Two days after the state government declared the first round of admissions under Right to Education (RTE) Act open, hopeful parentswere dejected by some of the schools. Those who chose minority schools as their preferred schools were denied admission as the case pertaining to their exemption is pending in the Supreme Court. When state government officials were informed about the matter, they said that the parents were already informed that choosing those schools would be at their own risk as the matter is still subjudice.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The government has this year marked 143 minority schools in red, cautioning applicants to choose these at their own risk. Minority schools across the state have challenged the 25% admission rule under the RTE Act in the Supreme Court.

Last year, nearly 300 minority schools denied admissions to over 1,000 children who were allotted seats by the state government underthe RTE Act and challenged these admissions in the Gujarat High Court. In July 2018, the Gujarat HC said that the state government's direction to the minority schools to admit students under the RTE Act was not illegal and arbitrary and that only those, which had taken the requisite No Objection Certificate (NOC) from concerned authorities, were exempted from admitting students under the Act. Following this, the minority schools appealed to the Supreme Court in August 2018.

Sharing his plight, Uttambhai Parmar, a resident of Amraiwadi said, "My son was shortlisted in the merit list of first round of admissions that was declared by the state government on Monday. With reference to the same, I went to Hebron school in Maninagar on Wednesday morning with all documents but was denied admission citing pending case in Supreme Court. While we understand that the case is going on, the state government should not have put the names of these minority schools on the portal."

The group of parents then visited the district education officer (DEO), raising their concerns. "The DEO told us that they will take up the matter on May 12 but May 13 is the last date for admissions. We have been running around for admissions for past three months and still, there is so much confusion", he added.

When DNA spoke with RC Patel, DEO, he said, "After learning about the issue, we issued a request letter to the school to admit the children but they wrote to us citing the Supreme Court pendency. We will look into the matter and ensure the children get justice."

Sources said, "Earlier, there were a total of 178 minority schools, which did not have certificates. But now, 35 schools have valid minority certificates from the competent authority. So, 143 schools do not have their minority certificates."

Gulmoin Khokkhar, who has been helping RTE parents for many years said, "Not just minority schools, parents are being harassed at other schools for not having a receipt copy of the admit card. In most cases, parents do not have the same but have the governmentconfirmation of the first round of merit list. Still, they are being denied admission."

RTE admissions at a glance

Govt has marked 143 minority schools in red, cautioning applicants

  • 1,18,110: Total seats
  • 1,93,630: Total applications
  • 1,90,049: Confirmed applications
  • 1772: Rejected
  • 1809: Cancelled
  • 99,000: Admissions as per first round