Private schools prefer the rich

Schools should have 15 per cent students from the poorer sections,the government has ordered. But only nine per cent private schools in the city have complied,says the latest record of the UT Education department.

Schools like Strawberry Fields Kindergarten in Sector 24 have just one student under the reserved category. There are 73 private schools in the city which were allotted land at nominal rates — 59 paise to Rs 1,000 per sq yard.

Strawberry Fields was allotted land on June 2,2003 by the UT Administration at a nominal rate of Rs 900 per square yard,whereas the comparative rate for similar located commercial land was more than Rs 56,000 per square yard.

St John’s School,Sector 26,which claims to be one of the minority schools,had inducted only 19 students under the EWS quota while the land which was allotted to the school in the year 1954 was at just Rs 3,000 per acre.

Similarly,DAV Public School,Sector 8,which has a EWS percentage of not even 2 per cent,was allotted land at the rate of Rs 60 per square yard on May 2,1981,while the prevalent market rate at that time was Rs 550 per square yard. The other branch of DAV,in Sector 15,with just 6.78 per cent EWS students,was allotted land at the rate of Rs 6 per square yard for the first acre and Rs 4 per square yard for subsequent acres,on May 26,1961.

Ashiana Public School-46,Kids-R-Kids,Saupin’s School-32,Mount Carmel School-47,Stepping Stone and several others were allotted land for Rs 1,800 per square yard.

According to Estate Office records,land to 33 schools between 2002 and 2003 has been allotted at the similar rate of Rs 900 per square yard if the floor area ratio (FAR) of the building is 0.25; and if FAR is 0.50,then at Rs 1,800 per square yard.

Interestingly,the comparative value of commercial land located at similar location turns out to be more than Rs 7 lakh per square yard in and after 2003.

According to the scheme— Allotment of Land to Educational Institutes (schools) etc on leasehold basis in Chandigarh Scheme 1996 — and memo number DPI-UT-A4-24(WES)/2006-II,dated February 15,2008,the Director Public Instructions (schools) has enforced 15 per cent reservations for students of EWS by all the private schools.