Govt tells private schools to admit all students on EWS list

25% of all seats have to be reserved for this category

April 27, 2018 01:38 am | Updated 01:38 am IST - New Delhi

 Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi government has ordered private schools to admit all students whose names have appeared on the list for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) admissions, a government statement on Thursday said.

The statement states that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had received complaints about schools denying admission to applicants whose names had appeared on the EWS list claiming that the seats under the general category had not been filled.

A total of 25% of all seats have to be reserved for the EWS category of students.

With schools claiming that the general category seats had not been filled, the total number of EWS seats for admission were decreased.

“A similar issue had cropped up last year as well. However, after raids conducted by the Education department it was found that some schools had concealed the actual enrolment in order to deny admissions to children under EWS,” the government said.

HC clarification

The statement added that the Delhi High Court had clarified through two orders that 25% of all seats of entry-level class strength have to be reserved for EWS students.

The government said that the High Court had upheld its definition of class strength — not less than the highest number of seats in the entry-level class in the previous three academic years.

The High Court added a caveat that the Director of Education had the discretionary power to give relief to a school after verifying that the school had made every effort to fill the general category seats.

Circular issued to all

“In the absence of the Director’s certification, the schools must admit all the children whose names have appeared in the EWS list through the computerised draw,” the government said, adding that a circular to this effect had been issued to all schools.

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