Govt Should Provide EWS Students Devices To Attend Online Classes: Schools To HC

Source: The Hindustan Times

Four private schools from Delhi have urged the Delhi HC that the government should be held responsible for providing the EWS (Economically weaker section) students with logistics and devices to help them attend online classes during the time of the pandemic.

The submissions were made before a bench of justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula while they were hearing a plea filed by Justice For All, an NGO working in the education sector, which had contended that several students belonging to the EWS and disadvantaged groups (DG) were unable to access classes online due to the lack of the aforementioned devices.

Reacting to the affidavits filed by these four schools, a senior official in the directorate of education said, “We have already informed the court that it is the responsibility of private schools to provide all facilities to EWS/DG students under the Right to Education Act. We will comment only after the court pronounces an order on the matter. It’s still sub-judice.”

Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 25% seats are reserved for children from the EWS and DG category at the entry-level classes —Nursery, KG, and Class 1—in all private schools. The students are entitled to free education, books, and uniforms till Class 8 as per the Act.