Special Schools: Guidelines issued for admission in special schools, apply for classes one to nine and 11..

Special Schools Admission: The Directorate of Education has issued guidelines for admission to special schools run by the Delhi government and for admission to classes 1 to 9 and 11.

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has said in a circular issued on March 6 that students who have passed the previous class from a recognized school will be directly admitted to classes 6 to 9.

Rules for admission to classes 6 to 9

Out-of-school children seeking admission to class 6 will be assessed to check their basic literacy and numeracy skills. Students applying for classes 7 and 8 who have not studied in a recognized school can be admitted by taking a simple undertaking from their parents.

Admission to class 9 will be given only to those students who have passed the previous class from a recognized school. Students transferring from feeder schools with valid documents are exempted from the age criteria and the school head can give a relaxation of six months at the request of the parents.

According to the guidelines, the age criteria for admission to government special schools is based on the class level as of March 31 of the academic year.

Entry level and age criteria
The age limit for entry-level classes is three to seven years for nursery, four to eight years for kindergarten, five to nine years for class 1, six to 11 years for class 2, seven to 12 years for class 3, eight to 13 years for class 4 and nine to 14 years for class 5.

The age limit for the middle level is 10-16 years for class 6, 11-17 years for class 7, 12-18 years for class 8, and 13-19 years for class 9.

Requirements for admission to Class 11
Students must be between 15 and 21 years of age to get admission to class 11. The guidelines also mention relaxation of up to six months in some cases depending on the class level and the discretion of the school.

The Directorate of Education said that students who have passed the secondary school examination (Class 10) will be eligible for admission to Class 11.

Students who have passed Class 10 from the National Institute of Open Schooling will have to secure at least 50 percent marks in five subjects to opt for non-skilled humanities subjects, and 45 per cent marks to opt for skilled humanities subjects.

Guidelines for students with special needs

For children with disabilities, the Directorate of Education highlighted that a disability certificate or Unique Disability Identification (UDID) card is required for admission to schools for visually impaired students.

For students with intellectual disability, admission is restricted to only those who are classified under moderate to severe disability based on IQ level.

As per the Directorate of Education guidelines, priority will be given to students living in trans-Yamuna areas due to transport constraints.

For hearing-impaired students, the education department has specified that only those with severe to profound hearing loss (more than 61 dB) will be eligible, and will require additional assessments such as PTA (hearing test) and IQ tests.

Application process and priority rules
The Directorate of Education said all admissions will be conducted online on the official website. It said priority will be given to students whose siblings are studying in government special schools.

Children residing in Delhi will be given priority, but non-residents can also apply for hostel facilities if seats remain vacant after admitting eligible Delhi-based students. The directorate also stressed that admission will be subject to the availability of seats and a lottery will be held if applications exceed the available seats.

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