Schools admitting new students to any class will have to reserve
25 per cent of their seats for children belonging to weaker sections and
disadvantaged group following the mandate of the Right to Education (RTE) Act,
the Delhi High Court has held.
A
bench comprising acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw
passed the order after a PIL (public interest litigation) was filed by an NGO
apprehending that schools making admissions were not following the reservation
criterion set by the RTE Act. The court had also sought clarification from the
Department of Education (DoE) regarding reservation of seats in schools.
The bench further explained that the schools, which are imparting pre-school
education, would have to provide 25 per cent reservation to children belonging
to EWS and disadvantaged groups at the pre-school level.
The schools, which do not have pre-school education and are admitting children
in class I, should provide 25 per cent reservation to children belonging to
weaker section and dis-advantaged groups.The bench also pointed that the
interpretation given by it was in consonance with the historic judgment the
Supreme Court upholding the Constitutional validity of the RTE Act. The Act is
to be applied from the academic year 2012-13.
NGO Social Jurist approached the court seeking direction for enforcement of
certain facets of the RTE Act.
It referred to an order issued by Delhi government’s Director of Education
(DOE) on May 18, which had deferred the direction to schools for filling vacant
seats under the EWS and disadvantaged category in classes other than pre-school
and pre-primary, till receipt of clarifications from the Union government’s
Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The NGO contended such a deferment would delay the admission to other classes,
till beyond the beginning of the academic session, and would lead to the seats
remaining vacant for the current academic year.
The DOE submitted that the unaided schools were interpreting the provision of
the Act to mean that they are obliged to admit students belonging to EWS and
disadvantaged group at entry level only and not at any other level, even if
they were making admission at any other levell.
The court clarified the position making it mandatory for the schools to follow
the Act by directing them to admit students from that group at each level and
not confine it to only at entry level.
The Karnataka government has issued a notification defining the division of 25% RTE quota for the unprivileged children. The 25% RTE quota will be divided in 2 parts, disadvantaged groups and the EWS (economically weaker sections).
The disadvantaged group will comprise of 11 groups namely; ST, SC, category 1, 2(a), 2(b), 3(a), 3 (b), street children, orphans, children with special needs and HIV infected children. The students seeking admission under category 2(a), 2(b), 3(a) and 3(b) must have a family income below Rs 3.5 lakh per annum.
Children belonging to families with annual family income less than Rs 3.5 lakh which is also the condition for the creamy layer of backward class as defined by the social welfare department will come under EWS. The students seeking admission under EWS should not belong to any of the 11 disadvantaged groups.
Out of 25% seats, 7.5% seats have been assigned to SC and 1.5% for ST. Other 9 disadvantaged groups and EWS will share remaining 16% seats.
The notification of the social welfare department will decide the first 7 categories. The remaining will be as per the notification of the concerned department such as labour department.
The amount of Rs 11, 848 will be reimbursed by the government for each student admitted in class I. If the SC quota goes vacant then it can filled against ST students and vice-versa. If the 16% seats are vacant it will be filled by SC/ST and vice-versa.
The government is yet to take a call on how to fill the seats if they still remain vacant.
The RTE is a good initiative. We have a certain responsibility towards members of our society and we need to fulfill them. But it has to be implemented with proper infrastructure. There must be facilities in the school for such students so that they can be looked after. Separate teaching-learning facilities are needed in schools. Teachers also need to be conditioned accordingly, so that they don’t discriminate. And the students should not have the feeling that they come from a different (EWS) category. The government has taken a decision that these children should not be segregated. There are economical, psychological problems because they come from such heterogeneous backgrounds. But this will take time.
Would you buy the argument that if parents (general category) are ready to pay a little extra for the sake of their children, the government should not interfere with it?
