 20 admitted no Muslim child while 17 admitted only one Muslim child each.
There are a very few schools which are willing to reveal the numbers of Muslim applicants that makes it difficult to establish the prevalence of bias. For example, against 170 available seats, the Pusa Road branch of Springdales School received 2,443 applications of which 155 were from Muslim children. The school admitted two Muslim children in the Economically Weaker Section category. Delhi Public School, East of Kailash, received 2997 applications of which 269 were from Muslims-against 180 vacancies. This school, which is close to many Muslim neighbourhoods, admitted five Muslim children in all.
In this regards, Abdul Khaliq, General Secretary of Lok Jan Shakti Party had written to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, few days ago alleging that these skewed figures amounted to denial of quality education to Muslim children. In a letter to Dikshit, copies of which were sent to Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and principals of all major private schools in the Capital, he stated, “Data collected by us on the number of Muslim children admitted to nursery class this academic year in the city’s popular private schools indicate dismally low numbers. Although Muslims comprise about 15 per cent of the population, less than 0.5 per cent of Muslim children have been admitted.”
Distressed Muslim parents are approaching to community leaders as well as concerned people to raise voice against the discrimination. At lest 87 schools failed to upload admission details on their websites as mandated by the Directorate of Education.
The Kirti Nagar branch of Springdales School admitted no Muslim child while the school’s Dhaula Kuan branch admitted one Muslim child. Of 150 children admitted by Blue Bells, Lajpat Nagar, two were Muslims. The ratio for Indian School, Sadiq Nagar, was three of 120. The best figures were posted by Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, which admitted 65 Muslim children against 240 available seats-23 and 42 in general and Economically Weaker Section category. All three schools are located in neighbourhoods with large populations of Muslims.
What explains such a large variation in the numbers of Muslim children admitted? Why are so many schools entirely unable to admit Muslim children when a school like DPS seems to have had no difficulty on this count? As Khaliq pointed out in his letter, the problem appears to be an offshoot of the widely-varying points system followed by school managements: “Indian School has earmarked 30 points for those living in the neighbourhood and Blue Bells 40 points, whereas Cambridge Primary School has only 10 neighbourhood points.”
The current admission policy of Private School in Delhi have not only given mental agony to parents, but also provided an opportunity where the Minority Community start feeling that their children are being discriminated.
The following table gives the details of admission of the students
| S. No. | School Name | Total No. of Seats in School | No. of Muslim children Selected |
| 1 | Springdales School, Pusa Road | 170 | 0 |
| 2 | Springdales School, Kirti Nagar | 0 | |
| 3 | Bal Bharti Public School, Rohini | 184 | 0 |
| 4 | Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka | 147 | 1 in EWS, 1 in General |
| 5 | Mount Carmel School, Anand Niketan | 85 | 0 |
| 6 | Maharahja Agarsen Model School, Pitam Pura | 160 | 0 |
| 7 | Bharti Public School, Mayur Vihar(Pre Primary) | 80 | 2 in General |
| 8 | Saint Marks School, Janak Puri | 252 | 0 |
| 9 | Salwan Junior Public School, Naraina Vihar | Not available on school website | 0 |
| 10 | Shah International School, Paschim Vihar | 70 | 0 |
| 11 | CRPF Public School, Dwarka | 105 | 0 |
| 12 | Prabhu Dayal Public School, Shalimar Bagh | 200 | 0 |
| 13 | N K Bagrodia Public School, Dwarka | 180 | 0 |
| 14 | Shiksha Bharti Public School, Dwarka | 100 | 0 |
| 15 | BGS International Public School, Dwarka | 104 | 0 |
| 16 | Mata Jai Kaur Public School, Ashok Vihar-52 | 176 | 5 in EWS |
| 17 | Air Force Bal Bharti School Lodhi Road | 0 | |
| 18 | DL DAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh | 86 | 0 |
| 19 | Mirambika Reserch Centre for Integral Education & Human Values | 14 | 0 |
| 20 | Brilliant Convent Sr Sec School, Pitampura | 80 | 0 |
