<p>The RTE Act was passed last year and the State Government implemented it agreeing on five points, including the provision that students in primary classes (upto class VIII) should not be detained. The objective was to bring down the dropout rate and shift the responsibility of learning from the child to the school.<br /><br />However, throwing the provision of the Act to the winds, St John’s School at Cleveland Town near Frazer Town not only failed some students of primary classes, but also issued TCs to them. Parents of one of the students approached Deccan Herald to narrate their plight.<br /><br />Requesting anonymity, the child's mother, a government servant, questioned the relevance of the law when private schools are violating it deliberately.<br /><br />She claimed that at least 30 students from classes VI, VII and VIII were failed by the school this year and all the students were given TCs. She claimed that there are 300 students in each class and the school has divided the class into five sections - A, B, C, D and E.<br /><br />Fared badly<br /><br />Documents available with Deccan Herald show that the student in question had fared badly in the class VII examination. The mark sheet carried a note at the bottom - “To repeat 7th Standard. Should have put in more effort.”<br /><br />Deccan Herald contacted the administrator of the school Arul Raj for his reaction. He said he is only the administrator and he does not look after the academic activities. He said the principal of the school may be contacted. When Raj was asked to give her contact number, he said she (the principal) is out of station.<br /><br />When Kumar G Nayak, secretary of the primary and secondary education department, was contacted, he said detaining a primary school student was not permissible under any circumstances. When he was told that the student was not only failed, but also removed from the school, Nayak said: “This is terrible. Such things should not happen, I'll look into it.”</p>
<p>The RTE Act was passed last year and the State Government implemented it agreeing on five points, including the provision that students in primary classes (upto class VIII) should not be detained. The objective was to bring down the dropout rate and shift the responsibility of learning from the child to the school.<br /><br />However, throwing the provision of the Act to the winds, St John’s School at Cleveland Town near Frazer Town not only failed some students of primary classes, but also issued TCs to them. Parents of one of the students approached Deccan Herald to narrate their plight.<br /><br />Requesting anonymity, the child's mother, a government servant, questioned the relevance of the law when private schools are violating it deliberately.<br /><br />She claimed that at least 30 students from classes VI, VII and VIII were failed by the school this year and all the students were given TCs. She claimed that there are 300 students in each class and the school has divided the class into five sections - A, B, C, D and E.<br /><br />Fared badly<br /><br />Documents available with Deccan Herald show that the student in question had fared badly in the class VII examination. The mark sheet carried a note at the bottom - “To repeat 7th Standard. Should have put in more effort.”<br /><br />Deccan Herald contacted the administrator of the school Arul Raj for his reaction. He said he is only the administrator and he does not look after the academic activities. He said the principal of the school may be contacted. When Raj was asked to give her contact number, he said she (the principal) is out of station.<br /><br />When Kumar G Nayak, secretary of the primary and secondary education department, was contacted, he said detaining a primary school student was not permissible under any circumstances. When he was told that the student was not only failed, but also removed from the school, Nayak said: “This is terrible. Such things should not happen, I'll look into it.”</p>