Basically, every child in the country has the right to free and compulsory education, from the age of six to fourteen, rich or poor. It is thus the duty of the government to provide this free and compulsory education. So when the rich do not send their children to government schools because quality of education in (government) schools is not good, then they sacrifice their right to free and compulsory education and opt for private schools. They give up their rights and pay more fee than in government schools if the school is good and promises quality. At the same time, with the RTE, (EWS) students are also getting admission in the same schools alongside the general category students and free of cost. So who will pay the money? The government promises only
Rs 1,190 but the average expenditure on a DPS student per month is about Rs 5,000. Who will bear the cost? Again the burden will be on the parents of the rest of the 75 per cent children in a class. It’s like these parents are being punished, twice. One, for giving up their right to free education because the government failed to carry out its duty properly and, second, for bearing the burden of government’s promises in terms of 25 per cent reservation. There should be a solution to this. Either the government schools should upgraded or some support should be given to private schools.
Do you think that by having certain fixed criteria for providing admission to students, only those from a particular background get admitted? Does that hamper having a proper balance in the class?
There are no specifications in the EWS admissions. No criterion, except neighbourhood applies in this category. So under EWS, all types of students enter a class. Not particularly sibling or alumni. So in this 25 per cent there is no discrimination. But in the rest of the 75 per cent, school has the authority, that is given to it by the government, to formulate its admission policy with transparency. We abide by the rules. We have given weightage to all categories. Why should siblings not be considered? It becomes very difficult for parents to manage sending their children to two different schools.
Have parents under the EWS category raised any concerns?
There is a problem with the definition of the term. A peon, if he earns more than a lakh a year, cannot be placed under this category. While someone less suitable or needful may be. Question: What has been your experience with CCE?Answer: CCE is very good for the all-round development of the child. Thus, it serves the purpose of education. It caters to the physical, mental and social development of the child. From that perspective it’s very good. But implementation does not match up to the philosophy. It can vary from school to school and teacher to teacher. In our culture, one has to be very honest to be able to carry it out. The work load on the teachers has increased. Earlier it was the government’s job to conduct exams, check papers and declare results. But now it is all up to the teacher. The teacher is spending all his time in paper work.
A child studying in Yuva Shakti Model School in Rohini Sector 3 has been denied admission to class 1 despite completing studies in UKG and LKG in the same school. Parents alleged that the school is forcing them to pay fees.
Kashish, a resident of Rohini, was admitted in 2009-10 academic session in LKG under the EWS category in this school. He was promoted to UKG in 2010-11, and was further promoted to class 1 in 2012-13.
However, from April 1, 2012 the school asked the child not to come to school till his parents paid the entire fee.
“We said that our child was studying under the EWS quota and we were not supposed to pay any fee. We tried to make them understand that we cannot afford such fees but the school authorities did not listen.
“The child is still sitting at home as they are not allowing him to sit in class,” said Vijay Goel, the child’s father, who works in the organised sector.
Since the school was turning a deaf ear to their problem, the parents approached the education officer of zone 13 in April and wrote a letter highlighting their issues.
Ashok Agarwal, advocate and RTE campaigner, has written a letter to the directorate of education, asking the department to take action against the erring school.
“It is submitted that the impugned action or inaction on the part of the school is arbitrary, discriminatory, unethical, unjust, improper, contrary to the provisions of Delhi School Education Act, 1973, violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 21A and 38 of the Constitution, and also contrary to the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009,” stated the letter.
The school authorities have given a written reply to the education department, saying the child has studied for two full sessions and he will have to pay fees to continue with his schooling.
“The student was given a seat in the school on sympathy grounds as the parents had financial constraints. In 2011-12 and 2012-13, the parents did not apply under the EWS quota in the school, and hence no record stands with the school regarding his admission under EWS category,” stated the letter given by the school.
Namaskar and my heartiest congratulations on being elected to the office of the President of India.
I am writing to you as a proud young Indian with great hope in my heart for our beloved motherland. I have had the privilege of reading your opening address to the nation as the new 'Rashtrapati'.
Your words carried with them great weight in the truth that they sought to convey. I must confess, that to me as a student of the law, your commitment as President to preserving and upholding the Constitution at the very apex of our existence as a democratic polity, was something that greatly inspired me. It is with that inspiration in my heart that I find myself writing this letter to you. You mentioned two things in your speech that struck a chord with me; firstly, the grave importance of securing justice for the poorest of our people and secondly, the urgency of investing heavily in the knowledge and skill development of our youth - and I feel that these two factors in particular will determine India's presence at the high table of the world in the coming decade.
