Govt vs schools: The fight for Delhi's Right to Education

“I don’t think your child can be admitted in this school. He won’t be able to cope here,” mother of three, Vidya Devi was told, by a staff teacher at a private school in East Delhi, when she went to admit her six-year-old son, Adarsh. Under the Right to Education Act, private schools are required to reserve 25 per cent of their total seats in Class I for students from the economically weaker sections (EWS), that is, families with incomes less than Rs 1 lakh per annum. But as is the case very often in India, rights and laws have to be demanded and fought for on a daily basis. And especially, laws that challenge the social and economic hierarchies are resisted with devilish energy and very often flouted with arrogance and impunity. While the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Society of Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan Vs Union of India – is awaited, the right to free and compulsory education continues to be treated as if it is an obligation and denied at will by private schools in the city and elsewhere. But for the millions of tireless parents wanting to give their child an education that they otherwise could never dream, the humiliation and the intimidation at the hands of the management of private schools is something they are prepared to take on. [caption id=“attachment_173191” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Adarsh (right), who was admitted to a private school in East Delhi under the RTE with his brothers Manoj (extreme left) and Sunil — both of whom study in government schools.Pallavi Polanki/Firstpost”]  [/caption] Vidya, for instance, was told her son ‘looked underage’, even though she had already submitted her son’s birth certificate along with the income and domicile certificates to the school. Luckily, Vidya wasn’t one to give up on her child’s future without a fight. “When my husband (who works as a plumber) went to talk to teachers at the school, they asked him to scoot. You see, he comes from a village. Then I decided I should go. I could see that teacher at the school was beginning to lose patience with me. All I said was, ‘Give it in writing that you will not admit my son in your school’. By this time, I had tears in my eyes. If you met my son, you would see how good he is at his studies.” Not surprisingly, Vidya was taken to the prinipal’s office. “The principal asked us not to worry and that they would admit my son. For two hours we waited, worried sick about what to expect next. Finally they agreed to admit my son.” So while six-year-old Adarsh, a darling of a child, takes his first steps into the exclusive English-speaking world of private schools, a formidable alliance of unaided private schools from across the country, represented by the legal might of senior lawyers such as Rajeev Dhawan and Harish Salve, are hell-bent on making sure he doesn’t get too far. Vidya’s two other sons Manoj and Sunil go to a government school. “There is a world of difference in quality of education in the private and the government school. Adarsh has learnt to read and write in Class I itself. He can even recite poems in English,” says Vidya. [caption id=“attachment_173200” align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“Six-year-old Adarsh with his mother Vidya Devi, who refused to give up despite excuses by a private school to deny him admission. Pallavi Polanki/Firstpost”]  [/caption] Does she worry that he might be mistreated by friends in class who come from well-to-do backgrounds? “I always ask him if he is feels at school. If something like that were to happen, he would tell me. He would refuse to go school. He is a sharp child. He tells us that we should to talk to him in English,” says a Vidya smilling. But there is no such thing as a ‘free’ education in private school, as Vidya has discovered. While she is entitled to a yearly allowance of Rs 1000 for books and uniform, the bills she gets from schools are five times that amount. “I’ve just spent Rs 2800 – for a coat, two pairs of shirt and trousers and socks – for his winter uniform. In summer, I had to pay Rs 2400 for his summer clothes. Books costs more than Rs 2000. We have to somehow manage. If I want to educate my child, I have to pay.” Not very different from multiplexes that don’t allow people to carry even water into the movie theatres, Adarsh’s school does allow stationery that is not bought from the outside the school depot. “Pen and pencils have to be bought from the school store even though it is a lot more expensive there. Colour pencils that cost Rs 50 outside, cost Rs 120,” says Vidya. When Vidya couldn’t afford Rs 450, sports fee charged by the school, Adarsh wasn’t allowed to participate in the games. “When Adarsh told me this, I cried. I told him I was sorry he was left alone in class and not allowed to play with his friends.” But Vidya has no doubt in her mind that she wants her son to get a good education. “I am determined that he studies in the very school that tried to deny him admission.” Continues on the next page Another tough mom, Reeta Balabh, a resident of Trilokpuri in East Delhi, has admitted both her kids — Harshit and Deepti — in private schools under the EWS quota. Reeta’s husband works at a mall as a sales person. She says, “I am very happy with the progress my children are making in their studies. My kids are also happy with school environment, they don’t feel discriminated in any way. Also, during parent teacher meetings, we sit together with