School remains a struggle despite govt intervention, say EWS children

Under the prevalent practice, schools admit one EWS student for every three students admitted under the general category.

Despite several interventions by state authorities, parents of several children from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category continue to struggle after multiple private schools in the city either denied admission to these children or failed to provide EWS students with free textbooks and stationery as mandated under the Right to Education Act.

On July 5, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) also issued a notice to the school asking them to give the students free books and writing material. (Sanchit Khanna/HT file for representation)

A single-mother of a Class 2 student said she was only able to get a few books despite repeated complaints. “The authorities at New Bal Vaishali Public School (Molarband) said the amount they get from the government for EWS students is not sufficient so I had to pay ₹1,650 for books and stationery as per MRP, which is usually marked at a higher rate,” she said.

Reacting to the complaint, principal of the school Vaibhav Sharma said, “The reimbursement allocated for this year has gone down from previous years. Hence, we could only provide books that we could afford from the reimbursement amount.”

On July 5, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) also issued a notice to the school asking them to give the students free books and writing material.

DCPCR member Ranjana Prasad said, “In the past two months, we have received at least 50 complaints pertaining to the distribution of books and stationery to students. We have also received many complaints about the denial of admission to EWS students in private schools and have been working to resolve the issues,” she said.

On June 30, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said, “The government provides ₹2,260 per month to these schools for each EWS student towards their fee and other expenses. We are ordering schools that they conduct EWS admissions even if there have been no general category admissions. The government will reimburse them accordingly,” said Sisodia.

Under the prevalent practice, schools admit one EWS student for every three students admitted under the general category.

Sharma and several other private schools in the city said they were finding it difficult to provide free books and stationery after the state directorate of education (DoE) revised the reimbursement amount this year and fixed it at ₹250 for books, ₹1,100 for uniforms, and ₹300 for writing material for students of classes 1 to 5. For classes 6 to 8, the reimbursement rates have been revised to ₹400 for books and stationery each and ₹1,400 for uniforms. Till last year, schools were getting ₹1,100-1,400 annually for uniforms and ₹2,200 for textbooks, stationery, and tuition fees per student.

Ekramul Haque, founder of the organization Mission Taleem which works with EWS children, said they have forwarded at least 50 such complaints related to the distribution of books.

“Dozens of parents have approached us saying they have not received books or stationery from the schools this year. These parents have either lost jobs during the lockdown or faced financial hardships,” he said.

A senior official of the education department pointed to a DoE circular released on Friday. “If some school requires exemption, they need to seek permission from the respective deputy director education as mentioned in the circular. If schools violate norms despite this order, we will start taking action against them,” said the official.