You pointed out in your address that India has indeed a long way to go in the coming decades. Interestingly, you also stated that it is 'the coming generations that would take India forward by quantum leaps'. The youth demographics of our country wholeheartedly corroborate your statement. Your words highlight the glaring importance of making large-scale investments in educational infrastructure to fuel the aspirations and dreams of our youth - investments that will ultimately yield invaluable dividends in the form of India's place in the world as a responsible superpower.
The role of the Indian President as the Constitutional Head of the largest and most expansive democracy on earth, therefore, assumes monumental importance in being able to achieve this grand vision.
Mr. Mukherjee, upon your assumption of office as the 13th President of India, it gives me no pleasure in pointing out to you as a student of the law that you have inherited a seat of power that is weighed down more by the collective taint of past Presidents who chose to discharge their official duties as docile rubber stamps, rather than live by the lofty ideals prescribed in our grand constitution. Most young Indians such as myself, regard you as the elder statesman of Indian politics - a man of strong political vision and an unflinching allegiance to the precepts of the Constitution of India. A man also capable of taking to task the Cabinet if it fails to adhere to the promise of discharging its Constitutional duties. It is for this reason that your commitment to 'preserve, protect and uphold' the Constitution assumes such great importance. The Constitutional ideals that you speak of i.e. 'democracy, equality of rights for every citizen, freedom of consciousness, secularism and economic equity' all demand a firm national grounding in education and unhindered mental growth. Without an enlightened youth, these constitutional ideals will be relegated to the sphere of grand rhetoric and the imaginary greatness of India.
As President, millions of young Indians such as myself would like to see you spearhead a revolution in top-quality education in India. As the conscience-keeper of our Government, the onerous responsibility of directing the Cabinet to use our nation's precious resources responsibly lies with you. India currently ranks an abysmal 134 on the Human Development Index, indicating that our budget outlay on education and health-care is severely inadequate. India desperately needs thousands of more primary and middle schools, where quality standards are strictly monitored by the Human Resources Minister. Having been the fortunate recipient of a top-quality education at one of India's premier law schools and later as a Master's student at an Ivy league university in the United States, I fail to understand why the Indian Government does not commit itself in replicating and expanding our best universities across the country. It pains me to read about the wasteful expenditure we continue to incur through our budget outlay year after year, on non-essential heads - while education continues to stagnate and is at best an after-thought. The grand vision that you speak of in your address can be realized only if the high office of the Indian Presidency that you now occupy is used to convince our Government that its greatest responsibility lies in committing itself to establishing great temples of learning where the arts and sciences can flourish. You have already sounded the battle cry - 'all for knowledge, and knowledge for all'. Amen to that.
As President, your vision for India will determine whether millions of citizens are granted access to speedy justice or not. Article 53 of the Constitution vests in you the executive power of the entire Union of India. The symbolism of this provision cannot be ignored in the least. It is distressing to find that the Judicial infrastructure of our country is in shambles. The lower court system has deteriorated to a level where the poor and illiterate have no recourse to legal remedies and are often victimized by greedy and short-sighted officers of the law. Our District and High Courts are burdened with ever expanding dockets and often suffer delayed judicial appointments, leading ultimately to the great misery of litigants and their families. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the Hon'ble Supreme Court, which was conceived originally as the last bastion of fairness, equity and justice for all citizens whose most sacred and fundamental rights had been violated, is now reduced to a court of mere final appeal where even trivial issues of little or no public importance are expected to be heard and decided. These facts are obviously alarming, and should ideally inspire the Government to act with sprightly fortitude to remedy and reform the crumbling infrastructure.
Mr. President, India needs your ability to build consensus on these issues now more than ever. Destiny has given us another chance to redeem ourselves and help build an India that the coming generations will be proud to inherit and committed to nurture. Your leadership can help pave the way for an enlightened youth where education is given the highest priority and is guaranteed by a robust justice delivery mechanism.
