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In a decision that may prompt private schools in Delhi to rejig the entire list for nursery admissions, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday modified and laid down new distance criteria for admission of toddlers under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw set the priority criteria for children applying under the 25 per cent EWS quota in private schools. It also modified the Delhi government’s notification dated January 27, which sought to do away with the restriction of distance criterion for EWS students, and stated that the limit of ‘neigbourhood’ for them will be the same as general category students.
According to the court’s order, the first priority will have to be given to EWS students residing less than a kilometre from the school. Those residing at a distance between one and three kilometres would come next. The third line of the preference would be for those living at a distance between three and six kilometres. Children residing beyond six kilometres from the school can get admitted if any seats remain vacant.
The court order, however, created confusion in many schools that were expected to come out with nursery admission lists on Tuesday. While some of them have decided to discuss the matter afresh in the wake of the court order, others stated that it was too late because they had already published the EWS list in terms of the earlier Directorate of Education (DoE) order.
Disposing of an application filed by the Federation of Public Schools, a registered society comprising 326 private unaided schools in Delhi, the bench took a cue from a 2007 judgement — wherein the court had laid down similar norms of distance for students under the EWS category.
The application by the association raised a challenge to the January 27 notification by the DoE, whereby the government amended the RTE rules and made it mandatory for all private schools to admit children under the EWS category, despite the restriction on distance.
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