EWS admissions: Withdraw notice till issue pending in SC, St Kabir school tells dept
Administrator of the school Gurpreet Bakshi wrote in his letter that the school is not obligated to provide admissions to the EWS and disadvantaged group students under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act-2009 or the Allotment of Land to Education Institutions (Schools) etc. on Lease Hold Basis in Chandigarh Scheme 1996.
After the UT education department issued a show cause notice to St Kabir Public School in Sector 26 for not admitting EWS students in the 2023-2024 academic session, the school has sent a reply to the department asking that the notice be withdrawn till the issues raised by the school regarding EWS admissions are pending before the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Administrator of the school Gurpreet Bakshi wrote in his letter that the school is not obligated to provide admissions to the EWS and disadvantaged group students under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act-2009 or the Allotment of Land to Education Institutions (Schools) etc. on Lease Hold Basis in Chandigarh Scheme 1996.
It was pointed out that Kabir Education Society challenged the judgment on July 8, 2022 for reversing the minority status of the school before the Supreme Court which has been noted in the notice under reply.
The school in its public admission notice on December 3, 2022 had mentioned that admissions under EWS/DG category will only be made after and upon the decision of the SC.
The school also noted that the issues regarding EWS admissions have been taken up by the Independent Schools’ Association, of which the school is a member, before the high court. They pointed out how the department has not even opened admissions to fill up EWS seats in government schools and alleged that it is a deliberate attempt to first fill all seats in private schools.
The school also alleged that till date, they have not been reimbursed ₹ 34.84 lakh by the department after the school had briefly provided these admissions.
The show cause notice was sent after not even a single EWS student was admitted by the school while they were supposed to admit 23 such kids by the department. On March 10, the department had also initiated derecognition proceedings against nine private schools that had not participated in the centralised EWS admissions.