I hope you do not regard my letter as merely the rant of an idealistic youngster, but treat it as the exhortation of your children and theirs.
Why there's an alarming rash of suicides among Dalit students
The sharply truncated life of Anil Meena was marked by a ferocious tenacity.
From the mud house in rural Rajasthan, where he grew up in a family of subsistence farmers, he made his way first to school and then to the top of his class. He studied with monomaniacal intensity and passed the entrance exam to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the most prestigious of India’s professional colleges – an achievement almost unfathomable in the largely illiterate aboriginal community from which he came.
At AIIMS, he battled through classes where he couldn’t understand a word of the English being spoken and pored over a dictionary to get through textbooks. When an arbitrary rule change – that just happened to affect only students from backgrounds such as his – cost him a passing grade in a crucial exam, he tried repeatedly to meet his course director, his friends say. He sat outside the man’s office for four or five hours at a time for a week.
But Mr. Meena had come up against something his intelligence and perseverance could not overcome: Students of his kind are not welcome at AIIMS, no more than they are at other prestigious Indian universities. They rarely graduate. No one was prepared to help him succeed.
On March 3, Mr. Meena hung himself from the fan in his small dormitory room. He was 22.
His death was a crippling blow to his family, a shock to his friends and an ugly blemish for AIIMS. It was also the 20th reported suicide in four years at an elite Indian educational institution by a student who was either aboriginal or Dalit – the people from the bottom of the Hindu caste system, once known as untouchables.
The suicides have emerged as a subject for fierce debate. Following the promise of the new India, these students are hyper-achievers from the grimmest of backgrounds, who made it into the schools that produce engineers, doctors and business leaders who are sought the world over.
But when they get there, they are often isolated, humiliated and discriminated against. They are told overtly by their professors that they will never make it to graduation. Yet many feel they cannot drop out – families and communities are invested in their success, and many have taken huge loans.
Some, trapped in this dilemma, have chosen to end their lives.
In the very places that produce the innovators who are supposed to shape its future, India is dogged by the darkest forces from its past.
“It’s very pervasive and very invisible,” says Shweta Barge, who monitors educational discrimination for the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights. From a Dalit community herself, Ms. Barge often tried to keep her identity cloaked as she managed to earn a postgraduate degree. “Those [Hindu] ideas of purity and pollution exist across every stream, in every school. It gets to hard-core Indian values: It’s not just about where you reach; it’s about where you came from.”
The suicides have occurred at 16 different institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and at the universities of Hyderabad and Bangalore.
In 2008, a final-year Dalit medical student at Government Medical College in Chandigarh in the Punjab hung himself in the college library; Jaspreet Singh left a note in his pocket describing how the head of his department told him repeatedly to his face that he would never, ever be permitted to be a doctor.
That professor had failed him several times in course work, although Mr. Singh had never before had anything but top marks. After his death, an external committee re-evaluated his exams and found that he should have passed. He was awarded his degree posthumously.
On March 3, 2010, exactly two years before Mr. Meena’s death, another young aboriginal man killed himself at AIIMS. Bal Mukund Bharti, 25, was just weeks away from earning his degree, something unprecedented in his community in Madhya Pradesh.
His parents, who’d taken out massive loans to support him, told a team from of investigators from the Insight Foundation, which works to support Dalit and aboriginal students, that he repeatedly complained of harassment from his professors.
He said that one often complained, “I don’t know where they come from, these Dalits and [aboriginals], getting here without studying anything.”
Yet Mr. Bharti was, in fact, brilliant. He had scored eighth among hundreds of thousands of students nationwide in the intensely competitive engineering entrance exam – he passed up the seat to become a doctor instead. AIIMS carried out no investigation and says he had psychological problems.
And this April, an MBA student hanged herself at a private college in Gurgaon, the new technology and industry hub on the edge of Delhi. Dana Sangma was aboriginal, from Meghalaya state in India’s remote northeast.
The university quickly released the explanation that she was distraught after being caught cheating on an exam – but her uncle, her home state’s chief minister, who had personally enrolled his niece at the high-priced school, called that claim preposterous.
