Admission under RTE: Now, schools deny textbooks and uniforms to kids
- A circular by the Public Instruction Department prevents schools from selling textbooks in their premises
- Parents are asked to approach the publishers
- But there has been no word so far by the department
FollowThe woes of students eligible to be admitted under the Right To Education (RTE) Act are seeming to be never ending in the city. After some schools refusing to admit them - even under the RTE - the students are now caught in a myriad of problems.
Schools are denying them textbooks and even uniforms too. Instead, the parents are being told to buy books from publishers in Delhi as the schools are not allowed to sell the books in their campus.
It should be noted here that the Public Instruction Department, recently, in its circular, has barred schools from selling books and uniforms in their premises. But the circular has left the students and their parents in lurch. For, it is difficult to get books of CBSE and ICSE syllabus outside the schools as the publishers of the textbooks have a pact with the educational institutions. "How is it possible to get books from publishers who are mostly based in New Delhi when they are not supposed to sell privately," observed, Nagasimha G Rao, state co-ordinator for RTE Task Force, reports Prajavani.
Not just the textbooks, students have been directed to get their uniforms from outside. "But they have one condition. Students wearing uniforms without the logo will not be allowed," Rao pointed out. Schools are insisting that parents buy the uniform from outside, but strangely they are refusing to part with the copy of the logo. This is a sheer violation of the RTE Act, he said adding that the task force is planning to lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
Such confusions have worried the parents who are running out their time to ensure their children are admitted in good schools with all the facilities. To aggravate the situation, some schools in the city have denied admission to children eligible under the RTE. The National Hill View Public School in Rajajinagar run by Energy Minister DK Shivakumar is one of those schools that flatly denied admission to 24 students eligible for admission under the RTE. Upset, parents had approached the high court. Now, despite the high court order, the school has refused to provide admission to 24 students. This had triggered protests by children and their parents in front of the school. But no help came their way.
