Fees hurdle hampers poor students’ higher education dreams
Raju Singh, a student of a Delhi government school, scored 94% in his CBSE Class 12 boards this year, and wants to enrol in mechanical engineering programme to support his family of four
Raju Singh, a student of a Delhi government school, scored 94% in his CBSE Class 12 boards this year, and wants to enrol in mechanical engineering programme to support his family of four. But the 19-year-old is unsure about how to arrange for his fee and is currently preparing for his Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) without any solution in sight.
“After my father died around four years ago, my mother has been working as a domestic help to run our family. Two of my siblings are still in school and we have no assets that can be sold. Though I am preparing for JEE, I have no idea how I will arrange the admission fee. I don’t know who to approach for help,” said the Naharpur resident, who graduated from a Delhi government school in Rohini this year.
While the graduation percentage in Delhi government schools improved two percentage points from last year to 99.96% and the number of students scoring over 95% jumped from 442 to 885, many of these students are now expressing concerns over their higher education prospects especially in the face of the financial distress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sunita Bhati, a Class 12 teacher at a government school in New Kondli, said institution’s faculty members have been helping students by providing study material and books. However, the pandemic had aggravated the financial problems for several of these families.
“Many students ask us for financial assistance and later for their college education as well. These students are very shy, so they refuse to take money directly from us. An institutional mechanism to address these concerns will help,” she said.
In June 2019, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, issued an order asking government schools to help over 1,000 meritorious students who scored above 90% in their class 12 examinations to “track their applications to colleges and sort out any issue in their admission.” Schools were also asked to submit a status report by July 31 that year with details of the course pursued by these students and track their progress for “at least during the first year of college.”
While schools followed these directives, most treat it as a one-time order and now help students only on an informal basis—meaning several students may be left out of the net. Currently, there is no formal mechanism in place to help all students and record data on their higher education applications.
Principals of at least five government schools HT spoke to said they try to arrange for help for underprivileged students. Awadhesh Kumar Jha, principal of a government school in Rohini, said, “We maintained the data for that year and sent it to the education department. But after that, we have been in touch with students at our own level, helping them out in whichever way we can. We have also maintained a strong connection with our alumni so that they too could help in guiding our students.”
Lack of an institutionalised mechanism means not all students know who to approach for help.
Another government school student Sanjay, who has applied for an undergraduate course at Delhi University with 94.25% aggregate, said, “My father works as a utensil vendor and hasn’t had much work in the past two years due to the pandemic. Even if I get through a good college, it might propel us towards another cycle of debt as he would have to take a loan for my fee. I don’t know who to approach for help. Though there are scholarships, I don’t know if I would be eligible for them or not.”
