New Delhi: Over 10,000 children were victims of various discrimination by city schools which allegedly violated provisions of Right to Education Act that came into effect in April this year, a child rights body said Tuesday.
The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights
(DCPCR), which monitors implementation of the legislation in
city schools, said it has registered cases against the schools
which violated the RTE Act.
"Over 10,600 children faced various kinds of
discrimination in the last nine months which is pure violation
of RTE Act. We have registered cases against each violation,"
said DCPCR chief Amod Kanth.
He said in most cases, the violations ranged from
denial of admission to economically weaker section to charging
of fees for holding screening test for selection of students.
"In total we registered violations of 15 kinds," he
said.
Kanth, a retired IPS officer, said parents often come
to the DCPCR with their complaints and after carrying out
verification, the Commission, which is a statutory body, takes
"appropriate steps".
"We issue notice to schools based on kind of
violations and in most cases the school authorities comply
with the DCPCR directives," he said.
Identifying lack of awareness about RTE Act as a major
reason for violations, he said DCPCR has been focusing on
creating more awareness among parents, teachers and management
of the schools.
The historic RTE law making education a fundamental
right of every child in the age group of six to 14 years had
come into force on April one. It makes it obligatory on part
of the state governments and local bodies to ensure that every
child gets education in a school in the neighbourhood.
The DCPCR had set up an RTE cell which monitors
implementation of the legislation by various schools.
The child rights body had issued a notice to
Delhi Government last week terming its nursery admission
guidelines as "violative" of the Right to Education Act.
The Government had on last Wednesday announced broad
guidelines for admission into nursery classes virtually giving
almost total leeway to private schools to frame their own
criteria for enrolment of children.
Taking cognisance of the guidelines, DCPCR told the
Education Department to re-examine the order as "top priority"
since prima-facie it is violative of the RTE Act.
The DCPCR said the freedom given to the private
schools to formulate their own admission rules would result in
Government not having any control over the admission policies
of the respective schools.
PTI
