"I don't think of it as a victory. I was not fighting any one person." Photo by Naresh Sharma
New Delhi: In his white and grey uniform, big school bag, bespectacled Mobashshir Sarwar stands out in the bustling premises of the Delhi High Court. The XII standard student has a date with the judge, one of the many he has had since he took his school to court for expelling him in December.
At 17 and already a 100-odd RTIs old, Mobashshir is no ordinary rebel. He has taken on the administration for everything from bad rotis served at the hostel to how school fee is being misused at annual functions by seeking information using the RTI.
No wonder then that on a Monday morning when his classmates were concentrating on finishing a three-hour exam paper, Mobashshir, having turned in his answer sheet in 45 minutes, was waiting in queue at the Delhi High Court to get his pass made.
On 20 December 2010, Mobashshir was sent an expulsion notice, banning him from campus and debarring him from exams for “unending complaints of misbehavior and indiscipline”.
In March, after his appeals to the administration fell on deaf ears, Mobashshir filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court challenging his expulsion. The school, since, has been directed by the high court to hold supplementary exams for Mobashshir and allow him to attend classes while the case remains pending.
So what led to Mobashshir’s expulsion from school?
The administration seems to have realised early on the potential Mobashshir had to shake things up. Photo by Naresh Sharma
The principal of Jamia Senior Secondary School, Tariq Habib, speaking to Firstpost, said, “I know Mobashshir for a long time. And he is still my student. Whatever I am doing, it is for his good. I have no ill-feeling against any of my students. If a student does something wrong, it is the duty of the teacher to correct him. I don’t mean that he has done something wrong; it may be that he has done something wrong. Students are still very young and they may do something wrong. As teachers we have a duty to bring them to the right path.”
The principal refused to comment on the Mobashshir’s use of the RTI Act to seek information from the administration. He added that the school came under the purview of the Jamia Milia Islamia University and that further questions should be directed to the university’s media coordinator.
A little background on Mobashshir, a boy who moved to Delhi from Bihar’s Madhepura district in 2005 to study at the Jamia school:
Last year, Mobashshir sought information through the RTI Act about the sanctioned budget for the school’s annual function. “I asked what the sanctioned budget was and to provide me with a copy of the approval for the budget. I didn’t get the information I sought. I had also asked for details of the guest list. Is it right to invite 200 guests who have no direct connection with the school at the expense of students?”
As a XI standard student, when Mobashshir was not allowed to take up Home Science as a subject, he sought information through the RTI Act asking on what grounds he had been denied. “By law, boys are allowed to opt for Home Science. Besides, the prospectus of Jamia does not state that there is a bar on boys from taking up Home Science.”
The reply he received from the administration stated that it was not the practice in Jamia that boys took up Home Science. “Practice does not make law,” says Mobashshir. “I gave a detailed representation, in which I also pointed out that Home Science is one of the subjects for civil services. And even in CBSE schools, there is Home Science… I am now thinking of filing a PIL on this issue,” says the civil service aspirant.
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