Education dept to probe case

Dipti Sonawala : Mumbai, Fri May 25 2012, 01:36 hrs

Following a police complaint against Vibgyor High School, Goregaon, on Wednesday for allegedly violating the Right To Education (RTE) Act, the school education department has decided to probe the case. NGO Desh Seva Samiti (DSS) on Thursday wrote to the school education department seeking action against the school management.

On Wednesday morning, DSS activists had approached authorities of the school seeking admissions for eight students from economically weaker section (EWS). However, the students were denied admission and a non-cognisable complaint was filed against the school and its manager.

While the schools are set to re-open in June, the state government is yet to issue guidelines to the education department and schools on the implementation of the RTE Act. “ By the time the government issues the guidelines, the schools will complete their admission process. What will they do after that? Will they cancel the admissions to accommodate the 25 per cent students from EWS?” said Avisha Kulkarni of DSS.

However, education officer of west zone P R Pawar said the modalities had been worked out and guidelines are likely to be issued in 10-12 days. “We have received a complaint from the NGO about the issue. However, before acting upon it, we will have to hear out both sides. We will be investigating on what grounds the school has denied the admissions to those students. Even if there are no guidelines, the school should have accepted the application from the students. We will also probe if the school was given a minority status,” said Pawar. Meanwhile, school authorities maintain that they are an unaided minority school and so does not have to follow these rules. “We have a letter from the state government dated October 31, 2011, which states that neither have they granted minority status to Vibgyor High School nor have they received any application from the school seeking minority status,” added Kulkarni.

Rustom Kerawalla, founder and chairman of the school, was out of town and refused to comment on the issue.

The principal of a private school in south Mumbai said, “Why should we delay our admission process and wait for the government to issue the guidelines? There’s going to be confusion over the issue. The education department has not conducted any meetings with schools, nor have they issued any guidelines. By the month-end, problems will worsen as admission process will be over in most of the schools.”