Chandigarh: EWS students not admitted, St Kabir school gets notice

The school has been told to either admit EWS students by 5 pm on Monday or respond to the notice by the same deadline

The UT education department has issued a show-cause notice to St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, for not admitting EWS students in the 2023-2024 academic session.

While the school was supposed to admit 23 EWS students, as per Chandigarh education department officials, there was not a single EWS admission on record. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The school has been told to either admit economically weaker section (EWS) students by 5 pm on Monday or respond to the notice by the same deadline. Failure to do so, will invite legal action under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.

The notice has been sent for flouting UT administration’s directions and not complying with the Punjab Education Code. Under the RTE Act, 25% seats have to be reserved for EWS students at unaided recognised non-minority schools.

St Kabir was one of the 67 private schools that had participated in the centralised admission process for EWS students started by the department this year. While the school was supposed to admit 23 EWS students, as per department officials, there was not a single EWS admission on record.

As per officials, the extension of the school’s recognition, which was valid till March 31, 2023, is also pending with the department. The provisional recognition was last given in 2018 and was valid for five years, although reapplication is a routine process among private schools.

Admitting EWS students is among the criteria for recognition from the department. As such, non-compliance will be taken up as the school reapplies for the provisional recognition.

The matter is also pending in the Supreme Court and will come up for hearing next on April 20. School administrator Gurpreet Bakshi said they will file a reply before Monday.

Earlier on March 10, the department had initiated derecognition proceedings against nine private schools that had not participated in the centralised EWS admissions. But no further action has been taken yet.

The Independent School Association, the body of city’s private schools, has been alleging that UT has not been keeping its part of the deal of paying EWS admission dues. This matter is also in court.