(Pic 2) Samim Khan wishes to send her youngest son, 5-year-old Zishan, to a private school. She has five children and four of them have studied from a government school in Kalyanpuri in East Delhi.

Her husband is a daily wage labourer and earns around Rs 5000 a month.

She feels the private schools have better opportunities for children. “There is a difference in quality of education and also there are better opportunities for children in private schools. My eldest son left his education in between because he was caught up with wrong company,” she says.

Under the EWS quota of the Right to Education Act, private school have to reserve 25 per cent of their total seats in class 1 for children from economically weaker section (EWS), that is families with income less than Rs 1 lakh per annum.

But for many parents like Samim who want to give their child an education that they otherwise could never dream, the process of getting their right is not easy.

She went to Bal Bhawan Public School in Mayur Vihar, the school authorities asked for a medical certificate from a government hospital. The Common application form for the admission under free ship quota, issued by Delhi government says that Medical Certificate from government hospital is required only in case of children with special needs or disabilities.

She did not want to lose the opportunity and arranged the money with great difficulty for the certificate.

“I had to pay Rs 200 to get the medical certificate. They refused to accept the form otherwise,” she says. The school did not ask for the medical certificate from children seeking admission under the general category, she adds.

Delhi has been the first state to implement the EWS quota much before the Right to Education act came into existence. Almost 300 schools which had got land at subsidized rates from the state government were required to reserve 20 percent of their seats for students from EWS category. With RTE being implemented, all unaided private schools have to admit these students.

But parents have faced problem at every step.

Most of the schools are reluctant to take these children and they leave no opportunity to make the process difficult for parents, says Saurabh Sharma from the NGO Josh, which is working to help children from EWS quota get admission in private schools.

“The biggest challenge in front of parents is getting a domicile certificate which is to be submitted along with the birth and income certificate signed by a gazette officer. The officers are not available and MBBS doctors in the government hospital either ask for money or simply refuse to sign the certificate,” he adds.

(Pic 1) Rani Singh is trying for admission of her two children under the EWS quota. She had applied in many schools but only two schools in the area accepted her form.

“I went to the MBBS doctors in Lal Bahadur Shsastri Hospital but they refused to sign it the domicile certificate. We got it signed from the Nigam Parshad and schools did not accept it,” she said.

Rani says only through this quota we could think of sending our children to an English speaking private school.

(Pic 3) Even those who have been staying in Delhi for last many years and have the voter ID cards, were asked for the identity card and domicile certificate.

“We have been living here for so long. I have a voter id card of Delhi address. But they refuse to accept that as my identity and are asking for the domicile certificate instead,” says Umesh who is trying for admission of his four year old daughter. He feels authorities do not want their children to enter the school.

Private schools from the very beginning have rejected the idea of reserving 25 per cent seats for EWS. It is treated as an obligation and most of them have denied admissions on one or the other issue. The Society of Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan Vs Union of India is waiting for the judgment from the Supreme Court.

Ashok Agarwal, a high court lawyer and civil rights activist, has filed many petition in the Delhi High Court seeking government action against private schools who are flouting the EWS reservation rule.

“Schools are violating the law but there have been no action against them. Everday we receive complaints from parents facing one or the other problem. Though the court’s order of asking schools to admit children on distance criteria will ensure that no seat is left vacant but government should be strict against schools making fun of the education law.”

But private schools have a different opinion and feel through the EWS quota the government is trying to create its vote bank.

R C Jain, the president of the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association that claims to represent around 1500 recognised schools in the capital is against the quota.

“The quota is not just for children from economically weaker section. It is also for children from SC/ST/OBC and for them there is no income limit. So those who should be benefited they are not. Anybody can go to a SDM office and get the certificate and we cannot even challenge it.”

Jain asks if the government has thought of  opening more schools for children who will be left out because of 25per cent reservation.

“The EWS children can go to government schools. Their schools are in the worst condition. They have shortage of teachers and there is no proper infrastructure. They should first try to improve their schools.” He adds that government will not be successful in implementing the quota.