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Six-year-old Mohit wants to become a doctor. His name is there in the list of students to be admitted in standard I in a prestigious private school in Rohini, Delhi. His family, however, is letting the admission deadline pass. “I do not have enough money to get him an admission in a private school,” says his mother, Neelam Kushwaha. “Although there is no fee, books, uniform and transport will be a huge burden on me. My husband earns only Rs.5,000 a month.”
Everybody expected a seismic shift in primary education in India when the government introduced the Right to Education Act, which mandates 25 per cent reservation in private schools for economically weaker sections (EWS). But, according to a pilot study by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, about 95 per cent private schools do not comply with the law. In Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, says the study, a child has to first seek admission at a government school and only if there are no seats left he can apply to a private school. It also found that most schools charge poor students for books and uniforms.
“We have been getting several complaints on the 25 per cent norm and that's why we initiated this study,” says Ajay Kumar, project coordinator, RTE, NCPCR. “The act is a great opportunity for underprivileged children to get what is due to them. But nobody is serious about it. There is discrimination in classrooms and denial of facilities. My fear is that a majority of these students will drop out if we do not address the issues right now.”
According to Delhi government's rules on RTE, all the requirements of EWS students are to be met by the schools. However, most schools ask parents to bear the cost of books and uniform. About 20,000 EWS students were enrolled in the state in the first phase and 10,000 more are expected to be admitted in the second phase. “The 25 per cent norm is continuously evolving and we are learning in the process. We are looking at all the complaints and will come out with a mechanism to deal with it,” says Amit Singla, director, department of education, Delhi.
Private schools, however, say these seats are going to well-off people who just claim to be poor. “There is a complete misuse of the EWS norm,” says Madhulika Sen, principal, Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, Delhi. “Well-to-do people come with fake certificates and we can't deny them. The genuinely poor are not benefiting to that extent. Then, there is integration issue. These children are not able to perform well in the class, in spite of post school classes by our teachers. And that is because the environment at home is not conducive. Financially, we are in a tight spot because of this norm.”
There is a huge gap between the reimbursement given by the government and what private schools charge the students. In Delhi, for instance, the government has fixed Rs.14,280 a year for a child. This is when top-notch schools charge more than Rs.1 lakh. “They are reimbursing us at government school rate when they have raised fees in government-owned Kendriya Vidyalayas. The fee does not cover anything,” says the principal of a school in south Delhi.
Private schools, as a result, try their best to avoid these students. There have been several cases when schools cited lack of documents to deny admission. There have also been allegations of offering money to parents and threatening them not to seek admissions. Tara Wadke, a single mother whose child has been admitted to a private school after a great deal of struggle, said she was offered Rs.2 lakh by a prominent school in Mumbai for not taking admission.
Another trick that these schools play to reduce the number of EWS students is cutting down the number of seats at the entry level. According to a response to an RTI query, about 100 schools in Delhi decreased the number of seats last year.
Schools run by minorities are exempted from the norm, and there have been allegations of schools falsely claiming to be minority institutions to avoid EWS students. “I approached 15-20 schools but all of them said that they were minority schools and therefore are not bound to give admission,” says Wadke. “I went to the State Council for Protection of Child Rights, which is one of the appellate bodies under RTE, but what I heard was very shocking. The head of commission said that he had no clue what RTE was about.”
Reimbursement is a contentious issue across the country, as there is no clarity on the shares of the Centre and the states on the financial commitment. As of now, states are left to bear the burden, which explains their lack of interest in the implementation.
Interestingly, middle-rung schools are more comfortable accepting EWS students because their fee structure is more or less similar to what the government has fixed. And they have to deal with class differences of a lower degree than the top-rung schools. “The law is absolutely perfect,” says P.S. Rawat, principal, Greenwood Public School, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. “Private schools have to be a partner in the government's vision of education for all.”
