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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Delhi govt eyes 15% quota for poor in private schools -Shreya Roy Chowdhury

Delhi govt eyes 15% quota for poor in private schools -Shreya Roy Chowdhury

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published Published on Nov 29, 2012   modified Modified on Nov 29, 2012
-The Times of India

The Delhi government is set to propose an additional 15% reservation for children from poor families in most private schools in the city. According to the proposal, which will be presented before the high court once it's cleared by the chief minister, the quota will be applicable to admissions made from class II to XII.

The reservation, if passed by the court, will affect 394 private recognized schools in the capital that have been allotted land at concessional rates by government agencies. The proposal is in response to a high court order.

The schools, according to lawyer Khagesh Jha whose PIL resulted in the proposal, include "all the big names you can think of". As per their lease deeds, these schools were obliged to reserve seats for economically weaker sections (EWS) although there was no unanimity on the extent of the quota.

"In response to a PIL about schools not complying with obligations in the lease deeds, the high court had issued an interim order in 2007 that had fixed reservation at 15%," says a senior official in the department of education. However, in 2011, a new set of rules came into the picture with the Right to Education Act. RTE enforced reservation of 25% but that was only at the entry level. Admissions till Class I are now covered by RTE.

Many schools, now reserving 25% seats for EWS students at entry, were under the impression that the RTE's provision nullifies whatever obligations were spelt out in their respective lease deeds.

The list of schools that have received land includes all major school chains such as Modern School, Delhi Public School, Bal Bharti and Springdales, as well as most other well known institutions — Vasant Valley, Sanskriti, St Columbus, Mother's International and Sardar Patel, to name just a few.

"The RTE provides for 25% reservation at entry point. The high court asked us to come up with a policy that combines the RTE admission guidelines with the lease deed obligations that have never been superseded or repudiated legally. We are not in a position to ignore this and following the court's interim order, the reservation for EWS on admissions after Class I has been made 15% across the board," said Kiran Walia, Delhi's education minister.

Walia added that one-third of the 15% will be for the school's own staff and the rest for outsiders. The decision is awaiting the approval of chief minister Sheila Dikshit and once cleared, will be presented before the court.

"The confusion was the result of a DOE notification dated January 1, 2011 that stated it was 'in supersession' of the notification based on the 2007 high court order that had upheld the validity of obligations mentioned in the lease deeds. But following this new notification, schools started fulfilling the reservation requirements of RTE alone ignoring the lease deeds," said Jha.

Another petition filed in 2011, this time by a parent, resulted in the high court directing the department in September 2012, to make the "necessary policy decision" within eight weeks.

Jha, who, along with Ashok Agarwal, had filed the petition in 2011, says that number of students sometimes doubles in higher classes. "We have found through RTIs that number of seats increase manifold, typically after class six. Entire sections are added. Now for new admissions they'll have to have reservations," says Jha.

The Times of India, 29 November, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-govt-eyes-15-quota-for-poor-in-private-schools/articleshow/17406824.cms


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