Under Right to Education (RTE) Act 25 per cent seats are to be reserved for the EWS and disadvantaged students in unaided private schools and the fees was to reimburse by the State Government.
Majority of the school authorities feel that level of awareness among the EWS people is very low as a result of which 25 per cent seat is never fully occupied by the desired candidate.
Jawahar Vidhya Mandir Shyamali Principal AK Singh Said, “We are not preventing any EWS student from taking admission in our school. Whoever come to us are welcomed. Till date as many as ten EWS students are studying in our campus and school is providing them free education. In upcoming admission also the school gates for such students will remain open.”
Despite state Government apathy in providing reimbursement for the economically weaker section (EWS) student Soaring veggie prices hit wedding seasons, private schools are providing 25 per cent seats to the students.
“It is not the responsibility of the school to collect EWS students from their door step. We are only accountable to provide free education to them. Whoever come to us we lend our hand to help them but the harsh reality is that majority of the EWS students are not aware about this provision and Government is also not taking any concrete step in this direction,” said Karali School Principal Ranjan Verges.
Meanwhile, when Ranchi Directorate of School Education (DSE) Jayant Kumar Mishra was enquired the reason behind the low enrollment of EWS students in private schools and over the step taken by the Government in spreading awareness among the EWS students about the provision he said, “laxity from the Governments end is the major reason behind this. last year only two percent seat was occupied by the students.”
He further added that though camps have never been organised for spreading awareness but through mouth publicity the process of generating awareness is going on. Through panchayats the information is being spread.
Moreover, the students who are studying in the private school working under this provision have been also asked to spread the awareness about in their locality.”
However, Mishra has promised to look into the matter seriously and put more efforts in making people aware about this provision so that large section of EWS students can take the advantage of it and make their dream successful of getting educated from a private school.