| 21 | Venkateshwar International School, Rohini | 69 in first list | 0 |
| 22 | Bloom Public School, Vasant Kunj | 96 | 0 |
| 23 | Remal Public Sr Sec School, Rohini (PREP Class) | 19 in 1st List | 0 |
| 24 | Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan | 136 | 1 |
| 25 | The Heritage School, Rohini | 140 | 3 |
| 26 | Kulachi Hansraj Modern School, Ashok Vihar | 300 | 3 |
| 27 | DPS, Vasant Vihar | 216 | 3 in General, 1 in EWS |
| 28 | DPS, East of Kailash | 180 | 3 in General, 2 in EWS |
| 29 | DPS, Vasant Kunj | 175 | 2 |
| 30 | DPS, Dwarka | 180 | 3 from EWS |
| 31 | Mount Carmel School, Dwarka | 60 | 1 |
| 32 | Tagore International, Vasant Vihar | 134 | 3 |
| 33 | Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar | 160 | 2 |
| 34 | ASN School, Mayur Vihar | 200 | 2 |
| 35 | Bal Bhavan Public School, Mayur Vihar | 3 | |
| 36 | Gyan Bharti School, Saket | 150 | 5 |
| 37 | Blue Bells School International, Lajpat Nagar | 150 | 2 |
| 38 | DAV, Dayanand Vihar | 1 | |
| 39 | Nirmal Bhartia School, Dwarka | 60 | 2 |
| 40 | Sneh International School, Vikas Marg | 100 | 6 |
| 41 | Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Lodhi Road | 1 | |
| 42 | Bhai Parmanand Vidya Mandir, Anand Vihar | 1 | |
| 43 | Laxman Public School, Hauz Khas | 105 | 4 |
| 44 | The Indian School, New Delhi-49 | 120 | 3 |
| 45 | Bal Bharti Public School, ,Karol Bagh | 150 | 7 |
| 46 | Lilavati Vidya Mandir,Shakti Nagar | 250 | 5 |
| 47 | PP International School | 90 | 1 |
| 48 | The Pinnacle,Panchsheel Enclave | 120 | 3 |
| 49 | St George’s School, Alaknanda | 200 | 8 |
| 50 | The Mothers International School | 120 | 2 |
| 51 | Birla Vidya Niketan, Pushp vihar | 80 | 2 in general, 1 in EWS |
| 52 | Shaheed Rajpal DAV Public schoolDayanand Vihar | 150 | 1 |
| 53 | DAV-Pushpanjali, Pitampura | 160 | 2 |
| 54 | St. Thomas School, Dwarka | 427 | 5 |
| 55 | Hansraj Model School, Punjabi Bagh | 500 | 1 in General, 6 in EWS |
| 56 | The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj | 40 | 2 |
| 57 | Apeejay School Pitam Pura | 180 | 1 in General, 2 in EWS |
| 58 | Apeejay School, Saket | 90 | 4 in General, 2 in EWS |
| 59 | The Srijan School, Model Town | 120 | 1 in EWS |
| 60 | Gyan Mandir Public School, Naraina Vihar | 90 | 3 in General, 1 in EWS |
| 61 | G D Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj | 76 +42 EWS | 1 in EWS |
| 62 | G D Goenka Public School, Dwarka | 200 | 3 |
| 63 | Red Roses Public School, Saket | 100 | 2 |
| 64 | Don Bosco School, Alaknanda, GK | 5 in 2nd List, 1 in EWS | |
| 65 | Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj | 90 | 1 in General, 1 in EWS |
| 66 | G D Salwan School, Old Rajinder Nagar | 80 | 2 |
| 67 | Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar | Not available on website | 2 |
| 68 | N C Jindal Public School, Punjabi Bagh | 200 | 4 |
| 69 | Chinmaya Viodyalaya, Vasant Vihar | 160 | 2 in EWS |
| 70 | Dwarka International, Dwarka | 140 | 3 in General1 in EWS |
| 72 | Modern School, Vasant Vihar | 120 | 3 |
| 73 | Lilawati Vidya Mandir, Shakti Nagar | 268 | 8 in General1 in EWS |
| 74 | Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Ashok Vihar | 500 | 4 |
| 75 | New Era Junior School, Rajouri Garden/ Narayana Vihar | 500 | 2 |
| 76 | Tagore International, East of Kailash | 176 | 16 |
| 77 | Montfort School, Ashok Vihar, ND-52 | 49 from Draw | 1 |
| 78 | Carmel Convent School, Chanakyapuri | 100 | 5 in General |
| 79 | The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar | 112 | 3 |
| 80 | DPS, Rohini | 140 | 1 |
| 81 | DAV Sreshatha Vihar Delhi-92 | 250 | 1 |
| 82 | Bal Bharti Public School Pitam Pura | 368 | 1 |
| 83 | Bosco Public School Pashim Vihar | 90 | 2 |
| 84 | Birla Vidya Niketan, Pushp Vihar | 80 | 1 in EWS |
| 85 | Adarsh Public School, Vikas Puri | 180 | 1 in EWS |
| 86 | Bal Bhawan International School, Dwarka | List of 250 on Website | 1 |
| 87 | Suraj Bhan DAV Public School, Vasant Vihar | 120 | 1 in General1 in Waiting List |
| 88 | Adharshila Vidyapeeth, Pitampura | 200 | 2 in EWS |
| 90 | Venkateshwar International School, Dwarka | 160 | 2 |
| 91 | Veda Vyasa DAV Public School, Vikas Puri | 47 candidates in first list | 0
4 in General, 3 in EWS |
| 92 | Poorna Prajna Public School, Vasant Kunj | 120 | 1 |
(Information taken from School Website)