all the other parents. It feels really great. I never imagined that my kids would one day go to a school like this. My daughter can now converse in English. A little dream of mine has come true.” With the nursery schools admission underway, Reeta and Vidya are their toes trying to reach and help as many parents from the neighbourhood get their children admitted under the EWS quota. Neha Gupta, a housewife, is on tenterhooks. She is hoping her daughter Anushka will get admission in one of the private schools this year under the EWS quota. But the biggest challenge for parents like Neha getting a domicile certificate which is to be submitted along with the birth and income certificate — signed by a gazetted officer. “The officials we we have approached have either refused to sign since they don’t know us or have said that they are not eligible. Where are we to find a gazetted officer? We have been living here for ten years. We have proof of residence, ration card. Is it not ok to accept on one these documents instead?” [caption id=“attachment_173203” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A worried Neha Gupta (left) talks to other mothers as she prepares for the admission for her daughter in the 25 per cent reserved category for children from economically weaker sections. Pallavi Polanki/Firstpost”]  [/caption] Harish Yug, a salesman who is a resident from Trilokpuri, is facing the same problem. “I went to an MBBS doctor in a government hospital but he refused to sign. I went to the government school here. I spoke to the local staff there but I turned down. We want to our children to go to a good school. We work from morning till night. Where is the time to run around so much for a signature. Please make the procedure easy.” In order to assist parents like Harish and Neha, JOSH, a voluntary group working in the field of education, has set up a couple of counseling centres in East Delhi. “There are 10-12 private schools in the neighbourhood of Trilokpuri and Kalyanpuri. Last year, we submitted about 125 admission forms. Only 11 or 12 children made it. We’ve seen from our experience that many of the private schools are usually looking for ways to avoid admitting students from EWS,” said Balram, coordinator of the counseling centres in East Delhi. Ashok Agarwal, senior lawyer and well-known civil rights activist, has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking government action against private schools who are flouting the EWS reservation rule. “We have filed a case where we have said many private schools have not given any seats to EWS, many have only partially filled required quota. Many schools have manipulated the entry point by reducing the number of seats so that less students are admitted. We have challenged that and want the government to take action against such schools. From this year, we would like to see that the system is more smooth so that maximum number of students get admission.” Agarwal drew attention to Delhi’s record of having introduced 20 percent reservation for students from EWS in private schools through a notification back in 2004-05 . “Earlier it was only about 300-odd schools, that included some of the top schools, who were required to reserve seats from students from EWS. Now, with the RTE, all unaided private schools have to admit students. Parents in Delhi, I find, are more aware than their counterparts in other parts of India.” Asked if the private school lobby in Delhi was also strong, Agarwal said, “People are stronger.” But R C Jain, the president of the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association that claims to represent over 4000 schools in Capital (1750 unaided recognised schools + 2235 unaided unrecognised schools), is having none of it. On admitting students from EWS under the RTE, Jain said, “We have decided not to admit any students from the EWS in our schools because the government is trying to create a vote bank. As far as students who were admitted from EWS last year, the government has not decided on any reimbursement till date. We have started our schools not to serve as a vote bank for the government. This is our fight. And we will fight till we are alive.” Jain asked why the government was not doing more to fix the condition of their schools. “Their schools are in the worst condition. There is a shortage of 11,000 teachers in their schools. They have no proper infrastructure, no sitting capacity. They are not taking care of their schools, but they are tying to interfere with ours. They should first put their schools in order.” Jain’s many letters to the government both to the Centre and the Delhi Government, he says, have gone unanswered. “We have written so many letters to the government, to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, but till date nobody nobody has agreed to meet us. But the government has recently constituted a standing committee under the chairmanship of Rajya Sabha MP Oscar Fernandes to seek opinions on the implementation of the RTE Act from the public. Perhaps, this is an indication that the government is having second thoughts on the issue.” Minority schools too have registered their protest against admitting students from EWS calling the inclusion of minority institions under RTE ‘unconstitutional’. A news report quoted principal of St Columbus, Lennie Lobo saying that they had met the Lieutenant-Governor, Tejendra Khanna last year and had presented a memorandum seeking autonomy of minority institutions as “the minorities take care of their poor”.