In Chandigarh, EWS aspirants face difficulties in getting admissions

In Chandigarh, EWS aspirants face difficulties in getting admissions

In a letter, the District Education Officer (DEO) of the Chandigarh Administration has asked six private schools of the city to submit their response regarding the discrepancies reported in the admission procedure prescribed by the schools for children from Economically Weaker Section (EWS).The letter was addressed to the principals of Aanchal International School, Shishu Niketan Public School, Delhi Public School, Bhawan Vidyalaya School, Shri Aurobindo School and Strawberry Fields School.The complaint was written by the President of the Chandigarh Parents’ Association, Nitin Goyal. In the complaint, he mentioned that the above-mentioned schools are demanding more documents than mandated and are harassing the parents. The letter mentioned that apart from “residence proof and the family income affidavit signed by the Sub Divisional Office” any additional document is not necessary.Schools, however, under the additional documents are demanding the following documents: Proof that the resident family has been the resident of the state for more than three yearsPAN cardAadhaar CardBank Account statement for the past three years (in some cases) “My husband works in the unorganized sector and so do I. We have moved so much within the city, it is hard to produce these documents at such short notice,” says a mother of an EWS aspirant, who wished to remain anonymous.“There are no discrepancies on our behalf. We only ask for address proof and an income certificate authorized by the SDO office, so I am not sure why we were sent that letter. We sent a clarification back to the office promptly on Friday,” says Atul Khanna, Director of Strawberry Fields School.In the past instances, state schools have denied admission to the EWS category children stating delays in the reimbursement by the administration. According to the RTE Act, for reimbursement, the cost of education per child is calculated by dividing the complete cost by the number of EWS students enrolled in the school.“At the end of each year, schools send the cost of education per child and then we have to process their estimates and pay them back. However, to speed up the process, we decided in the last meeting that we will pay 75 percent of the cost estimated from the last year and pay the rest of the money after calculating the actual costs given to us by the school at the end of the year,” says BL Sharma, the former Education Secretary of Chandigarh UT.“I understand that complete verification is important because you do not want to provide the rights of EWS students to the wrong party. However, extra documentation should not be asked indiscriminately across the board, but only from people who are suspects,” adds Sharma.

source https://www.brainbuxa.com/education-news/in-chandigarh-ews-aspirants-face-difficulties-in-getting-admissions-9991