7,000 EWS seats still vacant in Delhi’s pvt schools: Govt

Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, at least 25% of seats in entry-level classes have to be mandatorily reserved for EWS/DG (22%) and CWSN (3%).

Nearly 7,700 seats reserved at private schools under the economically weaker section/disadvantaged groups (EWS/DG) and children with special needs (CWSN) categories are yet to be filled, according to data from the directorate of education (DoE).

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Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, at least 25% of seats in entry-level classes have to be mandatorily reserved for EWS/DG (22%) and CWSN (3%).

In the academic year 2023-24, DoE allotted 32,269 seats in the reserved categories. As on April 13, 24,577 seats had been filled whereas 7,692 were vacant. For 2,718 seats, parents did not report after seat allotment,while schools rejected 526 admission claims.Around 1,811 children are still on the waitlist while 321 have been admitted provisionally. The status of 2,316 seats has not been updated, shows DoE data.

DoE officials said that some private schools that allotted seats to candidates are denying admission and the status of such candidates had not been uploaded on the DoE’s school module. Officials have now been directed to meet with principals of defaulter schools and ensure admission.

Sudha Acharya, chairperson of the National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), a consortium of private schools, refuted the allegations of schools denying admission, and said there were instances when documents submitted by parents were not correct or mentioned different details. “Sometimes parents submit documents with different addresses or there are issues in the income certificate. In our school also, we had two cases where there was some discrepancy in uploading documents. We reached out to the DoE and asked them to look into the matter,” said Acharya.

Officials said the department will closely scrutinise each seat that was not allotted before it is declared vacant for another round of admission.

“Almost 80% of admissions on the allotted seats have now been confirmed. For the remaining seats, the department will closely look at each and every case where parents did not report to the school or the admission was rejected or kept in waiting or the status is not clear. We will scrutinise each and every seat to check if the individuals allotted are genuinely not interested in taking admission. After scrutiny, the seats will be declared vacant again for the next round of admission,” said a DoE official, who did not wish to be named.