Haryana government and schools confront on the issue of EWS student’s admissions

Haryana is probably the only state in the country that has twin laws in force, both with the same avowed objective and both failing to even scratch the surface of the target that they have set out to achieve.

Both the Haryana School Education Rules 2003 and the Right to Education Act (RTE) under which the government wishes to provide free education in private schools to poor children, euphemistically called the economically weaker section (EWS) are simply not delivering.

The problem lies with the criteria which qualifies a family to be from the EWS. It is spelled out in such a manner that even a well off person can claim admission under the EWS. For instance, a prominent protester from Sonepat who was seen leading an agitation outside the Haryana CM’s residence runs a trading shop at the Sonepat grain market. No prizes for guessing that his annual income must be surely above Rs 2 lakh, which squarely keeps him out of the benefit bracket. But here is the famous jugad: manipulate income tax returns and show a corresponding lower return.

The second place where the government is faltering is holding a cumbersome entrance test at all block levels for EWS children It so happened that when the government invited applications for admission to private schools under the EWS category to fill 2.8 lakh seats, it received only 70,000 applications.

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Moreover, the private schools refused to give them admission on the ground that section 134-A provides for admission only to ‘meritorious poor’ students and not all. That’s where the entrance test entered the picture and early 58,000 children appeared in the multiple choice questions test organised by the government through its block education officers on May 1 of which only 14,000 of them could get 55 % marks required to come under meritorious category.

Worried with the large number of students left out, the government promised yet another test with relaxed norms for failed children so that they could also be accommodated.

The third point of contention is the fees of such students. While the section 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules 2003 clearly requires private schools to admit children from the EWS without any fees. This has become a bone of contention between school owners and parents of such children as the schools want the government to reimburse their fees. . The state government, it seems, is at its wits’ end.

Haryana is the only state in the country where private schools are being almost forced to admit EWS children to their schools. Other states, coming under the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2010, are keeping their options open. Under the Haryana School Education Rules which were implemented in the state 7 years before the RTE Act was introduced, private schools were initially required to fill 25 % of their seats with EWS children.

“The recognized private schools shall reserve 25% seats for meritorious poor students. The school shall charge fee from these students at the rate as charged in Government schools. The difference of fee shall be charged from the other students of the school,” read section 134-A of the Haryana Schools Education Rules 2003.

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“It was only after our members and parents of other children opposed it that the state government came out with an amendment reducing the reserved seats to 10 percent in 2009. The government also removed the condition of recovery of the amount from other children. However, no provision has been made for reimbursement of fees to the schools,” says Kulbhushan Sharma, president of Federation of Private Schools Association, who is also a school owner in Ambala.

The problems got compounded by the introduction of the RTE Act 2010, an Act of Parliament that also required private schools to fill 25 % of their seats from EWS children. However, the act provided that the government will reimburse the schools for the children they admit under the EWS category. The Act provided that the government will pay the actual fees charged by the school or the amount government normally spends on a child in a government school, whichever is less.

“Ever since RTE was introduced, we have been demanding its implementation. We have no problem admitting EWS children on 25 % of our seats provided the government compensates us for the fee as mandated in the Act. We have requested the government to issue education vouchers to such children or deposit fees directly in their accounts,” says Vijender Mann, president, Haryana United Schools Association (HUSA), who runs a private school in Panipat.

Interestingly, the private schools are also contending the definition of EWS under the Haryana School Education Rules 2003. “For the purpose of admissions to our schools, the government considers anyone earning less than Rs 2 lakh per annum as EWS. While when it comes to implementation of their own scheme, the government says a person earning more than Rs 32 a day is not poor,” alleges Sharma.

Meanwhile, Haryana Progressive Schools Conference (HPSC), an association of CBSE affiliated schools, has decided to admit EWS students to its schools

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