He registered a complaint with the National Commission of Schedule Castes and Tribes, saying she had been driven to suicide by harassment at the college.
India has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, especially in the age group of college students. But these deaths stand out because of the clear connection, often described in suicide notes, with the discrimination the victim endured.
The issue goes to the heart of a story that India wants to tell about itself these days: that traditional guarantees of privilege – wealth and caste – are losing power in favour of merit.
But if that is at all true, it is thanks largely to the program of “reservations” – a form of affirmative action under which all publicly funded educational institutions must reserve about 40 per cent of their seats for aboriginal (or “tribal”), Dalit and “other backward caste” students.
A percentage of jobs in government institutions are also reserved, as are political seats in municipal government.
The education reservations were set out in the Indian constitution adopted in 1950, although it was decades before there was more than a handful of such students who even reached the point of applying, and uproars from dominant-caste students and their families were a consistent drag on the program’s full implementation until recently.
Today, there is a politically incorrect tint to complaining about reservations, but many dominant-caste students still resent them.
India is desperately short of higher-education institutions. The Ministry of Human Resource Development says the country needs at least 1,500 more – 520,000 students wrote the entrance exam for the IIT this year, competing for fewer than 10,000 spots.
A degree from one of the elite engineering or medical institutes is a ticket to a life of comfort. But the competition for seats, combined with the reservations, means the admission cutoff – the minimum grade for acceptance – for non-reserved students hovers in the high 90s.
Dalit students are perceived as taking seats that should go to students who scored higher. Indeed, there are thoughtful critics, such as the leading New Delhi public intellectual Gucharan Das, who point out that inequality in India today does not always follow traditional lines – some in the “other backward caste” groups are prospering, but they pressed to be included among the reservations, while other poor people are left out.
But those are the exceptions. Anoop Kumar, who runs the Insight Foundation, says most of the backlash against reservations comes from an (often deliberate) misunderstanding of the principle. “People are defining merit strictly in terms of marks in the entrance exam, and that conveniently discounts all the other factors affecting the performance of the students,” he says.
“So a student from an urban, upper-caste, upper-class background who has both parents literate and studied at a an elite, private [English-language] school is considered more ‘meritorious’ when he or she has 85-per-cent marks, than a reservation-category student who goes to a terrible government school in [Hindi] and has no one in the family who is literate but still scores 75-per-cent marks.”
Yet their dominant-caste peers still grouse that the reserved-category students would never make it if they had to compete on an open field. Their professors often share that view: As Ms. Barge points out, the faculty in these prestigious institutes is overwhelming made up of people from the dominant castes, since only a single generation of Dalits really has had the chance for a professional education.
“They have this idea rooted in their psyche that tribal and Dalit students ‘don’t have the merit and can’t match up to us,’ ” says Ajita Rao, a Dalit medical doctor who studies discrimination in professional education. “That’s the hidden thing.”
Dr. Rao says that resentment, hostility and isolation – rooted in the idea that Dalits and aboriginals are “unclean” – permeates college life. They are shunned in dining halls and dorms and mocked in classes, ever reminded of their marginalization.
This has a debilitating effect on students who always thought of themselves as achievers.
“You go for [an oral examination] and they ask you your name and where you are from, and you say Meena from Rajasthan – they say, ‘Oh, okay,’ ” says Jagram Meena, 20, who was a close friend of Anil Meena’s (but no relation – their surname is given to all in their caste group).
He says such exchanges have a direct effect on his performance: “You feel dehumanized and you forget everything you want to say. They are saying, ‘Okay, you are a reservation-category student and you don’t know anything.’ You’re marked from that moment.”
In 2006, a series of protests by Dalit and aboriginal students at AIIMS complaining of discrimination prompted the central government to appoint Sukhadeo Thorat, a prominent academic from a Dalit background, to investigate.
His three-person commission found dorms segregated by caste, students subjected to open hostility by their teachers and even physical attacks by dominant-caste students on those they considered inferior.
The Thorat report said these students consistently reported having less time with oral examiners, and being asked their surname in unnecessary situations. It faulted AIIMS for failing to provided language support to students coming from Hindi- language schools and for relying heavily on subjective assessments rather than more objective tests.
