Govt to raise amount spent on students under EWS category

The Delhi government has decided to raise the amount spent by it on each student under the EWS category to ensure that private schools provide similar facilities to them as under the general category.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, said that private schools complained against "minimal amount" reimbursed by the government to them for allowing students under Economic Weaker Section (EWS).
A senior government official said that under EWS category, government presently gives a "fix amount" to private schools in lieu of taking admission of students who belong to this section.
"Most schools complain that as their fee is high, the amount given by the government is not reasonable and say that they shell out much on these students so that they have to extract high fee from other parents who do not come under Economic Weaker Section (EWS)," Sisodia said.

The Deputy CM further said, "Keeping this in mind, government has decided to make this fix amount "reasonable".
He also said that, however, the government will reach final conclusion only after discussing the matter with the court, school bodies.

Earlier in the day, about 26,600 seats for entry level at private schools were alloted through computerised draws under the EWS category, an experiment that has been introduced by the Delhi government for the first time.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) had received over 73,059 applications for nursery, UKG and Class 1 against the total numbers of 28,193 seats.
"Out of 28,193 seats, 26,604 were alloted through computerised draws under the EWS category while 1,589 seats remained vacant," said a senior government official.