Delhi is mulling a move from the lottery system for admissions in schools at the nursery level. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit is learnt to have come out against the drawing of lots to admit children in schools at a meeting with education minister Arvinder Singh and heads of public school management associations on Thursday.

R C Jain, president of the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association said, "The chief minister said that the lottery system should not be there. And that the admissions should be based on the point system."

The admissions for 75 percent seats which will be under the general category could be based on the point system, like last year. The schools retain the right to decide the admission criteria themselves, most points would be alloted on categories such as neighbourhood, alumni siblings. Schools are allowed to fix a discretion quota for these seats too.

Of the remaining 25 percent of the seats, earmarked for students from economically weaker sections of the society, 20 percent will be filled based on a similar point sytem to that used for the general category seats and the rest five percent of the seats can be reserved for the children of the school staff.

The government has sought to remove confusion regarding the admission criteria caused by the right to education (RTE) guidelines released by the human resources development ministry. One of the guidelines barred schools from interviewing parents or students before admissions, making the procedure seem like a random draw of lots. Parents and schools alike had sought clarifications from the government, and Thursday's announcement brought much relief.

Sumi Vohra, who runs the admissionsnursery.com, a website to help parents, says, “Parents are really happy and relieved. Now they are certain about the type of ideology they were looking in schools.”

Earlier, the parents and the school authorities had earlier raised their voice against the lottery system.

The government had already announced that the admission process will start from January 1, 2011, and it will continue for three months before ending on 31st March.

The Delhi government will soon notify the schools on the final guidelines.