JOIN USNo action taken against complaints on DoE portal
The Directorate of Education’s online grievance redressal mechanism is not working effectively, allege experts. There are over 500 complaints on the website but no action has been taken against any school mentioned in these complaints for flouting rules.
Sita Ram had applied for his child’s admission in Darbari Lal DAV Model School in Shalimar Bagh, under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in January, 2011.
After running from pillar to post for almost 11 months with no explanation given by the school for rejecting his application, he filed a written complaint in December, 2011 to the school authorities and an online complaint on the Directorate of Education’s website.
The school cited three reasons for rejecting his application: “The resident proof is dated October 18, 2008 which is less than three years. Date of birth is September 15, 2007 -- the child will turn three plus on March 31, 2011 -- and income certificate is dated October 1, 2011 -- not before March 31, 2011.”
However, Khagesh Jha, a Supreme Court advocate, said the candidate meets the criteria. According to the given documents, the family has been staying in Delhi since three years.
It is not right to disqualify the child if he aged three plus, which is in accordance with the nursery admission guidelines, and the income certificate is rightly annexed as any income certificate is considered invalid after six months.
Vague response
“The school forwarded this letter to the Directorate of Education which blindly responded in favour of the school’s explanation and rejected Sita Ram’s application. The government should initiate an inquiry against DoE officers who are helping unaided schools openly violate DoE guidelines,” said Jha.
DoE officials declined to comment on the issue.
There are also complaints regarding sale of forms at inflated prices, schools charging money for EWS forms and schools not being transparent about the admission procedures.
No action
Parents allege that the DoE officers do not take action and mention on the website that the grievance has been forwarded to the concerned department.
“I had filed a complaint regarding Mount Abu School charging Rs 200 for EWS forms when they are supposed to be given for free. The DoE did not act on it. What are we supposed to do if authorities do not cooperate with us,” asked Rishi Toshniwal, who applied at several schools for his son’s admission this year.