Free education for EWS children upto class XII in Delhi

Updated on: Saturday, January 22, 2011

Delhi Govt has decided to provide free education up to class XII to children belonging to economically weaker section in the city though the Right to
Education Act makes it obligatory to offer free education only upto class VIII.
With the decision, Delhi perhaps became the first state in the country to provide free education to the EWS children upto class XII, officials said.

Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said the government has decided to extend the limit of free education from class VIII to XII to ensure that their studies do not end mid-way due to financial constraints.

Lovely said the government has asked all the private schools to reserve 25 per cent seats to the EWS category for admission into the nursery classes.

He said government would give an assistance in the range of Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 per EWS child monthly to the schools for providing education. The total annual financial implication on the government would be around Rs one crore.

"We will provide the kids free education from nursery upto the 12th standard," said Lovely.

He said all the private schools will have to inform the government about the number of EWS children admitted to the nursery classes and if any school does not get enough application to fill the quota than education department will fill the seats through a centralised admission process.

"If required we will launch a centralised admission process for admission of EWS children in various schools where the quota is not complete. If even after the centralised process some seats remain vacant than we will consider shifting them as general quota seats," Lovely said.

He said any private school refusing to reserve 25 per cent of total nursery seats for EWS under provisions of Right to Education Act may face derecognition.

"We will not hesitate to derecognise any private school if we find that government directives are not followed. There is provision in the Right to Education Act even to prosecute the violators for criminal offences," Lovely told reporters.

Free education for EWS children upto class XII in Delhi

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