5,000 seats for poor children still vacant

Draw of lots to be conducted shortly

Shagun Kapil

New Delhi, DHNS: With more than 5,000 seats under the EWS category in entry-level classes still vacant, the second round of the centralised draw of lots will be conducted next week.

In the first draw of lots held in February, over 26,000 children were selected for admission in the nursery and other entry level classes under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Group (DG) category and the government had sent their details to the schools allotted to them.

However, the Directorate of Education (DoE) had received various complaints that the schools have not completed the admission process and some are even refusing to admit children under the category.

It had identified 300 private schools as "defaulters" for not sharing the status of admission, following which the department had formed 24 teams to review the admission status of seats under the category last week which conducted inspections in 48 private schools in the capital.

"The teams sought reports from the schools and also verified the data. If the school told them that the selected child has not turned up to seek admission, the teams checked with the parents and confirmed the school's claims," an official from the Education department said.

While most schools were found to be complying with the directives, there were at least "five to six" schools which had violated the guidelines under the admission process, the official added.

According to the findings of the inspection teams, two main problems - verification of documents and parents wanting a school in their neighbourhood and thus not opting for the one allotted to them-came to light.

"After this inspection, we know the status and next round of draw of lots will be done in a week's time," the official said.

The admission for entry level classes including nursery began in January and was supposed to conclude by March 31. While the process for general category is already over, it has stretched beyond the fixed date for EWS-DG category. There are a total of 28,193 seats under the category in entry level classes.

On Thursday, the department also issued a circular to all private schools to maintain records and registers including student admission and withdrawal register, student attendance etc.

"No tuition fee is to be charged from the students admitted under EWS-DG category and if any school has charged, then school has to refund the same immediately under proper intimation to the Directorate of Education," it said.

The circular added, "Schools have to provide free books, school uniforms and writing material to each and every student admitted under EWS-DG category".

This is the first time the government has conducted an online draw for applications received under the 25% seats allotted under the EWS category for nursery, KG, and class one, with an aim to bring transparency in the process of selecting students for the underprivileged section of the society.