Fresh draw of lots for 6k quota seats in private schools – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Close to 1,000 seats reserved for the economically weaker section/disadvantaged group (EWS/DG) category and 5,000 seats for children with special needs (CWSN) are still vacant in Delhi’s private schools. This prompted the directorate of education (DoE) to call for fresh applications for a fresh draw of lots, which will be held on Friday.

Out of the 25% of the total seats reserved as per Section 12(1)(C) of Right to Education Act 2009, 22% of them are for EWS/DG candidates and 3% for CWSN. For the CSWN category, DoE had sought fresh applications several times earlier too.

The first draw of lots under these categories for the academic session 2021-22 took place on April 30. The latest one was held on December 3 for 5,500 seats. The submission of centralised applications for the next draw of lots ended on Monday.
Out of the 45,000 reserved seats at the entry-level classes (nursery/KG/I), the draw of lots has been held for 33,000 seats this year. Out of these, 29,900 seats are in schools affiliated with DoE, while the others are in the institutes recognised by the municipal corporations.

DoE initially said it won’t conduct any draw of lots as a private school association had moved court against a government directive asking schools to admit reserved category candidates despite no general-category admission.

Due to Covid-19, several schools have argued, they couldn’t admit general-category students. The schools usually admit one EWS student for every three general-category admissions.

This year, the schools built on government land claimed claimed 100% allotment for their EWS/DG/CWSN seats, while those built on private land said to have got 50% of their quota.

“It seems fresh applications are only for the schools built on government land. We could not find our schools in the list. Many parents have been waiting to get their children admitted to private schools,” said Chandrakant Singh, principal of Radiant Public School and national general secretary of Private Land Public School Trust.

A draw of lots is held after taking into consideration the previous year’s admission data, a senior DoE official said.