Pvt schools call for donations to sponsor EWS students

While the Right to Education Act, 2009 has brought a glimmer of hope for children belonging to disadvantaged groups of society, many private schools in the city have already started feeling “burdened” by the task of providing free education to these children.
Citing financial loads, some schools have even started writing to parents of other students, asking them to make voluntary donations to sponsor education of children from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

However, it is pertinent to note that the Administration will provide all these private schools with a reimbursement amount to educate EWS category students.

In DAV Public School Sector 15, following the request made by the school management, a couple of parents have come forward to support two of the EWS category children.

“Now that the norms are in place, all of us will have to take up the responsibility of imparting free education to the underprivileged children. In such a situation, the institutions will definitely need somebody to share the financial burden,” said Rakesh Sachdeva, principal of the school.

Further, taking note of the request letter sent by Strawberry Field School, Sector 24 and 26, it is seen that voluntary donations by parents are being sought for “providing free or subsidised education to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

In his letter to the parents, Atul Khanna, director of the school, has also stated, “The average cost pertaining to each child under this scheme is Rs 5,500 per month. We would like to go beyond our call of duty and enhance the number of students and the expenditure.”

Further, the letter also mentions, “I am writing to request you to be a valuable donor by sponsoring one or more children. However, do please note, that this is something that must be purely voluntary.”

The UT Administration, meanwhile, states that such efforts are purely based on the discretion of the schools and their requests are driven by the amount of fee being charged by them.

UT Education Secretary V K Singh said, “Until or unless we receive any complaints or grievances from the parents, we cannot interfere in a private school’s management.”

“The only thing which is to be noted here is that the schools must mention that the administration is going to reimburse some part of the per-child-expenditure, though the exact amount is yet to be finalised,” Singh said.

“We have a very committed parent community which keeps stepping forward in donating books,clothes, bags and woolens year around. Many ask us to suggest ways of stepping up that donation. Against that backdrop, we suggested that if keen, they could make voluntary contribution for EWS students,” said Atul Khanna, Director, Strawberry Fields School.

At present, there are 675 children from EWS category studying in entry level classes across 73 private schools in the city. Of these, 44 schools had filled the 25 per cent reserved seats in the current academic session.

Indian Express, 21 November 2011