6 pvt schools reject admission under RTE Act

Six of the private schools in Mangalore North and South Education Blocks have rejected admissions to students under the Right to Education Act this year, freshly claiming themselves to be minority institutions, which has put the parents in a fix.

Of the six schools, managements of four schools have individually brought interim order from the High Court and managements of two Catholic schools have produced orders from the Catholic Board declaring themselves to be minority schools. Though the applications submitted by the parents seeking seats for their children under RTE Act were accepted, parents were taken aback when the schools denied admission, stating that they do not come under the act.

Education activist A K Harish who has obtained information under RTI, revealed the details at a meeting on the implementation of RTE Act, 2009, organised by People’s Alliance for Right to Education, CODP at Nanthoor on Wednesday. Canara Higher Primary School, Sharada Vidyalaya, Raj Academy EMUPS in Ganjimutt and Prestige School have brought an interim from the High Court, while Gonzaga Higher Primary School and St Mary’s School in Kinnigoli have brought an order from the Catholic Board, claiming themselves to be linguistic/religious minority institutions. A total of 128 seats are available under 25 per cent reservation quota in these schools.

A parent Vijaya (name changed) said that she had submitted application to Sharada Vidyalaya seeking admission for her son to I Std. “When I went there on March 3 for admission, they said that the school does not come under the purview of RTE,” she said.

Harish called it as a trick of the managements to get the minority status afresh, so as to avoid reservation of seats and reap profit. “If we go by this minority status, almost all schools in DK district will remain out of the purview of RTE and the Act will lose its purpose,” he said.

Violation of Act

A group of parents from Katipalla and surrounding areas complained that Narayana Guru English Medium School in Katipalla had violated the RTE Act by denying admission to their children last year (2013-14), citing submission of applications after the deadline, as a reason. A parent Malathi said that the school had rejected admission to 7 students despite having all the eligibilities, as they had submitted application after the deadline mentioned in the first circular. Though, the second government order extended the deadline, the school did not grant admission to the children.

Collecting fee

Naveen Rai from Puttila in Belthangady taluk, alleged that Indraprastha Vidyalaya in Uppinangady of collecting fee from students who were admitted under the reservation category. In the academic year 2013-14, five children were admitted to the school from whom the school had collected Rs 3,500 as capital expenditure.

He also complained that his daughter was denied admission in the same school, despite having met all criteria and her name listed in Form VI forwarded to the BEO. The pre-school in Indraprastha has been functioning for last 23 years without approval. The permission was granted only in April 2013, Rai alleged.

Padi-Valored Director Renny D’Souza demanded the political parties to include RTE in their election manifesto.