Dreams of financially poor kids aren't lesser: Delhi High Court on admission of EWS students in private schools

The Delhi High Court on Thursday passed a slew of directions for admission of students to Delhi private schools under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/Disadvantage Group (DG) quota [Gunjan as Guardian of Pihu v. Govt of NCT of Delhi & Anr]..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma ordered the schools to appoint a dedicated nodal officer for overseeing the admission process of students under the EWS/DG category.“This officer shall serve as the primary point of contact for parents and guardians, ensuring that they receive clear guidance and assistance throughout the admission process. Information about the Nodal Officer, including their contact details and office hours, must be prominently displayed at the school's entrance and on the school's official website,” the Court said.It ordered the authorities to ensure that circulars, notices and instructions related to admissions under the EWS/DG category be provided in both English and Hindi.The Court directed that the schools shall create a clear schedule specifying the date and time on which each student is required to report for admission..The Court also stated in its order,"This Court believes that the dreams of those who are financially weaker and labelled as poor by society should not be presumed to be lesser in their capacity or capability. Likewise, those who are not financially poor are not different in their aspirations. All children, regardless of their economic background, may share the same dreams they wish to pursue.".In a detailed judgment, the Court further ordered the Delhi government’s Department of Education (DoE) to merge the School Identification Numbers of the junior and senior wings run by the same educational societies.At present, the students who secure admission under the EWS quota into junior wings of a school have to go through the process again for admission into senior wings of the same school.Justice Sharma said that there is no rationale for granting two separate School IDs to the junior and senior wings of the same school, especially when both wings are run by the same society.It, therefore, directed the Department of Education to complete the process of merging the school IDs within eight weeks..The Court passed the directions in a plea filed by the parents of students belonging to the EWS/DG category who were denied admission to the Holy Innocents Public School (Senior Wing).These students had secured admission into the school’s junior wing under the EWS/DG category but the admission to the senior wing was denied on the grounds that they are two distinct entities and the allotment made by the DoE for the junior wing does not extend to the senior wing.The school said that it will allow the petitioner students to continue with their schooling if its junior and senior wings are merged..Advocates Aayush Agarwala, Rahul Bajaj, Amar Jain, Aditi Gupta, Anuj P Agarwala, Kunj Mehra, Mallika Luthra, Nilesh Kumar, Prakash Jha, Raghavendra Mohan Bajaj, Shagun Agarwal, Sajal Awasthi, Arkaneil Bhaumik, Rupam Jha, Adhishwar Suri, Suparna Jain, Ibansara Syiemlieh and Dushyant Kaul appeared for the petitioners.The Delhi government was represented through its Standing Counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi as well as Advocates Divyam Nandrajog and Utkarsh Singh.Advocates Sanjay Sehgal and Shivesh Sehgal represented the school..[Read Judgement]