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Here is how states can reserve RTE seats: Centre for Civil Society suggests a lottery model for implementing EWS quota

Jasleen Kaur, Governance Now, 14 April 2010

It's been over two weeks that the central government implemented the Right to Free and Compulsory Education ('RTE') Act but there is little clarity on the reservation of 25 percent of seats for economically weaker sections (EWS) in all state-funded, private aided and unaided, and special schools in the country.

The central government had framed “model rules” but most states are yet to form their own rules. The government is still unclear on identification and selection process for this.

Against this backdrop, the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), a Delhi-based think tank and NGO, has formed a working model for implementing this reservation.

The CCS says the private schools in Delhi are confused and schools elsewhere are clueless about this provision. CCS president Parth J. Shah says, "The purpose of the clause is the inclusive education and the challenge is how to implement it in a fair and transparent manner."

The CCS model suggests that there should be a single application form for all school, ie, only one form will be filled by the families of children from EWS, in which they can give top three or five preferences. "For EWS we do not think that the concept of neighbourhood schools can work as many of these children will come from slums and there are no good schools nearby," Shah says.

After the application process ends, the model says that the schools should select the child through a lottery system, which is fair and transparent, organised either by the state government or by the school itself.

The states have to form their own rules in next three months, which experts feel is not possible. The CCS plans to take the model to state governments, the departments of education, standing committees, and other stakeholders. That is where the CCS model can come in handy.

Read the story in Governance Now