Education Ministry in discussions to ease 1-km norm for EWS admissions

New Delhi: Jolted into action by recent Supreme Court orders, the education ministry has begun reaching out to states, nudging them to revise rules under the Right to Education (RTE) Act and admission procedures to strictly enforce the 25% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) in private schools.

That apart, ET gathers, high-level discussions are underway to bring greater flexibility to the "1-km neighbourhood school" criteria and ensure time-bound reimbursement to private schools for offering EWS quota.

The latest move largely comes following the SC's January 13 order in the Dinesh Biwaji Ashtikar vs State of Maharashtra case, where it sought effective implementation of Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act on EWS quota, backed with stronger and clearer rules to prevent barriers to admission.


This necessitates each state amend its RTE rulebook. The ministry has now got moving on this.

Outreach apart, in the 2026-27 review meetings that the Samagra Shiksha Project Approval Board (PAB) held in June with about 26 states and union territories, the ministry has asked them to frame of RTE rules in response to the SC order.

The ministry at the meetings underlined that states change their executive orders on this into rules, where required, a review of several PAB minutes show.

In its PAB review with BJP-ruled Assam on June 30, the ministry asked the state government to specify "the method and manner of admission" as directed in the SC.

The state said it has set up a committee to draft the RTE rules and promised to complete the process by the end of July.

Haryana informed the board at a meeting on June 25 that while it had notified the Rules for Implementing Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act in 2021, it had "not yet specified the method and manner of admission". The ministry asked the state to finalise the rules "at the earliest".

AAP-ruled Punjab confirmed in the PAB meeting on June 18 that it had not notified the rules, which it said were under consideration of the state education department and government.

Kerala, which has just changed hands from the CPM-led LDF to the Congress-led UDF, was asked in a June 29 meeting to change executive orders into rules to fulfil the apex court directions.

Andhra Pradesh was asked in the June 29 meeting to ensure that the rules are as per the recent SC directives.

PAB meetings are annual appraisals held by the Centre to evaluate and approve the Annual Work Plan & Budget proposals of states and essentially decide on budget allocations for school infrastructure, teachers, and student initiatives.

At the heart of the debate is Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act that mandates that all private schools reserve at least 25% seats for children from the EWS and disadvantaged groups in elementary classes. The government needs to reimburse schools for this.

While the trigger to the SC's January order was a parent's fight to get his child admitted under the EWS quota amid complex, unclear rules, the other simmering EWS debate is around the 'neighbourhood school' criteria.