Private schools should admit EWS students without waiting for admission in general category: Sisodia.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday directed private schools in the national capital to admit students under the EWS category on the basis of the allotted list sent by the government and without waiting for the required number of admissions in the general category.
Sisodia tweeted, ‘Instructed private schools to complete the process of admission to 25 percent seats in EWS category this year without waiting for admission in 75 percent seats of general category.
Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, at least 25 per cent of the seats in the entry-level classes – nursery, kindergarten and class I – must be reserved for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.
Out of 25 per cent EWS seats, 22 per cent are reserved for disadvantaged classes and 3 per cent for children with disabilities.
The students are selected through a computerized draw conducted by the Government of Delhi.
“We all know that the Right to Education Act is effective across the country, and as per the RTE Act, private schools have to reserve 25 per cent seats for the economically weaker sections of the society. If there are 100 seats, then there are 100 seats for admission in schools. 75 seats are considered under general category while 25 out of these seats are reserved for EWS.
“The Delhi government has introduced a provision in which it will announce the draw for admission to the seats reserved under the EWS category, based on the applications received and the number of seats available by the schools, on the basis of the information provided.
“When we sought applications under the EWS category, we received around 1.26 lakh applications, on the basis of which we announced the draw of 32,500 seats,” he said.
Sisodia informed that under any normal circumstances, on the basis of the allotted list provided by the Delhi government, private schools admit three students under the general category and one student under the EWS category.
“This is the normal process of admission. However, the lockdown has derailed the entire admission process, with a gap in admission even for general category students.
“Now it has been decided whether private schools will have to admit students under general category or not, private schools will have to admit students under EWS category on the basis of allotted list sent by Delhi government,” he said.
The application process for EWS admission began on April 7 and the first draw was to be held on April 30. However, it was postponed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally the first draw was done on 15 June.
The process of general admission to entry-level classes was also delayed by over two months this year in view of the pandemic.
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