SC says RTE valid, schools must reserve seats for poorer students

The Supreme Court today upheld the constitutional validity of Right to Education Act and said that there should be a reservation of 25 percent of seats for children from economically backward families was valid for all government schools and private schools. [caption id=“attachment_273368” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Only schools run by minority communities that don’t take government aid are exempted. AFP”]  [/caption]A majority ruling of the three judge bench of the Supreme Court said that the act would not be applicable to unaided minority schools. The Supreme Court also said that its judgement would be applicable from today and would not affect prior admissions in schools. A bench comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia and justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swantanter Kumar gave its decision while examining petitions that challenged provisions of the act which made right to education a fundamental right of children in the age group of 6-14 years. The court had reserved its verdict on the validity of provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act on 3 August 2011. The Act makes it mandatory for private schools to reserve of 25 percent seats for children of economically backward sections. The marathon hearings of the petitions began on 17 February 2011 to examine provisions of the law. A batch of petitions by private unaided institutions and others contended that the Act violated the rights of private educational institutions under Article 19(1)(g) which provided maximum autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference. However, the Centre defended the law saying it was aimed at uplifting the socially and economically weaker section of society. The Centre emphasised the need to de-link merit and talent from these social and economic differences and said that the act calls for “moving towards composite classrooms with children from diverse backgrounds, rather than homogeneous and exclusivist schools”. The main petitioner Society for Un-aided Private Schools, Rajasthan, and a host of associations representing various private schools have questioned the validity of the Act on the ground that it impinged on their rights to run the educational institutions. The Act also mandated that private educational institutions have to reserve 25 per cent of the seats for children from poor families. Agencies