Testing conditionsA study conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in 19 states has identified the following as the reasons for the ineffective implementation of RTE
* Many schools say they have not got any directives from the government to admit students from economically weaker sections
* Many states have not notified the state rules, hence the RTE Act is not applicable
* Schools are not clear on or not giving free entitlements as per in RTE Act, 2009. Many schools are waiving tuition fees, but are not giving free uniforms, books and shoes
* Many schools do not receive application for admission under EWS category, indicating a lack of awareness among eligible people
Everybody expected a seismic shift in primary education in India when the government introduced the Right to Education Act, which mandates 25 per cent reservation in private schools for economically weaker sections (EWS). But, according to a pilot study by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, about 95 per cent private schools do not comply with the law. In Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, says the study, a child has to first seek admission at a government school and only if there are no seats left he can apply to a private school. It also found that most schools charge poor students for books and uniforms.
“We have been getting several complaints on the 25 per cent norm and that's why we initiated this study,” says Ajay Kumar, project coordinator, RTE, NCPCR. “The act is a great opportunity for underprivileged children to get what is due to them. But nobody is serious about it. There is discrimination in classrooms and denial of facilities. My fear is that a majority of these students will drop out if we do not address the issues right now.”
According to Delhi government's rules on RTE, all the requirements of EWS students are to be met by the schools. However, most schools ask parents to bear the cost of books and uniform. About 20,000 EWS students were enrolled in the state in the first phase and 10,000 more are expected to be admitted in the second phase. “The 25 per cent norm is continuously evolving and we are learning in the process. We are looking at all the complaints and will come out with a mechanism to deal with it,” says Amit Singla, director, department of education, Delhi.
Private schools, however, say these seats are going to well-off people who just claim to be poor. “There is a complete misuse of the EWS norm,” says Madhulika Sen, principal, Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, Delhi. “Well-to-do people come with fake certificates and we can't deny them. The genuinely poor are not benefiting to that extent. Then, there is integration issue. These children are not able to perform well in the class, in spite of post school classes by our teachers. And that is because the environment at home is not conducive. Financially, we are in a tight spot because of this norm.”
There is a huge gap between the reimbursement given by the government and what private schools charge the students. In Delhi, for instance, the government has fixed Rs.14,280 a year for a child. This is when top-notch schools charge more than Rs.1 lakh. “They are reimbursing us at government school rate when they have raised fees in government-owned Kendriya Vidyalayas. The fee does not cover anything,” says the principal of a school in south Delhi.
Private schools, as a result, try their best to avoid these students. There have been several cases when schools cited lack of documents to deny admission. There have also been allegations of offering money to parents and threatening them not to seek admissions. Tara Wadke, a single mother whose child has been admitted to a private school after a great deal of struggle, said she was offered Rs.2 lakh by a prominent school in Mumbai for not taking admission.
Another trick that these schools play to reduce the number of EWS students is cutting down the number of seats at the entry level. According to a response to an RTI query, about 100 schools in Delhi decreased the number of seats last year.
Schools run by minorities are exempted from the norm, and there have been allegations of schools falsely claiming to be minority institutions to avoid EWS students. “I approached 15-20 schools but all of them said that they were minority schools and therefore are not bound to give admission,” says Wadke. “I went to the State Council for Protection of Child Rights, which is one of the appellate bodies under RTE, but what I heard was very shocking. The head of commission said that he had no clue what RTE was about.”
Reimbursement is a contentious issue across the country, as there is no clarity on the shares of the Centre and the states on the financial commitment. As of now, states are left to bear the burden, which explains their lack of interest in the implementation.
Interestingly, middle-rung schools are more comfortable accepting EWS students because their fee structure is more or less similar to what the government has fixed. And they have to deal with class differences of a lower degree than the top-rung schools. “The law is absolutely perfect,” says P.S. Rawat, principal, Greenwood Public School, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. “Private schools have to be a partner in the government's vision of education for all.”
Testing conditionsA study conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in 19 states has identified the following as the reasons for the ineffective implementation of RTE
* Many schools say they have not got any directives from the government to admit students from economically weaker sections
* Many states have not notified the state rules, hence the RTE Act is not applicable
* Schools are not clear on or not giving free entitlements as per in RTE Act, 2009. Many schools are waiving tuition fees, but are not giving free uniforms, books and shoes
* Many schools do not receive application for admission under EWS category, indicating a lack of awareness among eligible people
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