Confusion prevails over EWS admissions

Three days after the nursery admissions began in the capital, confusion still prevails among those applying in the EWS category, which has been made online for the first time.

Just days before January 1, when the nursery admissions were to start, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had announced that the admissions under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be online for schools recognised under Delhi School Education Act and Rules (DSEAR), 1973 and offline for schools recognised under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009.

There are around 418 schools under the latter and parents are unaware about the difference between both the categories as there is no list in this regard. Moreover, many are encountering problems with the admission software developed by the Directorate of Education (DoE).

However, sources at the DoE said that the government is working to “fix the issues” in the software and something in this connection will soon be announced.

With this, the experts have suggested that the parents should wait for few more days and should not act in haste in filling the forms as there is time till January 15.

“There is no need to panic. If the government is working on something, then the parents should wait for at least two-three days,” said education activist Sumit Vohra, who has set up a help desk at P P International School in Pitampura for the parents of wards in EWS category.

“Online process for the EWS was a good step and we should support it, but since it has encountered problems, the parents should not act in haste and fill forms wrongly,” he said.

Most parents are not aware whether the school they are applying to is offering online or offline form.

“I was searching for a particular school in my vicinity but it was not showing online. I later realised that it was among those in the offline category. There is no list to clarify which school is in category,” said a parent.

Another common complaint with the software is that it hangs during the process and that most of the times it the OTP is not generated due to which the registration remains incomplete.

The government had earlier said that the parents belonging to the weaker sections of society will be helped by NGOs or representatives of the government in filling up the forms as they may not be tech savvy. However, there is no such help desk and parents claim that the cyber cafes are charging them more than usual.

Meanwhile, even after the starting of the admission process, around 30 schools have yet not submtted their criteria to the DoE.