Born in an unauthorised colony in south Delhi, the teenager grew up watching her family struggle with money. With dreams of a better future in his eyes, her father enrolled her in a private school 300 metres away from the slum, under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota. “My parents put me here thinking it’s a well-known private school which was now accessible to the poor… But I hate it here. No one speaks to me because I am from the slum,” said the teenager on a cold December evening.

Her friend, a 14-year-old student at another reputed south Delhi school, is stunned at the revelation. As she consoled her friend sitting next to her at the tuition centre, she shared her starkly different experience. “I also got admission in school under the EWS quota. Our fathers are drivers and there’s not a lot of money at home. But I have never faced any discrimination at school. The teachers are supportive and encouraging. I am like any other student there… I can’t relate to my friend, but I am sad for her,” she said.

She said that her friends did not know where she lived or what her father did for a living. “I go to school in a van, they don’t know I live here. Maybe if they find out, they will treat me like this too. But I can always complain to my teachers about this. They would set them straight,” she said, confident.

Between the experiences of these two teenagers is suspended the mixed bag of outcomes of one of India’s most significant educational reforms – the Right to Education (RTE) Act that called for “free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of six and 14 years” and mandated that 25% of seats in private, unaided schools be reserved for children from economically weaker sections (EWS).

Since its inception, Delhi-based advocate and activist Ashok Agarwal has watched the system falter, and then gradually evolve. Cases of discrimination, he said, have decreased but haven’t disappeared.

“Until a few years ago, cases of rampant discrimination at private schools were more common. Now, the nature of complaints is different. In the past, there were complaints by parents about EWS quota students being made to sit in different classrooms or being made to wear a different uniform. Schools would instigate parents of students from the general category to raise their voice against inclusion of EWS quota students in the classrooms. Things have improved now,” he said.

“There are still cases of bhed-bhaav (discrimination) but now the most common complaints are of schools not providing books and uniforms to students from EWS category, as mandated,” said Agarwal. He said that the reason behind the palpable shift is the crucial role the courts played in pulling up schools.

For the 15-year-old though, that’s scant consolation. She has two friends in school – both from the EWS category – and the day they are both absent, school becomes unbearable. “The teachers don’t let us easily participate in annual functions or any school assembly events. If I ask for a spare pencil, my classmates won’t give it to me. Bade gharon ke bachhe hai, woh kyu mere saath kuch bhi share karenge? (They are rich kids, why will they share anything with me?” she said. “Bahut dukh hota hai (I feel very sad).”

Slowly getting better

Sharing space at the same tuition centre with the two teenagers, a 12-year-old Class 7 boy said his biggest lessons from attending eight years of private school in an upscale neighbourhood were to always finish his homework before going to school, and to avoid getting into a fight with any student.

“If a rich kid beats up a kid from a poor household, the teachers don’t say anything. But if a poor kid beats up a kid from a rich household, we get punished,” he said. “Is this discrimination?”

A former teacher of Vasant Valley School who worked there for over two decades said that while sensitisation workshops for teachers can be helpful, the need of the hour is opening conversation between private schools across the city. Schools better at running inclusive classrooms can tell other schools about the tools and methods they applied. “Conferences on this can help us all learn and unlearn. When EWS quota was implemented, there were only three-four children from the category, and they stood out. But once the number grew, it was better. Numbers help,” she said.

Advocate and activist Khagesh Jha concurred.

“This started out as an experiment in 2004. At the time, the number of students from the EWS quota were very few. They faced harassment and ostracisation. Once it was mandated that 25% of seats have to be set aside 2009 onward, the numbers grew, and we noticed cases of discrimination going down.”

But problems remain. This winter, the parents of a six-year-old EWS student at an east Delhi school could not get him winter jacket with his uniform. “The school refused to provide him a uniform, so we had to buy it. We spent ₹2,000 on the clothes, including a sweater, but couldn’t afford the jacket; it was for another ₹2,000,” said the child’s 52-year-old grandmother, who fought hard to get him admitted to a private school.

Her son is the sole breadwinner and earns ₹9,000 a month as a helper at a shop. “This expenditure on books and uniforms has come as a huge shock… School keeps telling us that they don’t have the funds right now, and that we will be compensated someday,” the grandmother said.

Jyoti Kukreja Sehgal, a field coordinator with Joint Operation for Social Help (JOSH), an organisation that works with urban poor communities in Trilokpuri and Kalyanpuri, said the wait for compensation is often five-six years long.

“We have come across cases where schools have made similar promises, but the child has now been in the school for five years or more, and no money or less than the promised sum has been given to the parents. Many parents are convinced to give this EWS quota in private schools a shot only because they know that apart from the tuition fee, the books and the uniforms too will be paid for,” said Sehgal.

Institutional hand-outs

Textbooks supplied by schools are another pain point. Most are dog-eared, torn and bear old pencil and pen markings, said students. “This can make children feel embarrassed. It’s an identifier in many ways. Parents don’t have an option, so they convince the children to use them but it’s things like these that sting them,” said Sehgal.

The 15-year-old girl said she faced her fair share of embarrassing moments at school. “The school organises picnics and outings… I also want to go but I can’t because sometimes the cost of the outing is more than what my father earns. My classmates come back with stories and friendships,” she said.

Shweta Varma, a counsellor at The Heritage School in Gurugram, said that the government needs to ensure that schools are equipped with robust mental health programmes. “Just building infrastructure and talking about inclusivity is not enough. Schools, teachers and staff members must live by ethos of inclusivity. Buddy systems in classes can be of great help, and of course, regular sensitisation workshops for teachers, parents and children.”

Things are slowly improving. Agarwal said students who had graduated from private schools four or five years ago faced more hardships in the classroom because they were easily identifiable as those who were admitted via the EWS quota.

“Earlier, we came across a few cases of schools adding the letter ‘N’ in brackets in name badges of students from the EWS category. But once the courts came down heavily on schools, they had no option but to end this practice. The only way we know things are getting better is by the nature of complaints we receive from parents and students,” he said.

But for some EWS students, they’re not improving quickly enough.

A few months ago, at the beginning of the new session, when a 13-year-old boy – an EWS quota student at a private school in east Delhi – got home, he angrily told his mother to quickly buy the books he needed at school. “I will never forget this moment. My son, who is in Class 7, told me that his teacher said, ‘tum logo ko sab kuch free mein hi chahiye (you people want everything for free)’ in front of other students. I calmed him down, and bought the books,” said his 40-year-old mother in an east Delhi slum.

The grandmother of the six-year-old student agreed. She recalled how during a recent parent-teacher meeting, the teachers at his private school bundled up all the parents of EWS students in one room, while the parents of other students got individual time and feedback from the teacher. “They have decided our children will grow up to become nothing, so they don’t want to waste their time on them or us,” she said.