chools in the national capital, although admitting children in the economically weaker section (EWS) category, under pressure from the government, are not treating them at par with other students. St Francis De Sales Sr Sec School, located in Janakpuri, west Delhi holds separate classes for EWS children in the afternoon. Being a minority institution with government allotted land the school has to admit 20% EWS category children.

The school says it has been teaching underprivileged students in the afternoon for 30 years and so have included the EWS children too in this shift.

However, as per the Directorate of Education (DOE) guidelines, all minority schools built on land allotted by the government are supposed to admit EWS children from entry level to Class XII along with mainstream children for the mandate is to make classrooms more inclusive.

"As per the DDA we have to admit 20% EWS children, but we are still admitting 25% students in this category who study in the afternoon shift. We have been running the afternoon shifts for 30 years where we teach around 600 underprivileged children. Classrooms need to be inclusive, but where do we send all the other students already enrolled in the morning school?" asked an official from the school administration.

The school maintains that students in the EWS category are provided with the same facilities and medium of instruction as mainstream students. The seats in the morning school are already full, therefore, do not include EWS seats but have instead admitted them to the afternoon school.

Sumit Vohra of admissionsnursery.com says, "It is a violation of the DOE guidelines that the school does not include this 20% in the regular classroom. This defeats the purpose of the guideline itself which states that each classroom should have the said percentage of EWS children to make education inclusive."

Meanwhile, there are a number of parents in the EWS category still struggling to procure their right to free books and uniform under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, after their children have been admitted to these schools.

"I had applied in nine schools for my child's admission, out of which only one school's list had my name. The school delayed the admissions in the EWS category for 15 days. Now the school has asked us to pay for the books and uniform, which are otherwise free under the scheme. I have paid Rs 4,000 for these while even after my repeated attempts the school has refused to give me the bills so that it cannot be reimbursed," alleges Santosh K. Sahu, who got his son admitted to Vishwa Bharti Public School, Dwarka, in March this year.

According to advocate Ashok Agarwal, Rule 8(1) of Delhi RTE categorically mentions that a child attending a school of the government or local authority in the EWS category shall be entitled to free text books, writing material and uniform. Provided that a child with disabilities shall also be provided free special learning and support material.

"Most schools in the city are still not following the EWS norm in one or the other way. We have submitted a number of such cases in the High Court recently. The schools have to either reimburse the amount for these facilities or give them free from the beginning of the session. Also, any kind of segregation of these children is a serious violation of guidelines," he adds.