Govt to provide books, uniforms to poor students in public schools

New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI) The Delhi High Court was today informed that the books and uniforms of the poor students studying in public schools under the 20 per cent quota would be reimbursed by the Delhi Government.

Appearing before a division bench of Justices M K Sharma and Hima Kohli, the Delhi Government submitted that the expenses on the books and uniforms were to be spent by the schools and later reimbursed by the government.

The association of the public schools informed the court that they were waiting for the notification by the Delhi Lt Governor for implementation of the 20 per cent freeship quota in their respective schools.

Counsel Ashok Agrawal, appearing for petitioner organisation Social Jurist, said the admission process for this academic session was due and the government was deliberately delaying the implementation of the court directives.

The Court had earlier directed the state government to constitute a committee comprising eminent educationists, sociologists and psychologists to look into the matter.

In an affidavit, the state government had stated that public schools are bound to provide freeship to the poor students according to the agreement signed at the time of allotment of land.

On September 13, 2005, the High Court had issued a stern warning to 106 private unaided public schools established on the government land allotted at a concessional rate, to provide 20 percent seats to the poor students.

The DDA and L&D Department had allotted land at a concessional rate to 361 schools and according to the lease agreement, the institutions should reserve at least 20-25 percent seats for the poor students.

Had the schools adhered to the norms set by the land allotting agencies, at least 1.5 lakh poor students would have been studying in these institutions under freeship quota, said Mr Agrawal.

In an order in January 2004, the High Court had directed the Delhi Government to strictly implement the rule by setting aside at least 25 percent of the total strength of the public schools for the poor students.

Mr Agrawal told the court that despite its specific direction in the January 20 judgement on its public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue, many private schools had been turning away the poor students.

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