DoE starts round 2 of EWS admissions in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) has initiated the second round of admission in the economically weaker section/disadvantaged (EWS/DG) category in private schools and asked schools to not deny admission to candidates on frivolous grounds.

The second round of the draw of lots was conducted on Friday, according to DoE officials. In an order issued on Friday, Bimla Kumari, deputy director of education, private school branch, said that parents who were shortlisted through the draw of lots need to approach schools for admission by May 24. Kumari also issued instructions to private schools to not deny admission on “unjustified frivolous grounds”. Further, schools were asked to call selected candidates on their registered phone numbers and inform them of the last date of admission.

In the academic year 2023-24, DoE allotted 32,269 seats in the reserved categories in over 1,500 schools across the city. As on April 13, 24,577 seats were filled whereas 7,692 were still vacant.

DoE officials had earlier said that around 80% of seats were filled and vacant seats will be made available for the second round of admissions.

DoE directed schools to grant admission as soon as possible so that candidates can join the academic session at the earliest after completion of document verification and scrutiny.

“Heads of concerned private unaided recognised schools should not send the candidates unnecessarily to the department for making corrections in the online form, as the same cannot be done at this stage. Rather, they should be taking a decision based on the merits of specific cases and not deny admission on unjustified frivolous grounds,” said Kumari.

Ekramul Haque, founder of Mission Taaleem, an organisation working with EWS children in Delhi, said that while the organisation took up complaints of parents being denied admission by schools, the situation was relatively better compared to last year. Haque said that earlier, schools denied admission if the date of birth or names were incorrectly spelled.

“We work with parents and have received over a hundred complaints this year too. Despite directions, schools continue to find loopholes. However, more admissions have been made in the first round itself this time compared to last year. There is scope for improvement and more can be done to ease challenges for parents, especially the availability of free uniforms and books to students who take admission,” said Haque.