Also, in a grim foreshadowing of the experience Anil Meena would describe a few years later – the report criticized cases of sudden rule changes that had a disproportionate impact on reserved-category students.
In Mr. Meena’s case, the weight given to one assessment was changed to 50 from 25 per cent, seemingly arbitrarily, after the exam had been conducted. This caused him and many other students to fail – almost all reservation students, said Mahinder Meena, an intern at AIIMS (also from the Rajasthani aboriginal community) who helped organize protests after the suicide. The Thorat report recorded a pattern of such incidents.
AIIMS’s administration rejected the report “in totality,” calling it biased, although under public pressure it did increase its language-learning support.
In the wake of Anil Meena’s death, the administration acknowledges only that he had been depressed about failing an exam and was struggling with English.
“This was a tragic event,” says Rakesh Yadav, AIIMS’s subdean for academic issues. “No institution wants that.”
The school did offer financial compensation to Mr. Meena’s parents. But Dr. Yadav rejects the idea that the university’s conduct had any role. “It is absolutely not true. All support any [medical] student needs is provided – the faculty and the administration is always there to help out.”
Dr. Yadav will agree that the area of language support might be insufficient – that an hour a day might not be enough to get a unilingual Hindi student through a medical curriculum. “It’s basically a language problem.”
Beyond that, however, he says there was “no discrimination” in AIIMS. “If you say faculty are doing the discrimination – it’s too much. … They assess students based on marks.”
As for bias, he adds, there are processes to prevent any individual professor from vindictively undermining a student, but clinical skills, for example, must by definition be evaluated in person: “To modify it to be 100 per cent objective – it’s not possible.”
However, after Anil Meena’s death, AIIMS contacted Prof. Thorat again and asked him to return to the school to investigate, which he considers a major improvement over the hostile reception to his last inquiry.
“This time there is an attitude to do something about the problem they face,” he says. “I have a feeling that because of these two suicides … it shook the faculty and teachers.”
Jagram Meena hopes so. He points out that his friend Anil placed 400th in the all-India medical entrance exam, far higher than most of the general-category students at AIIMS. They both certainly struggled in their first year – they had to consult the dictionary 10 times to read a single page of their textbooks – but Anil was managing.
He played Bollywood music loudly to relax, or joined friends – mostly from his caste group – for cricket in the courtyard. His father and brother were taking loans to send him fees every month. He was coping, Jagram says, until the rules kept shifting.
“We’re in no way lower than the general-category students,” says Jagram, sipping tea at the canteen outside the student dorm.
“One day,” he says – when the public schools that prepare Dalit and aboriginal kids are as good as everyone else’s – “we’ll all be one category.”
But Mahinder Meena cuts him off, demanding to know how change like that could come as long as it’s almost impossible for Dalit students to succeed.
“Our fear about his suicide,” Mahinder says, “is that it will change nothing.”
Sunday, July 29, 2012
With not many schools willing to implement RTE Act in its true spirit, the civic body education board says it will help children belonging to EWS get admitted to schools and at the same time it will derecognise schools that refuse to share the responsibility.
Despite SC ruling, most city schools reluctant to implement RTE Act
Even after the Supreme Court ruling on 25 per cent quota for students from economically weaker sections (EWS), its implementation in most of the city schools is still uncertain. While some schools have been claiming that their admission procedure is over, others are citing lack of infrastructure as reason for failing to accommodate additional students.
Madhura Kulkarni of Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya (NMV) said their classrooms that already have about 70 students will not be able to accommodate more. “Giving admissions to 25 per cent students from EWS is not feasible for us this year. We have many students who are from the ‘below poverty line’ bracket. We do not have the infrastructure to support more students,” said Kulkarni.
“We did get a few queries. As per the rule, they need to produce income certificate and also prove that they stay in the vicinity of the school. Once we verify all this, we can surely admit them,” said Nalini Sengupta, principal, Vidya Valley School.
