Bigotry, bias, acceptance: For EWS kids, school life a mixed bag

The moment her Hindi teacher announced a group quiz in class one day, dread enveloped the 15-year-old girl hiding in the back benches at a private school in south Delhi.

- Somya Lakhani

As other students coalesced into groups of friends, she stood alone in a corner - aware that the teacher would have to fit her in one.

"No one picked me. I sat in a circle with a group, and handed a book to a classmate, who said, 'Chhee chhee kis ke haath mein meri book aa gayi hai' (Yuck, which person has my book in their hands)," recalled the 15-year-old, months after she broke down in class over this remark.

Born in an unauthorized 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.