A point-wise break-up of those short-listed for admission at DPS, RK Puram, shows that 10 out of 11 belonged either to alumni or sibling criterion.

At the school’s second junior branch at East of Kailash, only one in 36 did not belong to either category. At least 21 applicants belonged to both.

The minimum points to a candidate who does not belong to the sibling or alumni criterion is 32, based on residence and first-born category. Maximum points given to a child with any of the two criteria is 58, and maximum points for those who qualify in both alumni and sibling criteria totals 64.

As reported by Newsline on January 5, students applying under the alumni-parent or sibling criterion made the cut in large numbers in several private schools.

Specifically, nearly 98 per cent in DPS, Mathura Road, and 97 per cent in Springdales, Dhaula Kuan, belonged to the sibling and alumni criteria. A few schools admitted students through draw of lots, like Apeejay School in Pitampura. But even here, a third of the total seats were reserved for the alumni-parent and siblings criteria.

At Mother’s International School, there are 35 points each for sibling and alumni criterion. The minimum points allotted to a short-listed candidate are 40, while only 30 points are given in the neighbourhood criterion. Maximum points to any applicant go as high as 70.

At Springdales, Pusa Road, the minimum weightage for selection is 45 points.

Children who do not come under the sibling or alumni category, will have to score 20 points meant for neighbourhood, five for girl child, five for inter-state transfers or children from overseas, another 10 for first-born child and even then belong to a minority (five points) to match up to the points for sibling (30) and alumni (25) put together.

Principal Springdales, Pusa Road, Ameeta Wattal said, “Unfortunately, parents belonging to other categories do not get as many seats as sibling and alumni, but the High Court has allowed us to have justifiable criteria and we have many other categories to make the process more inclusive.”

Child education rights activist Ashok Agarwal said the results are indicative of the discriminatory admission policy of private schools.