Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
Twenty-seven-year-old Shabnam, a resident of north Delhi’s Mukundpur, has a heartfelt desire that her elder daughter Nargis becomes a doctor one day. Her husband Shaukat Ali, a doting father, is very proud of the fact that his daughter can recite all the alphabets without stammering. Shaukat is a driver with a monthly income of Rs 7,000 but that doesn’t come in the way of ensuring that Nargis has all the books and stationery at her disposal.
Even before Nargis sits for an exam where lakhs compete for a single MBBS seat, the immediate battle for the five-year-old is to get admission at a private school which is close to her house. Nargis is among 1,28,242 students across the capital who are seeking admission in nursery class under the EWS (economically weaker section) category.
Only respite for Shabnam is that the online system of application has made her life easy, allowing her to choose between as many as twenty schools with a single click.
Shabnam is trying her luck for the second time this year after her daughter’s name didn’t appear in any lists declared last year. Unfortunately, Nargis’ name was missing in the first list announced by the Delhi government last week and there is a slim chance that she would make it to the second list which is likely to be declared in March or April.
In Nihal Vihar, a colony located 15 kilometres away from Mukundpur, Sushila Devi is hysterical as she struggles to make sense of the cold response from the concerned school authorities. Sushila has applied at three schools that come under the purview of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi but hasn’t received a response so far.
The Quint contacted the three private schools – Jas Ram, Sunshine and Bal Vikas – where Sushila Devi has applied this year. While the principal of the Sunshine Public School refused to comment on the issue, Jas Ram Convent School’s manager Gaurav Gupta said:
Subsequent calls to the Bal Vikas School went unanswered. In a telephonic conversation, Preeti Aggarwal, mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said:
Around 1,700 schools that are administered by the AAP-led Delhi government had switched to the online system of admission in 2016.
In 2017, the Delhi High Court had issued directions to the three municipal corporations making it mandatory to furnish details about vacant seats, admission procedure and documents on their respective websites on or before 1 February of each calendar year.
In its order, dated 26 April 2017, the court had said:
However, parents continue to face problems due to non-implementation of the court’s directives. Sushila’s husband is an autorickshaw driver and can’t visit schools daily enquiring the status of application submitted on behalf of their daughter Khushi. Sushila dreads the thought of admission in a far-off school in Rohini which would make it inconvenient to pick up her daughter from school.
When we asked the mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Preeti Aggarwal about the directive issued by the Delhi High Court last year that makes it mandatory to furnish details about vacant seats and admission procedure on its portal, she said:
It was the UPA government in 2009 that had brought the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) as was promised in its 100-day agenda. The law promised free and compulsory education for children aged between six to fourteen.
Experts have often criticised the legislation suggesting ‘the Act is premised on mistaken hunch-driven diagnoses’ that has failed to improve the quality of education as well as learning levels.
In many cases related to admission under the EWS quota, documentation is proving to be a hurdle with parents having a hard time as they are made to run from pillar to post for paperwork.
Santosh has been seeking admission for her five-year-old son Lakshya since 2017. Her life was turned upside down when her husband was fired from his job as a labourer. Since her name was missing in the ration card, to procure the necessary documents her husband was taking leaves quite frequently which didn’t go down well with the owner of the factory where he was employed. With her son’s name appearing in the list this year, Santosh’s family can perhaps heave a sigh of relief.
Activists who have been aiding families like that of Santosh in filling forms and arranging documents claim that certain procedures are unnecessary and only results in confusion among parents.
Since the government issues specifically coloured cards – yellow for those families who are below poverty line, green and pink to the poorest-of-the-poor – the ration card should suffice as a proof for the schools.
A circular by the Directorate of Education, dated 16 March 2018, which mentions the guidelines to be followed by private unaided schools in Delhi, clearly states:
Yet the schools compel parents to get an income certificate which is a document certified by the SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate) after ascertaining the veracity of bank statement and salary slip.
As the admission season ends, Sushila and Shabnam seem to have been united by fate as they continue to fight for seats in private schools in Delhi. While the online system of admission hasn’t put an end to Shabnam’s woes due to limited number of seats, the reluctance of MCD schools to provide relevant information on their portals has only increased the worry of parents like Sushila.
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