City CBSE schools flouting RTE Act

Naina mishra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 6

Many CBSE schools in Ludhiana are flouting the RTE Act which sternly prohibits an interactive session and entrance exams for children of classes I to VIII under Section 13 of the RTE.

Admission tests and interactive sessions are a way for eliminating children, owing to which screening to assess a child’s intelligence’ was outlawed by the RTE.

At one such school, Manav Rachna International, parents are shortlisted and called for an interactive session. The school also conducts written test for grades I to IX. “We check language skills of the applicant if the child has any communication problem or not. It is not the only parameter but we do want to assess the child before admitting to our school,” said Principal Rupali Saini.

The principal of Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Navneet Kaur said, “Students who want to take admission come over and we have a small test. We have already a prepared test papers based on the previous class. We need to know whether the child is competent or not. Many times, students flunk in the test and we do give them time to prepare for the test.”

“If someone is coming from other board, we screen the applicant. We see the report card and if it is not required, we do not take test,” said Nupur Nutan, Principal of DCM Presidency School.

Correspondingly schools including Police DAV, St Thomas Senior Secondary, KVM (Civil Lines), and Green Land Convent School conducts entrance for Grade I, which is based on the UKG syllabus.

No reserved quota under EWS under RTE

Most of the private schools in city do not comply with 25% seat reservation of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) under the RTE act.

Heads of the schools say that the list of the eligible schools for EWS seats has not been produced until now. Mona Singh, Principal of Guru Nanak Public School said: "The 25 per cent reservation is at the entry level which is Class I. It is the list that has to come to us after validating whether we are eligible for the EWS seats or not. The list has to be forwarded to us from the DEO office. The list itself has never come to us in the first place. We also cannot take any child under the RTE as the child has to be from the vicinity of the school. These areas have to be sent to us by the education department. We cannot admit the child on our own under RTE. I would say that RTE is not being implemented if we see in the true sense of the policy."

On a similar line, DP Guleria, Principal of BCM School, Sec 32, said: "The required seats are kept reserved under the act by most of the schools. List of eligible candidates has to come from the administration which never comes, so all schools convert these seats into the general category and fill accordingly. The loophole in the administration has to be plugged in."

What Section 13 of RTE says?

• Section 13(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 provides, that while admitting a child, no school or person shall subject the child or his/her parents to any ‘screening procedure’
• Section 2(o) of the RTE Act defines the term ‘screening procedure’ to mean the ‘method of selection for admission of a child, in preference over another, other than a random method’
• The objective of section 13 (1) was to render a fair and transparent procedure of admission so that no child is adjudged by school authorities that whether or not they should admit the child. However, some of the top city schools have brazenly adopted the screening procedure, which is not only restricted to students but now parents as well