One lakh applications received for EWS seats

NEW DELHI: Over one lakh applications have so far been received for admission in private schools under Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota, the Delhi government said on Thursday.

In 2016, around 70,000 applications were received by the Education Department for around 31,000 EWS seats.

“This year has seen a significant jump in the number of applications... 1,00,600 applications have already been received and the number may rise even further as application process is open till February 14,” Atishi Marlena, advisor to Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia, told reporters here.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government made the application process online last year to make it transparent, which resulted in higher number of applications.

“The interesting thing is we have received applications for all the schools this year. Earlier, many schools would see no applications for EWS seats,” Atishi said.

However, she said, there are some big schools which have received disproportionately higher number of applications.

While the application process will be closed on February 14, the first admission list will be announced by end of next week.

“The real work will start after that. We will have to ensure that schools accept all those children whose names appear on the list. We will send teams of officials to schools for that,” Atishi said.

“If some schools claim that some candidates from the list did not show up, we will call their families and confirm, like we did last year,” she added.

Atishi said the government’s first and foremost priority is to ensure 100 per cent transparency in the admission process. Twenty-five per cent seats in around 1,500 private schools in Delhi are reserved for EWS category.