The school, however, claimed that it was a clerical error. "Why would we try to humiliate children coming from economically weaker background? It must be a typographic error. The parents should have come to me to correct the mistake," school Chairperson Ashutosh Bhardwaj said.
Eight-year-old Krishan Kant's (name changed) parents are a worried lot ever since his result was announced recently. Kant studies in Class III at St Angel's Senior Secondary School in north-west Delhi's Rohini, and wants to know what 'EWS', written right next to his name on the report card, means.
Kant's parents, who live in a slum cluster in north-west Delhi, somehow managed to get him admitted to the private school under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota. The authorities have made the fact amply clear by writing that on Kant's report card, with other students now asking him what exactly does it mean.
"We did not know how to respond. His classmates asked him why EWS was written on his report card while their report cards had nothing," said his father Lakshmikant Singh (name changed), an e-rikhshaw driver.
"While we are putting in every single penny of our income to make our son feel equal in his class, such irresponsible action by the school authorities has made our efforts futile. The school should have taken care of it," he said.
The school, however, claimed that it was a clerical error. "Why would we try to humiliate children coming from economically weaker background? It must be a typographic error. The parents should have come to me to correct the mistake," school Chairperson Ashutosh Bhardwaj said.
But Kant wasn't the only one who got the report card with this 'error'. Several other EWS students received similar cards from the school. "It's like slapping our identity right in our faces. They have made it look like our surname," said Mahipal Singh (name changed), father of a Class II student at the school.
According to the Delhi government's January 7, 2011 notification, schools can't reveal the identity of EWS students in any way, so that they feel comfortable in private schools.
"This is not only a breach of the Delhi government's guidelines but also the MHRD's instructions that state that it is the responsibility of schools to conceal the identity of EWS students," Lawyer and RTE activist Khagesh Kha said. "If it is a clerical error as per the school's claim, it should be corrected immediately," he added.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "DNA")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}