Not everyone is intrigued by the new methods of technology
proved by Delhi's reaction to putting application forms online, especially for
economically weaker sections (EWS). Parents find it exhausting as the website
was down and they had to go to schools to enquire. Finally they admitted to the
fact that the old system was more preferable as there was a crowd gathered at
primary wings of larger, central Delhi, schools.
Here is experience of one of the parent- Nasser Ahmed (who is a professional driver and has applied for a commercial license) went to a school in Preet Vihar and was surprised to see the notice board with a website's address. He had to go to a cyber café and got to know that site is down. He again went to school and came back. He says that form is still not available and not everyone knows how to fill it.
Others are facing the same issue as Gazala Siddiqui came to Raghubir Singh Junior Modern School from Nizamuddin to collect a form for a neighbor, a mechanic. She says that all these should be physical only as parents are not internet savvy and they have to take help of internet cafes which charge a hefty amount. Then, the document needs to be scanned too. As per Delhi School Education Act and Rules 1973, only those schools that were recognized by Directorate of Education had their EWS admissions done online. Another person (Kuldeep Gautam, a businessman and a scheduled-caste category applicant from Ashram) complaints that offline is more convenient. Even schools faced issues, says principal of Indian School, Tania joshi that some parents complained that website was down and then they had no clue to which they need to submit the documents.
The Directorate of Education, on the other hand have done their part as they uploaded a 13 minute video on YouTube for filling the forms. Parents need to register and then apply with separate link and page for queries. First they need to fill out their residential address with sub locality. They need to be cautious as that will reflect the schools in different ranges that they can pick. Even state NGOs will be setting up camps for helping parents.
Not only EWS but some from general category faced the issue as the website was down and schools didn't have notice boards,as experienced by Kirti Talwar from East of Kailash. She went to five schools for the same.