State gives schools timeline for reservation rule

Setting the ball rolling for the implementation of the reservation policy, the school education department on Thursday issued a notification, asking private schools to set aside 25% of their Class 1 or pre-primary seats for poor students.

Setting the ball rolling for the implementation of the reservation policy, the school education department on Thursday issued a notification, asking private schools to set aside 25% of their Class 1 or pre-primary seats for poor students.

The notification also asks school to give admission to poor students by June 10, and begin the academic year by June 15.

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This comes a day after the state cabinet set an annual income limit of Rs1 lakh for families to be considered under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.

While it is still unclear how many schools will be able to implement the provision this year, as many have already completed admissions, the notification spells out the admission procedure, with dates, to be followed by schools across boards.

“It says that the school education department will first issue an advertisement in papers, calling for schools to put out notices on the number of vacancies, and giving out admission forms. Filled forms will need to be submitted to schools by May 31. Schools will need to give admissions by June 10, as they reopen on June 15,” a senior education official told HT.

The schools will give priority to students who are residing within one km of the premises.

However, several schools especially of boards such as CBSE and ICSE – which have already begun their academic year – remain sceptical about the rule.

“We have not mentioned any separate rule for these since they were aware of this (start of their term). If they have complaints they can come to us, we will look at them on a case to case basis,” the official added.