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Malegaon:
If the reports published in part of the media are to be believed,
the government is considering crucial amendments in the Right to
Education Act (RTE) whereby Madrasa education would be brought in
the ambit of the Act and schools would be given right to screen and
select students as per their quality standard.
Ever since the RTE Act was enforced in April 2010, Muslim
organizations were demanding amendments saying, the education
imparted in Madaris does not fit into the education that the RTE Act
defines. Instead, the RTE Act makes Madrasa education a punishable
offence. Muslim leaders were also of the view that the stipulation
under the RTE Act requiring all educational institutions to acquire
recognition -- which by implication will include Madaris -- is
against Article 30 of the Constitution which gives minority
communities freedom to set up and run their own institutions.
According to the Time of India, the first round of amendment in RTE
is already with the parliamentary standing committee. The amendments
also pertain to giving an advisory role to the School Management
Committee (SMC) in minority educational institutions and widening
the scope of 'child with disability' so that it includes those
suffering from autism, celebral palsy, mental retardation and other
disabilities.
The government is also seized of another amendment; the one that
seeks to give SMCs an advisory role in all aided schools. This
amendment was suggested by Kerala politicians who said letting
minority schools have SMCs in an advisory role and not giving the
same privilege to aided schools will put the latter in a
disadvantageous position.
Moreover, the "admission-as-an entitlement" provision will be
limited to only the poor children in the neighbourhood and seats for
them will be pegged at 25%. It means schools will continue to have
the right to screen 75% of the admissions, in a major amendment that
has been prompted by sustained lobbying by private schools. Public
schools across the country were up in arms, insisting that the no
screening clause could seriously affect their quality.
Section 13 of RTE Act not only bans screening but also fixes a
penalty of Rs 25,000 on a school for first contravention and Rs
50,000 for each subsequent contravention.
Schools as well as state governments are also agitated about the
no-detention provision – which guarantees automatic promotion to the
next class irrespective of a student's performance -- in the law and
are demanding a change.
"There are practical problems with no-screening. How will schools
like Doon, Mayo, Modern and others give random admission to
children? Therefore, I have suggested that while schools will not
screen 25% of poor children in the neighbourhood who have to be
taken, 75% will go through the screening system that the school
already has in place”, Times of India quoted HRD Minister Kapil
Sibal as saying.
Pointing out that even Navodaya Vidyalayas did screening, Sibal said
a practical solution was needed to implement important legislation
like the RTE Act.
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