Cambridge International School authority claims that they were not approached by anyone from the economically weaker section till they finished the admission process in January. School director Ram Raina said, “Though the school is not against the Act, some parents might have reservations about their child sharing a classroom with children from poorer families.” He added, “I can surely guide such parents but I can’t change their mindset.”
Since no such admission was sought at City International School, Kothrud, the school filled up its regular number of seats, said Principal Nirmal Waddan. He said the school welcomes the 25 per cent reservation but being a CBSE board, they had to begin the academic session in April and offer admission on first-come-first-serve basis.
Mrudula Mahajan, principal of D Y Patil School, Pimpri, said since they were permanently unaided school, the norm does not apply to them. “We have not yet received any government circular...There is still confusion about the issue. Also, since we are permanently unaided school, we believe the norm does not apply to our institution,” said Mahajan.
Teresa David, principal of Laxmanrao Apte Primary School, said the school already has many students that are from economically weaker section. “We have many slums in the vicinity, so we have many students from poor economic background. Many a times we try and help these students to pay the fees by getting financial aid from NGOs,” said David. However she said in absence of ‘clear instruction from the government’, no admission has officially been done under the 25 per cent quota for EWS section.
Usha Wag, primary school committee president, Huzurpaga School, said, “The RTE Act says that schools cannot have more than 50 students in a classroom. But if we take additional 25 per cent students, we will have to divide the class and get more teachers and classrooms which is very difficult at such a short notice.”
Deepa Kaul, principal of Dayanand Anglo Vernacular (DAV) school said no student from the EWS section had approached the school seeking admission. “Though the admissions for our entry level classes were were carried out in November last year, we are willing to admit students under RTE,” she said.
However, the education board has received complaints from many parents about schools that have been denying admissions to the students. A team of education officers from the PMC education board today visited Dastur Boys School after receiving complaint. Shubhangi Chavan of the education board said, “We visited the school to gather information about their status. They told us that they were a minority school but we told them that as they get funds for students’ books from the government, they will have to implement RTE Act.”
Activist Suresh Jain said, “We have received complaints about Dastur, Mount Carmel, Vidya Bhawan, St Anne’s School and St Mira’s. We are planning to meet the deputy director of education tomorrow and ask him to take action against them.”
Many schools implement the Act, calling it noble initiative
Not all schools are trying to get away from implementing the RTE Act. A handful of schools in the city is trying its best to accommodate as many such students as possible.
Anjali Mudholkar, headmistress, Progressive Education Society’s National Chemical Laboratory School, said at least 10 EWS students have been admitted this year. “Our admissions were closed by June 2, when the government resolution was announced. However, we wanted to accommodate at least a few students as this is a noble initiative. Till last year, we had been taking 120 students in Class I, but this year we’re hoping to take it to 140 to accommodate these kids. We will also try to take in a few of them in nursery,” she said.
She, however, expressed concern over whether schools will receive refund from the government for allowing a fee waiver to students. “If it turns out to be like the scholarships, where funds are released months later, then schools will find it difficult to continue the programme,” added Mudholkar.
Vaishali Namjoshi, principal, Dnan Prabodhini School, Nigdi, said the body that runs the school has been taking in EWS students long before SC made it mandatory. “We have always had such students in the schools with the help of our trust and other philanthropic institutions. But now we can increase the number as the government will give us about Rs 10,000 for each child. We have admitted eight such students in a batch of 100 and we’re getting more applications,” she added.
“We got just one such query and we were very happy to admit him,” said Lakshmi Kumar, director, The Orchid School. The school has put up notices in English and Marathi on its main entrance gate about its willingness to give admission to such students and a separate link on the school website about how they will implement the Act. “It is about national obligation and not personal choice,” says Kumar. However, she has concerns as well. “The Act is not clear about who will provide textbooks to these students or what books will be given to them,” she says.
Kalpana Agawane, principal of Ahilya Devi Primary School, said, “Our admissions are over, but we have given admission to students from EWS.”
A
bench comprising acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw
passed the order after a PIL (public interest litigation) was filed by an NGO
apprehending that schools making admissions were not following the reservation
criterion set by the RTE Act. The court had also sought clarification from the
Department of Education (DoE) regarding reservation of seats in schools.
