NEW DELHI: Disinterest among schools, perceived discrimination between EWS and general category students, and lack of support from the government have contributed to low compliance to the provisions of the Right to Education Act, under which 25% seats in all private schools must be reserved for EWS/disadvantaged group candidates.The government has also been blamed for not setting up any monitoring committee to follow through after a child is admitted. According to a report released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 7% of EWS/DG seats in Delhi private schools have either gone empty, or given to general category students for the last two years.However, this number has been an improvement from 2010-11, when only 6% seats were filled under the RTE mandate, according to the report. According to Priyank Kunoongo, an NCPCR member who headed the study, the biggest takeaway from the findings is that the government needs to follow up after the admissions are made.“There is no monitoring mechanism in this respect. After a child is admitted, he needs to be dealt with sensitively, through love and care, to be mainstreamed,” he said.The child rights body also found schools hesitant in taking in EWS/ DG kids; 13.5% of the principals were against RTE admission. They complained that they were not being reimbursed for additional facilities and were given Rs 600-1,000 per student for stationery, books and uniform. The remaining cost is borne by parent in some cases. In fact, some schools told NCPCR that they had not been paid for the last two years.NCPCR suggested that when per-child cost is calculated, all expenditures be taken into account, since RTE mandates that total cost of education be borne by the state.Principals pointed out they were being given fake income and caste certificates and there was no mechanism to validate and authenticate documents. Schools suggested that government evolve a strict mechanism to conduct proper checks. In some instances, said schools, while the online verification had passed income certificates, they were rejected by SDM offices during physical evaluation.The schools also believed that EWS children were more prone to initiating a fight, hurling abuses or stealing from other children. “Abusive language and misbehaviour by EWS category students was more difficult to solve due to wrong precedent being set in home environment,” some principals told NCPCR. The members were told that EWS kids were slow learners, or had trouble learning English, and, so, lacked focus in class. Their health and hygiene was also a concern.However, the rights body observed that it was the responsibility of the school to provide a child the right environment, and that the “slow learner” perception was illogical because, at three years, a child “should not be expected to know any other language other than the mother tongue”.It observed that, contrary to principal observations, general category and EWS kids were found to mingle amicable in 94% of the surveyed schools. “This observation raises an important question. If children don’t discriminate among themselves, then what is the reason that such thoughts float? As it is clear from the view expressed by principals and teachers, lack of training to create opportunities for these children to effectively adjust in the school environment gives rise to such biased views.”The report observed that schools don’t take the initiative to fill empty seats, while some tried to do so with general category students. “The schools quote absence of proper guidelines from DoE to maintain the ratio till class VIII as a reason for not taking admission after entry class,” the report said.It found the schools clueless about what to do if a student dropped out of school or didn’t join at all. While the school is supposed to send a notification to DoE stating that the child allotted to them has not joined, this is not done when a child leaves voluntarily.The report also blames the school for not trying to follow up with the parent after a child drops out of school. The child rights body has suggested that the government EWS/DG kids’ parents be included in PTA, teachers be given better training, NCERT/ SCERT books be strictly prescribed and orientation programmes be held for teachers to help ease students into the mainstream.