BJP asks LG for a probe into nursery admissions
DISCREPANCIES Of the available 48,122 seats, only 35,500 seats have been filled. Even now, the sixth round of admission is on
NEW DELHI: The leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly, Vijender Gupta, on Thursday urged lieutenant governor Anil Baijal to constitute a high-level inquiry committee to look into the “discrepancies” in entry level admissions of children from economically disadvantaged families in private schools across the national capital.
The move comes after HT reported on Thursday on how private schools are denying admissions to economically weaker section / disadvantaged group ( EWS/DG) students despite almost 13,000 entry-level reserved seats lying vacant.
Of the available 48,122 seats, only 35,500 seats have been filled. Though the admission process for entry level classes for the next session (2019-20) will begin in next two month, sixth round of admission for the ongoing ses- OCTOBER18,2018
e schools in Delhi are ddenying admissions to EWS/DG students even after their names appeared in the selected list
sion is still on.
“A committee needs to be constituted to recommend action against defaulting schools and government officials, and to suggest means to mend the loopholes in the existing admission system. This is an utter failure of administration due to which schools have found various ways of denying admissions to these underprivileged kids,” Gupta alleged.
HT on Thursday reported that private schools in Delhi are denying admissions to EWS/DG students even after their names appeared in the selected list. The schools are giving a variety of reasons for refusing admission: no vacancies; the school being too far from the home of the child seeking admission; or that even general category seats are yet to be filled.
The BJP leader said that only a fact-finding committee can reveal the “major reasons” behind this administrational failure. “Seats are going vacant for the last three years. Only 19,000 and 20,000 seats were filled in the last two academic sessions, respectively. Around 69,000 EWS/DG seats have gone vacant in Delhi’s private schools in the last three years. Only a thorough inquiry will reveal the real reasons behind the government’s failure to ensure 100% filling up of seats of EWS/DG category,” Gupta said.
Officials at the Directorate of Education (DOE), Delhi government’s education department, said that they are yet to conclude the final round of admission and are targeting to fill over 40,000 seats in this academic session. “We had sent multiple notices to many schools after getting complaints from parents. We had also sent our officials for inspection in schools where seats are lying vacant and found that the parents did not report there for admission. We are encouraging more and more parents to come forward and enrol their kids and expecting to fill over 40,000 seats this year,” DOE director Sanjay Goel said.
A committee needs to be constituted to recommend action against defaulting schools and government officials and to suggest means to mend the loopholes.