Schools have to display EWS admissions information by January 31

GURUGRM: The Haryana State Information Commission (SIC) has directed all private schools in the city to display on the school websites how many students from economically weaker sections of society (EWS) have been admitted in the current academic session by January 31, in accordance with terms and conditions against which they were allotted land for the schools.
The direction was sent after HSVP, which provides land to educational institutes, failed to compile the information for this year to respond to an RTI query filed by activist Aseem Takyar.

“In February 2018, I had filed an RTI with estate officer 2 of Gurgaon HSVP, with three questions: how many seats for EWS students go unfilled in private schools every year, how many such seats went unfilled in the sessions 2016-17 and 2017-18, and how many EWS seats were filled by students from the general category? For months, there was no response. Now, the SIC has asked HSVP to file the report at the earliest,” said Takyar.

The SIC, last month, asked private schools to follow the terms and conditions under which land was allotted to them in areas falling under the jurisdictions of estate officer 1 and 2 of Gurgaon HSVP. Clause 23 of the allotment letter reads: “The education/societies/institutions/trusts should reserve 10% seats in the school for students belonging to EWS and charge them the same fees as charged by government schools. The fee structure will have to be approved by competent authority.”

A senior HSVP official said: “Whenever we allot land for schools, they should abide by the rules. If the education department tells us that schools are violating norms, then steps will definitely be taken against them.”

The order also reads, “HSVP, Panchkula, through estate officers of jurisdiction, shall ensure that information about the scheme, and about admissions given to EWS and meritorious students in each academic session, should be uploaded on the website of the school to which HSVP has allotted the land. It is also to be ensured that information on the current academic session must be uploaded on school websites by January 31.” If private schools are reluctant in providing the information, the public authority has vested powers with the estate officer to take action against them.

Besides the information on EWS admissions, all schools have been asked to put “names of institutions and terms and conditions on which land was allotted to them on its website for the information of general public.”