Admission process yet to take off, wait for school gets longer for EWS students, disadvantaged groups

A total of 22% seats at the entry level in private schools are reserved for students from the EWS and DG category while 3% of seats are reserved for differently abled students.

Last year, 35,000 seats were available across 2,001 recognised private schools. Of these, close to 6,000 remained vacant despite multiple draws of lots.

While the Delhi government did not respond to questions regarding the delay, sources said that the High Court’s order to increase the present EWS household income cap from Rs 1 lakh per annum to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum, a decision that was taken in March, had delayed the process.

In December, the High Court had said in an interim order that the cap would be set at Rs 5 lakh per annum. The government had moved an appeal, seeking a reduction, which was later granted.

“The department is working to start the process soon. Both the increase in the income cap and the admission schedule notification are required for the process to start,” an official said.

The admission process for the categories in the entry level classes (Nursery, Kindergarten and Class I) begins with the Directorate of Education issuing a circular with guidelines for admissions along with the admission schedule. The process was centralised over a decade ago, after parents complained that they were being turned away from the school gates without being given application forms. Allotment to seats is done through a computerised lottery system.

The admission schedule is usually announced in February, and the first lot of admissions is complete by the end of March. Delays were seen, however, in 2021 and 2022 because of Covid.