India, Jan. 15 -- The Right to Education (RTE) Act provision of private, unaided schools needing to reserve 25% of seats in Class I for students belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) was borne of the realisation within policy circles of the many deficiencies of public education in India. The EWS quota was expected to harness private education in a manner where the poor benefitted while the schools were reimbursed by the government for costs incurred. In the 16 years since, however, the significantly low intake of EWS students relative to vacancies, despite a large population of eligible children, underscores a failure in the implementation of the provision. It is in this context that the Supreme Court has ordered the framing of binding rules on EWS admissions across states and Union Territories. But the challenge is also one of battling mindsets. Integration of EWS students has been a pressing issue among schools that have reluctantly implemented the provision. There are several reports of schools discouraging EWS students, through segregated seating in classrooms to separate shifts at inconvenient timings. Several other hurdles are also reported, from disputed documentation to reluctance on the part of schools due to delays in reimbursements from the government. All of this has been exacerbated by learning gaps within nominally integrated classrooms - fostering an "equal-but-separate" atmosphere. Eliminating EWS vacancies will need these issues to be addressed, but it can only play a supplementary role in bridging the accessibility gap. For a truly robust school ecosystem, public schools will need to get better in terms of quality of education and infrastructure - obviating the need for quotas in private schools....