In a case of complete discrimination, private schools — specifically in East and North East Delhi — have allegedly not been admitting children of ragpickers under the economically weaker sections (EWS) and disadvantaged groups (DG) quota in nursery calling them “dirty”. According to one of the ragpickers, Bari Bhai, this problem has been persisting in the area for years now as schools deny admission to kids of ragpickers saying they are “dirty and indisciplined”.
“There are over 200 children in our area who have year after year been denied admission under EWS/DG on account of being dirty. They are rejected on some pretext or the other but the real reason is because they belong to a community of ragpickers. Teachers treat them very badly and there is a sense of discrimination. They are not allowed to sit with the other kids and sometimes the parents are shooed off from the gate itself when they come to fill forms,” said Bari.
Bari has a set of documents which show that over a hundred students were denied admission in the past few years despite belonging to the category required. “These students had all the documents and certificates needed, yet they were denied admission. This goes to show how despite the category being set aside for DG students, there is discrimination,” he said.
Even this time, people from that area belonging to the same community said that a few parents who went to these private schools with certificates of their caste or income were denied admission. The Centre for Social Equality and Inclusion has taken up this issue and has approached the Directorate of Education (DoE) in this matter.
“However, there is absolutely no response from them on this issue. The category of EWS/DG is severely being misused. Only people who are from the creamy layer get admission and others are all those who have the highest income from the category. This is completely unfair and we are fighting for the cause,” said a member of CSEI.