As per instructions of the UT Education Department, the city-based private unaided schools have to provide information regarding the number of EWS students they admitted into the entry-level classes and the number of seats lying vacant by 2 pm on Friday.
"We have already sought information regarding EWS students and asked the schools not to convert EWS seats into general category without the prior approval of the education department. We are aware of the High Court's directions that we read in newspapers, but we are yet to get a copy of the court's order," District Education Officer Ram Kumar Sharma told Chandigarh Newsline.
Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that admission should be first offered to eligible students belonging to EWS and disadvantaged group residing within 1 km of specific schools. In case, seats remain unfilled, students residing within 3 kms of the schools should be admitted. If there are still vacancies, then admission should be offered to other students residing within 6 kms.
The court's order read that students residing beyond 6 kms of schools should be admitted only in case vacancies remain unfilled.
Sharma said the department would take any new decision after getting information from schools.
As per the list issued by the UT Education Department on March 18, over 400 seats under EWS category were lying vacant in 35 private unaided schools and 13 minority schools.
The department had invited applications from EWS families interested in getting their wards admitted to any of the private schools by March 28. In all, 227 applications were submitted which were forwarded to the schools.
On Thursday, a delegation of the National Students Union of India met the UT Adviser and the Education Secretary demanding that private schools should be directed not to convert any vacant EWS seats into general category, and fresh applications must be invited for admission under the RTE Act.
No comments:
Post a Comment