Come 2008 and many of these seats are still vacant, prompting the Delhi High Court to order the Directorate of Education to make sure the quota is implemented. “We will be taking out advertisements listing the areas where there are vacancies and will invite applications from students belonging to the economically weaker sections before October end,” Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Director of Education, Delhi government, said.

The scheme has been implemented at the entry level, i.e. nursery, in most schools but many have taken in students in higher classes as well. The schools are required to provide financial assistance to these students for the purchase of books, uniforms, etc, for which the school can claim reimbursement from the Delhi government.

Many schools claim they are funding these students through school funds or from donations and sponsorships from outside. Most schools are, moreover, reluctant to reveal the exact number of students enrolled under the quota: most principals interviewed by Newsline claimed they were unaware of the exact details of student enrolment when asked about the number of such children in their schools.

Educationists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have hailed the quota as a huge step for the inclusion of these students into the public school system.

Renu Singh, national manager, Education, Bal Raksha Bharat, says it is great that children from the economically weaker sections have been given an opportunity and the exposure that would otherwise be unavailable to them but she also warns that access to education is not the only problem. “There is also a real need to make access equitable,” she says, while adding, “These children don’t have the kind of background and support system that their classmates would have, and therefore sensitivity in planning and inclusive practices must be in place to give these children a level playing field.”

Drawing lines
Parents of such students may find themselves hesitant when it comes to approaching teachers in parent-teacher association meetings, or students may bully their children because of his or her background. The biggest problem, Sudha Parthasarathy, executive director at the NGO Deepalaya, says is that while the school management may not differentiate between students, the students themselves may insult these children with regard to their backgrounds.

Alka Sharma, a teacher at Ramjas School, Anand Parbat, says that while cases of outright bullying are rare, remarks made by classmates may hurt a child severely. “Children can be quite cruel sometimes, and, therefore, we need to constantly monitor their behaviour and teach them to respect others,” she says.

The remedy, according to Suman Nath, principal of Tagore International School, is to ensure there are no points of difference between the students. “We do not publicise the background of the children. We provide them uniforms, shoes and books of the same quality as the other children, and make sure that we talk to all the students about the need for sensitivity towards the problems faced by others,” she says.

Dr Jitendra Nagpal, senior consultant psychiatrist at Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences (VIMHANS), says that regular students and teachers must adapt to the presence of children from different backgrounds and learn to respect them. “Adaptation has to happen on both sides,” he says, adding that students from the economically weaker section would also have to work hard to come up to the standards expected by the school.

Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan, began the induction of these students from the 2005-06 batch. Most were admitted at the entry-level but some have been taken in at the middle school-level as well. “A number of students were admitted to Class V but for two years, they were in a separate section. Apart from the regular syllabus, they took extra classes in English, to help them cope with the English medium; and Life Skills, in terms of stress management, hygiene, computer skills and others,” Principal Jyoti Bose says. Teachers at the school say the classes have ensured the students are able to adjust to the English conversation and teaching easily.

Teaching and learning
Most often, the main problem faced by these students is that they are unable to revise the day’s work at home, and since they cannot afford tuitions, they may find themselves unable to follow the class. At Tagore International, East of Kailash, special remedial classes are held every Saturday to cater to the needs of weaker students. “Extra classes in English are also held if we feel that any student needs it,” Principal Suman Nath says.

Parental aid
Bloom Public School, Vasant Kunj, holds an induction session for the parents of students enrolled under the quota at the beginning of every year. “Many parents come to pick their children up in the afternoon. Teachers may talk to them at that time regarding any point of concern,” school principal Ashutosh Batta says. The school has also roped in the parents of regular students to help these students in their schoolwork.

Students’ take
Seventeen-year-old Gurmit Kaur joined her school in kindergarten. Now in Class XII, she is one of the brightest students in her class. “We have never faced any sort of problem,” she says. “Teachers even invite us to their homes if we ever need help, and they issue books from the library for us if we need extra material that other students can purchase from the market,” she says.

Varun, who studies in Class VI at Springdales Dhaula Kuan, completed his primary schooling in the local municipal school. “The style of teaching here is very different but everyone has worked hard with us,” he says. “Our English has improved a lot,” Rekha, his classmate, says.

Problem areas
A problem with the quota implementation is that while the government rules allow for financial aid for students from the economically weaker sections, not all schools provide uniforms and books to them. A parent, on condition of anonymity, says the expense on transport, uniform and stationary for the children is often prohibitive: “The school does not charge tuition fee but there are transport charges and high cost of uniform and stationary. Parents with more than one child in the school find it difficult to manage the expense.”

Parthasarathy also points out some problems with the scheme itself. She says the policy has remained largely unpublicised among the poorer sections of society. “People whose children are in our schools or in local municipal schools know nothing about the scheme. What can we say about the people who are as yet outside the ambit of the NGOs?”

T K Mathew, chief executive of Deepalaya, says private schools under this scheme are simply drawing children from government and NGO-run schools. “They should ideally reach out into the underprivileged community and draw students who have no access to education. A prominent school approached us this year to send the top few of our students to their school, instead of taking children from the nearby slums.”